{"id":15181,"date":"2023-02-22T12:23:39","date_gmt":"2023-02-22T10:23:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/web-mate.gr\/website-speed-optimisation\/"},"modified":"2026-10-29T13:39:09","modified_gmt":"2026-10-29T11:39:09","slug":"website-speed-optimisation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/web-mate.gr\/en\/website-speed-optimisation\/","title":{"rendered":"Website Speed: How to Make Your Site Fast"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Website speed<\/strong> is now the <strong>#1 ranking factor in technical <a href=\"https:\/\/web-mate.gr\/en\/how-to-rank-first-on-google\/\">SEO<\/a><\/strong>. According to a Google study, <strong>53% of users abandon a site if it does not load in under 3 seconds<\/strong>, and <strong>every extra second of delay cuts conversions by 7%<\/strong>. In the age of <strong>Core Web Vitals<\/strong> (LCP, INP, CLS), it is not enough for your site to &#8220;look fast&#8221;: it has to measure fast in Google&#8217;s official tools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A fast <a href=\"https:\/\/web-mate.gr\/en\/\">site<\/a> today needs to meet <strong>3 key metrics<\/strong>: <strong>LCP (Largest Contentful Paint) &lt; 2.5 sec.<\/strong>, <strong>INP (Interaction to Next Paint) &lt; 200ms<\/strong> and <strong>CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift) &lt; 0.1<\/strong>. You achieve them through <strong>6 pillars<\/strong>: quality hosting, image optimisation (WebP\/AVIF, lazy loading), caching (browser + server), code minification, a CDN, and optimised JavaScript\/CSS delivery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In this detailed guide you will learn <strong>the 12 steps<\/strong> to make your website fast, <strong>how to measure speed<\/strong> (PageSpeed Insights, GTmetrix, WebPageTest), <strong>the Core Web Vitals in detail<\/strong>, <strong>WordPress-specific optimisations<\/strong> and <strong>how hosting affects speed<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">First, let&#8217;s look at a video about how a site can be made faster and why it does not load quickly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe title=\"\u039c\u03ac\u03b8\u03b5 \u03b3\u03b9\u03b1\u03c4\u03af \u03c4\u03bf site \u03c3\u03bf\u03c5 \u03b5\u03b9\u03bd\u03b1\u03b9 \u03b1\u03c1\u03b3\u03cc - \u03a4\u03b1\u03c7\u03cd\u03c4\u03b7\u03c4\u03b1 \u03b9\u03c3\u03c4\u03bf\u03c3\u03b5\u03bb\u03af\u03b4\u03b1\u03c2\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/bgwbLR2rvv4?start=2&amp;feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">So how can we make a slow website faster?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To be fast, a website first of all needs to be built properly. It should make few calls to the server so that it loads faster (it is better to load one larger file than many smaller ones, because time is lost on each request), use sprites for files such as logos, images and icons, and have minified JavaScript and CSS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">HTTP\/2 and modern servers for top speeds<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For years now we have had the HTTP\/2 protocol, which can make your website much faster. But what is this standard, and what will it do for your website&#8217;s <strong>speed<\/strong>? <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Compared with the traditional HTTP standard, <a href=\"https:\/\/web-mate.gr\/en\/what-is-http2\/\">HTTP\/2<\/a> lets browsers that support it (now all of them) download a website&#8217;s elements (images, files, text etc.) at the same time, instead of waiting for one to download before starting the next ( which is how plain HTTP works).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To use HTTP\/2, it has to be supported by your   server and your website needs an encrypted HTTPS connection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">These are just a few of the rules for building a website &nbsp;so that it is fast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Core Web Vitals: the 3 metrics that define website speed<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Since <strong>March 2024<\/strong>, Google has replaced FID (First Input Delay) with <strong>INP (Interaction to Next Paint)<\/strong> as one of the 3 main Core Web Vitals. These are the metrics Google uses for SEO ranking:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table class=\"has-fixed-layout\"><thead><tr><th>Metric<\/th><th>What it measures<\/th><th>Good<\/th><th>Needs improvement<\/th><th>Poor<\/th><\/tr><\/thead><tbody><tr><td><strong>LCP<\/strong> (Largest Contentful Paint)<\/td><td>How quickly the largest element on the page appears<\/td><td>&lt; 2.5s<\/td><td>2.5\u20134s<\/td><td>&gt; 4s<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>INP<\/strong> (Interaction to Next Paint)<\/td><td>How quickly the site responds to user interactions (clicks, taps)<\/td><td>&lt; 200ms<\/td><td>200\u2013500ms<\/td><td>&gt; 500ms<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>CLS<\/strong> (Cumulative Layout Shift)<\/td><td>How much elements &#8220;jump around&#8221; while loading (visual stability)<\/td><td>&lt; 0.1<\/td><td>0.1\u20130.25<\/td><td>&gt; 0.25<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Where to check them:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Google Search Console \u2192 Core Web Vitals report<\/strong>: data from real users (CrUX)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>PageSpeed Insights<\/strong>: Google&#8217;s official tool with detailed suggestions<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Chrome DevTools \u2192 Lighthouse<\/strong> \u2014 local testing<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Web Vitals Chrome Extension<\/strong>: real-time in your browser<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The 12 steps to a fast website: summary table<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table class=\"has-fixed-layout\"><thead><tr><th>#<\/th><th>Step<\/th><th>Difficulty<\/th><th>Typical improvement<\/th><\/tr><\/thead><tbody><tr><td>1<\/td><td><strong>Better hosting<\/strong> (VPS\/managed WP instead of shared)<\/td><td>Easy<\/td><td>30-60% TTFB<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>2<\/td><td><strong>Image Optimization<\/strong> (WebP\/AVIF, compression)<\/td><td>Medium<\/td><td>40-70% page weight<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>3<\/td><td><strong>Lazy Loading Images &amp; Videos<\/strong><\/td><td>Easy<\/td><td>20-40% LCP<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>4<\/td><td><strong>Caching<\/strong> (browser + server + page)<\/td><td>Medium<\/td><td>50-80% for repeat visitors<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>5<\/td><td><strong>Minify CSS\/JS\/HTML<\/strong><\/td><td>Easy<\/td><td>10-25% file sizes<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>6<\/td><td><strong>CDN Setup<\/strong> (Cloudflare, free)<\/td><td>Easy<\/td><td>30-50% global TTFB<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>7<\/td><td><strong>Defer\/Async JavaScript<\/strong><\/td><td>Medium<\/td><td>Better INP<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>8<\/td><td><strong>Critical CSS<\/strong> (above-the-fold)<\/td><td>Hard<\/td><td>Better LCP<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>9<\/td><td><strong>Web Fonts Optimization<\/strong> (preload, font-display)<\/td><td>Medium<\/td><td>Better CLS + LCP<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>10<\/td><td><strong>Database Optimization<\/strong> (cleanup revisions, transients)<\/td><td>Medium<\/td><td>10-30% query time<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>11<\/td><td><strong>HTTP\/3 + Brotli Compression<\/strong><\/td><td>Easy (host setting)<\/td><td>10-20% transfer speed<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>12<\/td><td><strong>Reserve Space for Images\/Ads<\/strong> (width\/height attrs)<\/td><td>Easy<\/td><td>Better CLS<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Factors for a fast website<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">What we can do, and what to watch out for, so that <strong>our website is fast<\/strong> regardless of how it was built.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Images on a website<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Our website needs images that are optimised in file size and not resized by the browser. On a WordPress website this can be done either with plugins such as &nbsp;Smush or with tools you can find on Google, such as&nbsp;TinyPNG.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It is important for the images on your website to be the right size for the largest size they will be shown at, at the highest resolution. Put more simply, if the maximum width of the website is 1300 px and an image spans the page from edge to edge, the image should be 1300 pixels wide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/web-mate.gr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/unnamed-file.webp.jpg\" alt=\"webp  and website speed\" class=\"wp-image-1451\" title=\"- Web-Mate\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Website images can now use far more efficient formats than JPEG and PNG. Of the two formats that once looked promising, <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/JPEG_2000\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">JPEG 2000<\/a> never caught on in browsers, while <a href=\"https:\/\/developers.google.com\/speed\/webp\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">WebP<\/a>, together with the newer AVIF, is supported by all modern browsers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">With modern image formats, websites perform remarkably well, especially on mobiles and tablets, and you can be rewarded in your website&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/web-mate.gr\/en\/check-website-ranking-on-google\/\">SEO<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Your web server and site speed<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">You bought a hosting package, either from a well-known company or from whoever built your website, and now that you are done everything should be fine. Not quite. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A website is like a living organism. As it grows in size, as its visitors increase and as its features grow (e.g. &#8220;I want to add this plugin too&#8221;), its server needs to be adjusted as well. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Each server is good for something different. For example, servers with SSD drives are good for an <a href=\"https:\/\/web-mate.gr\/en\/what-is-an-eshop-and-how-it-works\/\">e-shop<\/a>, but they are expensive (around 200 euros a year). Shared servers, on the other hand, are cheap but may slow your website down. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Of course, the best solution is a VPS with a large &nbsp;amount of RAM and many processors, or a dedicated server, but we are talking about solutions costing thousands of euros, with performance to match.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At web-mate we have developed a <a href=\"https:\/\/web-mate.gr\/en\/website-hosting-guide\/\">hosting<\/a> package for our clients, <a href=\"https:\/\/web-mate.gr\/en\/litespeed-hosting\/\">LiteSpeed Hosting<\/a>, with the help of myip.gr (a Greek hosting provider)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A server&#8217;s specifications alone are not enough to give the best performance. The server also needs to be configured properly and have a fast internet connection. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Caching for better website speed <\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">First of all, what is caching? On dynamic websites (and nowadays all websites are dynamic), the more calls we make to the database or to files on the server, the slower the server responds. So imagine 20 people visiting your website at the same time and each making 40 calls (which is very few for an ordinary website). <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">What we can do is create snapshots of each page of our <a href=\"https:\/\/web-mate.gr\/en\/\">website<\/a>, so that instead of all these calls only a handful are made and our website becomes faster. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Browser caching is another mechanism, where we tell the browser that CSS and JavaScript files (and others such as images, XML etc.) &nbsp;will not change for a certain period, e.g. 1 year, so it should keep them in its memory and not reload them, which saves calls to the server. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In <a href=\"https:\/\/web-mate.gr\/en\/wordpress-website-development\/\">WordPress<\/a> we can use the &nbsp;W3 Total Cache plugin to speed things up (be very careful with its settings, because they can have the opposite effect).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">What needs care is deciding which parts of our website to cache. Should we cache the database? Should we cache every page on the site? To answer these questions we need to know the type of site and the type of server. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On an e-shop, for example, it is best not to cache the checkout and cart pages, so we do not create problems for our customers. And on low-spec servers we should avoid database caching.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">CDN<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A CDN, or content delivery network, is a mechanism that improves our website&#8217;s speed and also saves resources on our server and takes load off it. In essence, we give files from our website, e.g. images &nbsp;or &nbsp;CSS files, to many servers spread across different regions. When one of those servers is geographically closer to the visitor than ours, it is used instead, and we save both time and resources (e.g. traffic, RAM). <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Many CDNs also do other jobs, such as &nbsp;minification, and at web-mate we prefer <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cloudflare.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Cloudflare<\/a>, which even has a very good free plan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/web-mate.gr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/speed-improvements-azure-services.jpg\" alt=\"website speed \" class=\"wp-image-1453\" title=\"- Web-Mate\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Combine &amp; minify CSS and JavaScript files<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If your server does not support  <a href=\"https:\/\/web-mate.gr\/en\/what-is-http2\/\">HTTP\/2<\/a>, a very good solution is to combine and minify your files for a fast website. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">By combining and minifying, we mean making files as small as possible and merging similar ones into a single file. This saves calls to our server. The caching plugin mentioned above can do this for us. We need to be very careful, though, because problems can arise on the website when files are minified and the new files are created.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Why combine only with HTTP\/1?<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As mentioned above, this technique should only be used where HTTP\/2 is not available. That is because, as we said, HTTP\/2 lets the browser download many files at the same time.  So if one large file is created for our website, it may be loaded on pages that do not need all of it. With  HTTP\/2 all you need is minification, and the ideal would be a very careful combine for each page.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How the website or e-shop was built<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">How the website was built, or the theme that was used, naturally plays the biggest part in achieving top speed for an <a href=\"https:\/\/web-mate.gr\/en\/what-is-an-eshop-and-how-it-works\/\" class=\"rank-math-link\">e-shop <\/a>or a <a href=\"https:\/\/web-mate.gr\/en\/accessible-website-wcag-espa\/\" class=\"rank-math-link\">website<\/a> . A custom solution will always give the best possible result, which also affects <a href=\"https:\/\/web-mate.gr\/en\/seo-vs-google-ads\/\" class=\"rank-math-link\">your website&#8217;s search engine promotion<\/a>. Below is an example of a custom theme with excellent response times:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/web-mate.gr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/taxitita-istoselidas.png\" alt=\"custom theme website speed\" class=\"wp-image-1707\" title=\"- Web-Mate\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/web-mate.gr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/grigori-istoselida.png\" alt=\"fast website\" class=\"wp-image-1708\" style=\"width:580px;height:177px\" title=\"- Web-Mate\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/web-mate.gr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/papatolikas-fast-website.png\" alt=\"papatolikas fast website\" class=\"wp-image-1739\" style=\"width:776px;height:509px\" title=\"- Web-Mate\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Measure your website&#8217;s speed<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There are various tools for measuring your website&#8217;s speed, but we mainly recommend one: Google&#8217;s official tool.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This is <a href=\"https:\/\/developers.google.com\/speed\/pagespeed\/insights\/?hl=el\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">PageSpeed Insights<\/a>, which gives you speed data for your page on mobile devices as well as on desktop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The tool also makes suggestions about what you should do to get maximum speed. Of course, it is not always possible to do all of them on one website, but it is very good to do as many as you can.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At web-mate we aim for top speed results, as the image below shows<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/web-mate.gr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/fastweb.png\" alt=\"maximum website speed\" class=\"wp-image-1454\" title=\"- Web-Mate\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><br><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The 8 best website speed testing tools<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table class=\"has-fixed-layout\"><thead><tr><th>Tool<\/th><th>Cost<\/th><th>Best for<\/th><\/tr><\/thead><tbody><tr><td><strong>Google PageSpeed Insights<\/strong><\/td><td>Free<\/td><td>Official Google score, Core Web Vitals data, suggestions<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>Google Search Console<\/strong><\/td><td>Free<\/td><td>Real-user data (CrUX) by URL pattern<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>GTmetrix<\/strong><\/td><td>Free \/ Premium<\/td><td>Detailed waterfall, multiple test locations<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>WebPageTest<\/strong><\/td><td>Free<\/td><td>Advanced testing, video filmstrip, multi-location<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>Lighthouse<\/strong> (Chrome DevTools)<\/td><td>Free<\/td><td>Local testing, custom configurations<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>Pingdom<\/strong><\/td><td>Free \/ \u20ac10\/month+<\/td><td>Uptime monitoring + speed tests<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>Sitespeed.gr<\/strong><\/td><td>Free<\/td><td>Speed tests from Greece (server location matters)<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>Calibre<\/strong><\/td><td>\u20ac59\/month+<\/td><td>Continuous monitoring for agencies\/enterprise<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Pro tip:<\/strong> Always test in <strong>incognito mode<\/strong> with a <strong>cleared cache<\/strong> and do <strong>3-5 runs<\/strong> for statistically reliable results. A single test can show different numbers each time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Speed optimisation for WordPress: 8 steps<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">WordPress powers <strong>43% of the web worldwide<\/strong>, but a default WP install is often slow. Here are the 8 steps to a fast WordPress site:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Lightweight Theme:<\/strong> Astra, GeneratePress, Kadence (avoid heavy themes with 100+ features). Typical gain: 30-50% LCP.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Caching Plugin:<\/strong> WP Rocket (paid, the best), LiteSpeed Cache (free if you have LiteSpeed hosting), W3 Total Cache.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Image Optimization Plugin:<\/strong> ShortPixel, Smush, Imagify: automatic compression + WebP conversion.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>CDN:<\/strong> Cloudflare (free), BunnyCDN (from \u20ac1\/month).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Plugin Audit:<\/strong> Deactivate plugins you do not use. Every active plugin = extra HTTP requests + database queries.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Database Cleanup:<\/strong> WP-Optimize for revisions, transients and spam comments. Run it monthly.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Disable Heartbeat \/ Limit Autosaves:<\/strong> Reduces server load.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Choose WordPress-Optimized Hosting:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/web-mate.gr\/en\/website-hosting-guide\/\">Webmate Hosting<\/a>, Kinsta, WP Engine, SiteGround or Cloudways. Generic shared hosting is not enough.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At <strong>Webmate<\/strong> we offer a <strong>WordPress speed optimisation service<\/strong> with a guaranteed PageSpeed score of 90+ on mobile and desktop. <a href=\"https:\/\/web-mate.gr\/en\/yphresies\/design-development-of-websites-site\/\">See our website development services<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n<div id=\"rank-math-howto\" class=\"rank-math-block\" >\n<div class=\"rank-math-howto-description\">\n\n<p>How to make your website fast<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"rank-math-howto-duration\"><strong>1D<\/strong> <span><\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"rank-math-steps \">\n<div id=\"howto-step-1777628700257\" class=\"rank-math-step\">\n<h3 class=\"rank-math-step-title \">Choose good hosting<\/h3>\n<div class=\"rank-math-step-content \"><p>VPS or managed WordPress instead of shared<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"howto-step-1777628713091\" class=\"rank-math-step\">\n<h3 class=\"rank-math-step-title \">Image Optimization<\/h3>\n<div class=\"rank-math-step-content \"><p>WebP\/AVIF format, compression, lazy loading<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"howto-step-1777628725176\" class=\"rank-math-step\">\n<h3 class=\"rank-math-step-title \">Caching Setup<\/h3>\n<div class=\"rank-math-step-content \"><p>Browser + server-side + page caching<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"howto-step-1777628736559\" class=\"rank-math-step\">\n<h3 class=\"rank-math-step-title \">Minify CSS\/JS<\/h3>\n<div class=\"rank-math-step-content \"><p>Reduce file sizes 10-25%<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"howto-step-1777628747224\" class=\"rank-math-step\">\n<h3 class=\"rank-math-step-title \">CDN Setup<\/h3>\n<div class=\"rank-math-step-content \"><p>Cloudflare or BunnyCDN for global delivery<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"howto-step-1777628760573\" class=\"rank-math-step\">\n<h3 class=\"rank-math-step-title \">Test &amp; Monitor<\/h3>\n<div class=\"rank-math-step-content \"><p>PageSpeed Insights + Search Console weekly<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Website optimisation<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At web-mate we are here to help, whether with <strong>your website&#8217;s speed<\/strong>, promoting your website in search engines  or a complete rebuild of your eshop or website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe title=\"\u039a\u03b1\u03c4\u03b1\u03c3\u03ba\u03b5\u03c5\u03ae \u0399\u03c3\u03c4\u03bf\u03c3\u03b5\u03bb\u03af\u03b4\u03c9\u03bd, E-shops, Web Apps &amp; Mobile Apps\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/7yRq5eovWeQ?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n<div id=\"rank-math-faq\" class=\"rank-math-block\">\n<div class=\"rank-math-list \">\n<div id=\"faq-question-1777628527431\" class=\"rank-math-list-item\">\n<h3 class=\"rank-math-question \">How fast should my website be<\/h3>\n<div class=\"rank-math-answer \">\n\n<p>According to <strong>Google&#8217;s Core Web Vitals<\/strong>, a website should load in <strong>under 2.5 seconds (LCP)<\/strong>, respond to interactions in <strong>under 200ms (INP)<\/strong> and have a visual stability score <strong>below 0.1 (CLS)<\/strong>. 53% of users abandon sites that take &gt;3 seconds to load.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"faq-question-1777628537503\" class=\"rank-math-list-item\">\n<h3 class=\"rank-math-question \">How can I check my website&#8217;s speed for free?<\/h3>\n<div class=\"rank-math-answer \">\n\n<p>Free tools: <strong>Google PageSpeed Insights<\/strong> (official), <strong>Google Search Console<\/strong> (real-user data), <strong>GTmetrix<\/strong> (free tier), <strong>Lighthouse<\/strong> in Chrome DevTools, <strong>WebPageTest<\/strong>. We recommend doing 3-5 runs for reliable figures.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"faq-question-1777628552648\" class=\"rank-math-list-item\">\n<h3 class=\"rank-math-question \">Does speed affect SEO?<\/h3>\n<div class=\"rank-math-answer \">\n\n<p>Yes, directly. The <strong>Core Web Vitals (LCP, INP, CLS)<\/strong> have been official Google ranking factors since 2021. A slow site drops in the rankings, while a fast site helps SEO as well as <strong>conversions<\/strong> (+7% for every second of speed gained) and <strong>bounce rate<\/strong> (-32%).<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"faq-question-1777628570800\" class=\"rank-math-list-item\">\n<h3 class=\"rank-math-question \">What are LCP, INP and CLS?<\/h3>\n<div class=\"rank-math-answer \">\n\n<p><strong>LCP (Largest Contentful Paint)<\/strong> = the time it takes for the largest element to appear (target &lt;2.5s). <strong>INP (Interaction to Next Paint)<\/strong> = the time it takes to respond to clicks\/taps (target &lt;200ms). <strong>CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift)<\/strong> = visual stability, meaning how much elements &#8220;jump around&#8221; (target &lt;0.1)<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"faq-question-1777628588099\" class=\"rank-math-list-item\">\n<h3 class=\"rank-math-question \">What is the biggest cause of a slow website?<\/h3>\n<div class=\"rank-math-answer \">\n\n<p>In most cases: <strong>(1)<\/strong> unoptimised images (large file sizes, no WebP\/AVIF, no lazy loading), <strong>(2)<\/strong> cheap shared hosting with a slow TTFB, <strong>(3)<\/strong> too many heavy plugins, <strong>(4)<\/strong> render-blocking JavaScript, <strong>(5)<\/strong> no caching strategy.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"faq-question-1777628601533\" class=\"rank-math-list-item\">\n<h3 class=\"rank-math-question \">How much does website speed optimisation cost?<\/h3>\n<div class=\"rank-math-answer \">\n\n<p>In Greece the cost ranges from <strong>\u20ac250-600<\/strong> for basic WordPress site optimisation (caching, images, plugin audit) and <strong>\u20ac500-1,000<\/strong> for full Core Web Vitals optimisation (critical CSS, JS optimisation, hosting migration) to <strong>\u20ac1,000+<\/strong> for enterprise sites with custom development.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"faq-question-1777628641438\" class=\"rank-math-list-item\">\n<h3 class=\"rank-math-question \"><strong>How much does hosting affect speed?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<div class=\"rank-math-answer \">\n\n<p>Dramatically. <strong>TTFB (Time to First Byte)<\/strong> depends 70-80% on hosting. Cheap shared hosting usually has a TTFB of 600-1,200ms, while premium managed hosting is under 200ms. Read our <a href=\"https:\/\/web-mate.gr\/en\/website-hosting-guide\/\">complete guide to website hosting<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Website speed is now the #1 ranking factor in technical SEO. According to a Google study, 53% of users abandon a site if it does not load in under 3 seconds, and every extra second of delay cuts conversions by 7%. In the age of Core Web Vitals (LCP, INP, CLS), it is not enough [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8667,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","rank_math_title":"Website Speed: A Guide to a Faster Site | WebMate","rank_math_description":"How to make your website fast: Core Web Vitals, image optimisation, caching, CDN and WordPress tips. Better rankings and more sales. Get a quote.","rank_math_focus_keyword":"website speed"},"categories":[235,238,249],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15181","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-seo-website-promotion","category-web-mate-en","category-website-design-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web-mate.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15181","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web-mate.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web-mate.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web-mate.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web-mate.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15181"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/web-mate.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15181\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15512,"href":"https:\/\/web-mate.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15181\/revisions\/15512"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web-mate.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8667"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web-mate.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15181"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web-mate.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15181"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web-mate.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15181"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}