Ah, this new addition to Site Rubix, site speed is becoming a right pain
Ah well, this has been a nightmare and still is.
I'm not sure what to believe here with this site speed and just what the implications are, in fact since this was added to SiteRubix I see this has been causing all sorts of problems.
If I'd known about this in the first place then I would have done 2 things.
1. Ensure my posts were between 1000-2000 words
2. Cut down on the images drastically
But when you have spent a lot of time on the layout, along with the images which tell a story in their own right, and then the comments that go with them, now I find that what I thought was a well laid out readable post after I have sabotaged them will look like a piece of ?.
Who knows just how bad the speed will be when I start adding videos.
There must a limit as to how many images based on the number of words.
I spent sometime sorting these images myself and just find it damn annoying.
I have deleted them resized them and imported them back, but nothing appears to have changed. I have even changed the format to one that I thought would make a difference.
Writing a post that is around 6k in words without images will just not look right. The comments are based around the images, and besides telling somebody how to do something rather than showing (images) them is supposed to be not the way.
Anyway rant over
Mick
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P.S. Some time ago I read Google would like some 4 photos, a video, internal and also an external link for a post in general.
When you are writing a review keeping to those figures would be impossible in a lot of cases. We are taught that you have to show the reader rather than tell.
Good evening Mick,
Let's cry on each other's shoulder.
I have also been driven nuts by this. One website was mainly green with a few yellow. The other was mainly yellow with 12 red. I started with the bad one, changed my photos from customized to standard size and that did the trick, now everything is yellow.
I went to the good website and did the same and was appalled to see I was losing some points.
I had just updated 10 old posts on each website and now had to do this readjusting with not very good results.
I am sending you the link to my last monthly WA post. What to do when you receive a comment on your website Greetings from the south of Spain, Taetske
Thanks Taetske for sharing.
What do mean from customized to standard size? Can you give me an example?
Mick
Good afternoon Mick,
When you download from your media files you can do that with standard sizes or you start pulling or pushing for bigger or smaller. Doing that the photo becomes customized.
I have made a screenshot of a photo in the place where you do that, hope it helps
Greetings from the south of Spain, Taetske
Good afternoon to you too Taetske, and hope the weather is being kind to you.
I understand what you mean, but what I find with this even though I do try to decrease the size is that I always seem to be having to use the large size because the others are too small.
I have a post on which private photos were used. It was in red with36/37. I checked it and it turned out they were gigantic with over 3000. I made them standard large and the post became 76/78
One could hardly see the difference in size on the post itself.
All I can say we will keep trying, Taetske
It is annoying. Such crazy rules google has for this. It still seems odd for me just because you have an image above the fold that it will slow down.
Extremely annoying Stanley. I'm sure when we have sorted these issues out that we will have learned a big lesson, well hopefully.
I know I have and will take more care in the future.
Glad this is the early stages otherwise just imagine 100+ posts that need changing.
Mick
I know. I have only been here 6 weeks. If I had hundreds of posts I would have had to hire someone to fix them. I have 4 young children, so I don't have a lot of extra time to fool with picture sizes, just barely enough to go through training and write some blogs.
Mike
Hi Mick I'm the same I need my images.
I feel bad that you removed them and re- added! You don't have to take them out.
I'm not on my laptop to leave you the links I'm out.
I wrote 2 image blog posts about this. There is an easier way, you don't have to touch your posts.
One shows you how to re-optimize them in the WordPress media library. The other post has a comment by Adam explaining this SiteSpeed Insights.
Google is always picky over nothing! All I did was re-optimize my images individually over doing it bulk so I can see if changes were made and it was huge.
The main problem is our logo banners and any banners on our side bars. For those I need to reduce the size and it's done.
I had 2 'over the fold' issues which means the image was at the top and needed to be lowered. This is mentioned in my blog post where Adam left his comment. Our websites are too top heavy. Images at the top and banners.
It's too bad you did all of that work.
I need to go but I'll check in later to see if those images blog posts helped you out.
I needed a break! From this and took off for the day.
Thanks Patsy, I won't mention names but that was on the advice of someone here.
Not to worry I won't be doing it again.
Hi Mick you are welcome.
I use this Google PageSpeed tool.
If your website is green here which it most likely will be...then you are good to go.
Never mind the other results this one is legit and it's the only one I use.
https://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/insights/
Let me know what your results are.
Hi Patsy, well I did actually change them in the media library first but someone mentioned that they had to be removed from Wordpress altered then uploaded, and I know it didn't at all seem the right thing to do, although I did it anyway.
I do use Googles page speed from Site Rubix to get a cross-comparison and they always seem to tally up.
I use EWWW Image Optimizer but I also installed and activated WP Smush to see if it would bring the size down further, but it didn't really.
Hi Mick, when you have 2 similar plugins they clash.
Trust me, I've had a really bad experience with this not realizing I had 3 similar plugins for my sitemap. 2 from the lessons and 1 SiteSupport added because the other 2 were clashing!
I sent them a 'nice' firm message and won't go into anymore. It will turn out to be a novel. I discovered this mess on my own as a brand new member. I hope those lessons have been updated since.
There is nothing more you can do with the images.
EWWW is in the top 3 plugins list so its the best otherwise Kyle and Carson would not have told us to add it once SiteSpeed was launched a few months ago.
Did you remove the Smush plugin?
It would be good to go over your plugins checking for similar ones, or the ones we were told to remove when Sitespeed was added.
I can take a look at your plugin list if you want, just PM it to me. I wrote a couple of blog posts on this once I found out what a mess it caused and helped other members with their list.
I have 3 yellow results left. 2 at 80% and one 84%. That is GREEN to me and shows how picky Google is.
Those 3 'yellow' results are because they are 'top heavy' on my mobile results.
My logo banner and 2 of my sidebar banners. WA and ShareAsale.
So then...why are the rest of the results all green in the 90+% range? when they have to all be top heavy like the other 3.
If I don't reduce those banners, I will be fine.
The link I left you isn't like the results for the ones in SiteRubix, althought it has the same title. Those results are the little nit picky things, and most times it only takes fixing one to take you up into the 90+%.
The link I left is your over all speed with mobile and desktop and that is all you need. It loads up quickly and makes Google, visitors and us happy.
Mick, do you have SiteSpeed turned ON in the Site Manager?
Go to SiteManager > Click on 'Details'. Scroll down a bit and you will see what is in the attached screenshot. Make sure SiteSpeed is switched ON.
In reading through this thread, it seems some people may not aware that it needs to be turned on.
When testing with Google Page Speed Tool, if you have been working on your site just prior to the text, although the tool is now integrated within WA, in my experience in that situation it's best to go directly to Google's page:
https://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/insights/
You should always run the test a second time after 30 seconds to get the updated test result because there is a slight lag with the cached pages.
Forget Pingdom and other speed tools out there. Be consistent in using the Google Testing tool. PageSpeed Insights, Website Analysis at Your Fingertips See Screenshot:
~Jude
A few questions to see if we can narrow down the probable cause.
Is your website on your owned domain? Or the Siterubix subdomain?
By an chance are you using the JetPack plugin or any type of Caching plugin?
As long as you host your videos on a reputable and proven external video hosting service such as YouTube or Vimeo, etc, video embeds on your site should not slow it down.
If it is on your owned domain, have you put in a SiteSupport ticket and asked them to take a look at it?
Have you checked the loading speed of the theme right out of the box before adding content to see if the theme has fast loading? I ask because I have a Premium theme I would love to use but right out of the box, the loading speed was dismal. I might try it again
~Jude
Hi Jude,
My own domain.
Jetpack and caching plugins, no to those.
Nice to know about Youtube.
No, I haven't created a support ticket and maybe that's the next port of call.
With regards to loading speed, I choose the theme Twenty Sixteen which according to the stats 100's of thousands are using.
Thanks,
Mick
Definitely put in a support ticket. I had a similar issue in the beginning. They checked my site and fixed it right away. I hope the same thing happens for you.
Nobody in their right mind will read a 6k word post. I doubt that they will read 1k-2k, to be honest. People are lazy and in a hurry, so I'm not sure what to say there. I'm publishing my first site with WA later today or tomorrow, and will let you know what the site speed has to say. I know that my 1st site will be image heavy, and they'll be optimized, so I'll build the site as I believe flow/feel/content require, and then see what site speed says. There are other tools to measure site speed and page loads, so I'll rely on those as well. Peace Mick!
Hey Bob, I found it very easy to ramp this post up as it is the WA review. I have seen quite a few in WA from members who are in LA every year and it makes my post seem well small in comparison.
In future I will be cutting them down to around 1000 words, that way I'll be able to be more productive, but sometimes it is very difficult to do.
I am having exactly the same problem. After resizing the images I still get slow loading times. I also use lots of images, as they make my content look much more appealing.
The largest post I am using quite a lot and don't wish to delete any as I will have to start rewriting the post
I'm getting a reading of
Index (whatever that is) D=64 M=43
Largest post D=77 M=76
Post just worked on was reading D=77 M=78 now I have just added 2 additional images and it is D=88 M=78
Work that one out!
yes, you have a lot of work to do on your site
for the desktop on all my sites speed in the 90's and on mobile each site have 2 yellow and the rest green in the list
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Had the same issues with this. I found that the plugin "Sociable" here at WA seem to be causing speed issues with the theme I am using (IMNews). I turned off sociable now posts/pages etc are showing in the high 90's.
Hey John what have you replaced the plugin with?
Hi Woz this work in progress, will let you know later today
Hi Wozz, after seeing what happened when I reactivated "Sociable" Things went wrong again. Deactivate and install "WP Fastest Cache" and has increased speed to what I had earlier. Could be "Sociable" is not compatible with my theme.