WPO is an acronym for the expression “Web Performance Optimization”. It consists of a set of strategies and best practices to improve the performance of a site in its technical aspect, such as the loading speed of pages and the user browsing experience.
The user experience when browsing a website has become an essential factor for businesses and brands, especially those who want to make the most of the global and almost infinite market that the Internet represents.
When we think about how to improve navigability, captivate users, and ensure truly enjoyable experiences when visiting a particular site, WPO comes up as a key alternative.
Do you know what this concept is about and how it can help you? Keep reading and find out!
- What is WPO
- What are the advantages of a WPO strategy
- 7 key factors for successfully implementing WPO
What is WPO (Web Performance Optimization)?
Web Performance Optimization is the meaning of WPO.
But don’t think you already know everything about this topic! We are just beginning, after all, it deals with a complex, strategic and deep aspect, with different angles that favor the business objectives and brand positioning.
Although it is a term of only three words, WPO covers a wide range of techniques that allow you to reduce or eliminate all obstacles and frictions that affect the user experience when browsing a web page.
To “illustrate” the essence and characteristics of this strategic practice, let us refer to the most common example that exists: that of pages created and managed by WordPress, the master of CMS, which contains more than 60%of this market.
Thanks to WPO techniques, you can optimize the speed and models of a website created in this content management system.
So that you can better understand the scope and importance of this element, let’s look specifically at its key advantages.
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What are the advantages of a WPO strategy?
As you already know, WPO significantly improves the page experience and makes it much more efficient and attractive,making it a true source of growth, positioning and generating business opportunities.
Without further ado, here is a list of the specific and valuable benefits of applying web performance optimization techniques and practices.
Improves search engine placement
It is more than clear that wpo’s main focus is PageSpeed, which is the same as the loading speed of a web.
It’s no use that your page has compelling content and is visually friendly if the load time is too high, one of the biggest annoyances the user can face.
In addition, PageSpeed is one of the main positioning factors in SEO.
Yes, the increasingly intelligent algorithms of Google and other search engines detect when a page is fast and prioritize it in its results (SERPs).
Another point is the fact that a technically functional site can retain the user on their pages for longer, which is also a quality indicator for search engines.
After all, the longer the user navigates a page, the more Google’s algorithm interprets the content as relevant.
But what are the techniques and strategies that allow you to increase the loading speed of a website?
One of them, which stands out among the repertoire of PRACTICES of WPO, is the optimization of images, through tools that allow its compression.
Thus, pages can contain a significant amount of images, visual elements essential to the user experience, without being too “heavy” and slow.
In addition, there are plugins that automatically optimize all JPG, PNG or GIF images from WordPress sites, such as EWWW Image Optimizer or TinyPNG, for example.
Increases the likelihood of conversion
WPO is not an aspect that only impacts technically and on the user experience itself. It is also an ally for business processes and strategies.
As good practices of Digital Marketing dictate, it is important to strategically guide people through the websites so that they perform positive actions for the business process.
For this to be possible, of course, you need to have a significant average length of stay and a high level of engagement, which is reflected in users who open different tabs and sections of the page.
Through WPO work, you can optimize your page to the point where users are motivated to explore all of its sections, content, and functionality.
At the same time, they will have incentives to fill out forms and access other windows that allow you to obtain information of interest to boost conversion rate and strategies.
In this context, interactive pages also show very interesting, since they allow you to extract valuable data from each user as they browse and click on resources.
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Retains users on the site
Retention, loyalty, longer customer lifecycle: all of these are benefits associated with the illustrious WPO.
Thanks to loading speed and other optimizations, users will not only be motivated to spend a significant amount of time on the page, but will also return frequently, classifying the page as one of the sites they will always visit when they connect to the Internet.
In general, WPO becomes essential to sustainably build a loyal and broad audience.
Better return on investment
WordPress and other tools make it easy to create a blog, e-commerce, or website, but that doesn’t mean it’s free.
Developing digital visibility and having a captivating page requires investment in money, time and effort.
Fortunately, this investment becomes very profitable and secure when good WPO practices apply, as we mentioned, they bring business benefits.
And today there is no better agent or sales executive than a web page.
If many users are willing to listen, read, follow and see what your site brings again, the chances of significantly expanding the customer portfolio and consequently sales volume are very high, which at the end of the day represents more productivity and revenue.
7 key factors for successfully implementing WPO
WPO can make a difference on your site and ensure that it is a source of business opportunities and profitability.
Obviously, these benefits will be obtained as long as you develop this series of techniques effectively and follow best practices.
That said, in the next few lines, we’ll explain the 7 key factors for successfully implementing Web Performance Optimization.
1. Choose a solid hosting solution
Optimization starts from when we think about developing a website,since these first steps of planning must follow the best criteria and practices.
Among other things, it is important to point out a quality alternative in terms of web hosting, which offers flexibility, customization and great management capacity. Among these options, the WordPress hosting stands out.
However, common or shared hosting can also help you, especially if your project does not have large technical needs or requires multiple management functionality.
It all depends on the characteristics of your business. Of course, after identifying the ideal options for your company’s profile and digital presence, review references, reviews, and experiences from others to help you get a clear view of the potential of each hosting alternative.
To store well-performing web pages, hosting must have robust framework capability and effective support channels, preventing the site from going off the air constantly.
2. Compress images
Yes, we’ve mentioned this before, but this factor can’t be left off the list of wpo’s key features.
Keep in the name of this task, it depends largely on the page to have a solid loading speed, which, in addition to ensuring user satisfaction, sends positive signals to Google’s algorithms, leading to good positioning in serps.
3. Use lighter themes
This is another element on which the good speed of the page depends. In WordPress, a theme includes files that define the appearance and characteristics of a site.
It is important to note that a heavy theme is not necessarily better, as it depends on the concept and style you want to give your page.
In fact, the ideal is to choose a lightweight theme, which contributes to the loading speed and, consequently, to the user experience.
4. Minimize the impact of JavaScript and CSS
JavaScript and CSS features in visible areas of the page do not directly affect load time, however, they impair the user experience, as they represent disruption and difficulty in browsing.
For example, CSS typically blocks visibility on half of the main pages, causing a not very good first impression for users.
In these cases, it is best to compress the files, eliminating unnecessary characters without losing functionality.
5. Use a CDN
In essence, the Content Delivery Network is a factor that provides content to a website.
But it goes much further than that! In addition to meeting this primary objective, it also helps improve the loading speed and functionality of pages.
This is because images and other aspects of a site’s content remain static on servers in different corners of the world.
This means that regardless of whether the user is in China, Australia, Mexico or Spain, they can quickly browse your site because the loading speed does not decrease due to geographic factors.
On the other hand, if you host your site on a single server without a CDN in Mexico, for example, visitors from Europe, Asia, and distant regions will have to wait longer to access its multiple windows and functionality.
6. Apply prefetching
Enabling prefetching options and settings means, in simple words, that your site will be one step ahead of the user’s intent.
This allows pages to take steps before the user starts them, such as displaying an image or video of interest to them and uploading links.
Of course, all of this is based on understanding user behavior, product studies, and analyzing navigation patterns by User Experience (UX) experts and related areas.
7. Disable unused plugins
“Clear” a page is a good practice of technical SEO in WordPress and is also part of WPO.
Among the things we need to put in order are the plugins, since they are one of those elements that, when they are not functional, do not generate value and instead affect the database and up to the loading speed.
When they are no longer used or no longer provide important functionality for the site, they should be deleted or removed as part of the maintenance work.
It is also important to perform simple and routine maintenance actions, such as deleting spam comments and emptying the recycle bin.
Another valuable action in this sense is to delete pages from the site that are no longer used or that do not have relevant traffic, because they end up taking up unnecessary space.
To do this, it is advisable to use WordPress redirect 301, preventing users accessing deleted pages from running into an error.
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Conclusion
If you’ve read it so far, you already know what WPO is, what its advantages are and how to successfully apply it.
It was clear that the benefits of this variety of practices and techniques go beyond the technical aspects and user experience only when browsing the page.
In fact, it affects people’s overall perception of brands and therefore their positioning.
At the same time, it is a mechanism that drives Digital Marketing strategies to achieve their goals, because it retains users and allows them to be strategically managed within the sites, so that they perform actions favorable to the business process.
Finally, it is important to mention that many of wpo’s tasks and actions require a high degree of expertise and technical knowledge in programming, development and related areas, so do not rule out seeking help from experts.
When it comes to web positioning and technical improvements, improvising is not a good idea. Don’t forget it!
Found the information in this material useful and interesting? If you are focused on creating a robust and optimized website according to best practices, it is important that you also know all about the king of CMS.