DDoS Attacks vs. Website Speed: Why Performance Optimization Matters
DDoS Attacks are extremely frequent nowadays. Such attacks impact lots of aspects of the website, specifically, the website performance, increase vulnerability, issues with the reputation, and even incorrect functioning of the specific systems. As a website owner, you probably want to improve the website performance specifically aspects that are connected with the security characteristics.
Issues with the website speed can impact the users’ engagement, the ranking in the search engine, and more. So, here we will share some recommendations regarding performance optimization. Before diving into this crucial topic, you can check information about VPS DDoS protection buy necessary hosting solutions, or just review available plans for website performance optimization.
Why Performance Optimization is important?
Performance optimization could not be achieved by just following a list of rules, this approach should be constantly adjusted based on changing circumstances and monitoring.
Here are the major benefits that come together with performance optimization and specifically speed improvements:
–Improved satisfaction of the users.
–Minimized bounced rates.
–Improved ranking in the search engines.
–Higher conversion rates.
Practical recommendations to improve website performance
There are lots of practices that can help to optimize performance, here we will discuss the most impactful ones. However, the choice of the most effective approach depends on the unique characteristics of your platform so select options that will be more impactful for your case.
–Optimize the images. Usually, pictures are the largest files that can slow down the loading of the webpages. Luckily, there is diversity of tools that can help with the compression of the images.
–Minimizing the number of HTTP requests. Start with the speed test which will help to distinguish which requests take the longest time to complete. Once that is done, you can optimize the pages according to the number of available assets.
–Minimize the number of external scripts. Every additional external resource such as CMS, buttons that are calling to action, or commenting systems can slow down everything. This issue is especially problematic for the mobile users.
–Limitation of redirections. Additional redirections on the website add some extra seconds for the loading of the webpage. Sure, there are important redirections, but you should exclude those ones that aren’t as necessary.
–Location limitations. Of course, you cannot change the real distance between the users and your website, but you can significantly change the loading speeds by Content Delivery Network usage.
–Code minifying. Of course, this practice gives the least results in terms of speed improvement, but it is still impactful. This means you should exclude unnecessary code parts such as semicolons, whitespaces, or comments. By reducing the size of the code files – the web pages can load a little bit quicker.
Effective services that directly impact the site performance
–Hosting solutions. Even the most professionally-created site can have some issues with the speed and performance in general, because of the server issues. That’s why, it is crucial to check the web providers for the reliability of the offered services as well as for the uptime characteristics, resources availability, offered locations, and much more. The choice of the hosting solution is extremely important and can be impactful.
–DNS. The speed of the page loading also depends on the conversion of domain names into IPs. Well, some web providers offer DNS together with the chosen hosting plan, but you can select a much faster variant just by searching and reviewing all available options on the market.
–Cybersecurity. The possibility of a cyber attack is so much faster right now than it was even a couple of years ago. That’s why, companies should also pay attention to the online risks and select security providers that will filter all the harmful and suspicious traffic activity.
Helpful tools for performance optimization
The tools that are available on the market are rather variable, you can select more pricy variants, cheaper ones, or free variants. The choice of the necessary tool is totally individual and depends on a variety of factors. We will share a couple of options, but you can find so many more.
Let’s start with a free tool that is called PageSpeed Insights. This variant is helpful for the analysis of the performance characteristics and provides some valuable improvements.
The next popular tool is GTmetrix. This option is a fantastic choice for analyzing and optimizing the speed as well as general performance checks. Among other great tools, we can also recommend WebPage Test, YSlow, and Pingdom.
Summing up
Website Speed is a key characteristic that can be influenced by lots of negative factors including regular DDoS attacks. Luckily, there are lots of practical methods that can significantly improve the performance of the website. Limit the number of redirections, minimize the size of your images, and other recommendations can significantly impact your situation.
