When your website has a slow load time, it can frustrate your customers and influence them to bounce off your site entirely. An essential aspect of user experience involves website speed, meaning that Drupal speed optimization can greatly improve your SEO among other things.
With the release of Drupal 8 and 9, many of the commonly occurring speed issues that were associated with Drupal 7 are a thing of the past. This includes features like the built-in Dynamic Page Cache that can improve your Drupal site performance.
However, that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t still work to improve your website speed and performance.
Let’s take a look at how you can get the best performance possible out of your Drupal site.
Use Caching
One of the most impactful ways that you can reduce load time is through caching. Caching is enabled by default with Drupal 8, but your specific site might be improved by alternative or additional caching. This might include page caching, BigPipe, or Redis.
Drupal has built-in caching features that can speed up your website significantly. Enable caching by going to Configuration > Development > Performance > Cache Settings and selecting the appropriate caching options.
Optimize Images
Images are often the largest files on a website, and they can significantly slow down your site’s loading time. To optimize your images, compress them using tools like ImageOptim or TinyPNG. You can also use Drupal modules like ImageAPI Optimize to automatically compress images as you upload them.
Minify CSS and JavaScript
Minifying CSS and JavaScript files means removing unnecessary whitespace, comments, and other characters that don’t affect the code’s functionality. This can significantly reduce the file size and improve your site’s loading time. Drupal has several modules that can help you minify your CSS and JavaScript files, such as AdvAgg and Minify.
Media Optimization
Your website is greatly improved by having well-curated images and other media, but these media forms are also responsible for the biggest data transfer when your site is loading. Your Drupal site performance can likely be improved by using a website performance audit to see if you need to refine the way images are delivered on your site.
Codebase and Modules
You’ll want to stay up to date with your Drupal core and contributed modules. They are constantly being updated for performance, bug, and security purposes. An important part of Drupal speed optimization is staying current with these updates.
It’s also a good idea to look into the number of modules you have enabled on your site. If you have unused modules, uninstalling them can improve your loading times.
You will also want to check your site for broken links and images to make sure that 404 pages are minimized. There are several popular tools that can help you find broken files, links, and images on your site.
Use a Content Delivery Network (CDN)
A CDN is a network of servers located around the world that can deliver your website’s content to users from the server closest to them. This can significantly reduce the loading time for users who are geographically distant from your server. Drupal has several modules that can help you integrate your website with a CDN, such as CDN and Cloudflare.
There are a number of different Content Delivery Networks that can be used to help your Drupal site performance. These networks accomplish this by delivering content to your audience from a location that is geographically nearer to them.
These networks can also help during high traffic periods to maintain consistent site performance because of their distributed nature.
Optimize Your Database
Drupal stores all its data in a database, and a poorly optimized database can slow down your site’s loading time. Use Drupal modules like DB Maintenance to optimize your database and keep it running smoothly.
Enable Gzip Compression
Gzip compression is a technique that compresses web pages before they are sent to the browser. This can significantly reduce the file size and improve your site’s loading time. Enable Gzip compression by going to Configuration > Development > Performance > Page Compression and selecting the appropriate options.
External Resources
External resources are any asset that is loaded from an externally hosted service or site. This typically refers to small amounts of code that are used for analytics, advertising, tracking, and more.
While these resources can be invaluable, they do introduce an extra request that the browser makes when loading the site. This can lead to an increase in page load time and latency.
For this reason, it’s a good idea to minimize how much your site relies on external resources.
In conclusion, optimizing your Drupal website for speed is essential for improving user experience, search engine ranking, and overall success. By following these tactics, you can significantly improve your site’s loading time and provide a better experience for your users.
Thinking About Hiring a Drupal Speed Optimization Service?
As you can see, Drupal speed optimization can help your business grow and succeed. However, for many business owners, digging into the more technical side of their site isn’t something that they’re psyched about doing. When you hire a Drupal speed optimization service, it means that you can have optimal Drupal site performance while still being able to focus on what you do best: running your business.
At Split Reef, our website speed optimization services incorporate these tactics and more to ensure that your customers have the most efficient and pleasant experience on your site. You can learn more about how Split Reef can boost your site’s performance here.
Split Reef is a modern, results-driven digital organization always ready to support clients in their search for digital supremacy. With Split Reef, your budget isn’t going to hold you back from partnering with us to make your project successful. Our offices are located in Columbus, Ohio and Jacksonville, Florida.
