Images are an essential part of every website. Without images, it is impossible to envision any website, regardless of its type. However, you must be aware that large image files may slow down your website and lead to a poor user experience for your users. Lazy loading was developed to guarantee that this issue was resolved. It was carried out to decrease website loading times drastically.
In this blog, we will discuss what lazy loading is, its benefits, and the methods to use it effectively.
What is Lazy Loading?
Let’s learn the fundamentals of lazy loading before moving on. When you build your website, the pages contain dozens of pictures and videos. Due to the lengthy loading times of the large files, these components can cause your site to load slowly. In addition, every content on a page is downloaded and rendered when someone views that page on your website.
Although it enables the system to store all the data, there is no assurance that anyone who visits the site will see it all. Additionally, there is no assurance that visitors will stay on your website long enough to view all the loaded material. For example, if a website loads normally, visitors can only view the top portion of the content before leaving. This means you wasted memory and bandwidth by loading the bottom part of your website, which they never looked at.
When someone interacts with your website, it renders slowly. The top portion of your page will load, and the lower part of your page will contain placeholder content. The actual content replaces the placeholder content when a user scrolls down to view more of your website.
Therefore, nothing past the top of the page would load if someone loaded it and then quickly left. You don’t load the entire page at once when using lazy loading. As visitors scroll down the website, it loads. The alternative to bulk loading all of your information is lazy loading. Your audience doesn’t have to wait for your complete website to load in order to access information. Your website only loads when it is necessary.
Accessing your website using this loading method won’t take too long. However, an excessively slow-loading website will result in a more significant bounce rate. A high bounce rate will harm your SEO strategy. You can use tools like the GTmetrix speed test tool for analysing the webpage speed.
How Lazy Loading Impact SEO?
Initially, lazy loading seems the best way to speed up your sites’ loading. After all, your pages will load rapidly, enabling quick access to your information by your audience. However, the problem appears when you attempt to optimise for SEO.
The way search engines crawl your site is impacted by lazy loading. Search engines can’t fully crawl your website if it takes a while to load. This implies that people will disregard or misinterpret your material.
Because it affects how your page ranks in the search results, you don’t want search engines to miss the content on your website. In addition, it impacts how you rank for keywords and causes your website to rank incorrectly for some keywords. But this doesn’t mean you can’t use slow loading at all. Make sure all pertinent content is displayed in the viewport if you use lazy loading.
If you use infinite scroll, you should also ensure your sites support paginated loading. This allows Google to display links to specific points in content rather than linking to the top of endless scrolling pages and will allow users to share your content with others.
Google’s Lazy Loading Document
Google has produced a paper that explains how webmasters can set up websites to crawl properly when using lazy loading in order to assist businesses in adapting their websites for it. Google suggests providing information loading in the viewport in this document. The document also emphasises the necessity of offering distinctive links to material that takes a while to load. Google advises adhering to the following guidelines when using lazy loading in brief,
- Make sure the search engine crawler can view all of the content on your page
- Verify that all of the desired content is loading in the order in which it shows in the viewport
- Support endless scrolling with pagination
- Check out the Puppeteer script’s implementation of lazy loading
Benefits of Lazy Loading For SEO
There are many advantages to using lazy loading for Search Engine Optimisation on your websites. Let’s see them briefly,
Speed up the Page Load Time
The best way to maintain both user access to your information and data savings is through lazy loading. Your audience will quickly get your information if you use lazy loading. In addition, you won’t need to worry about wasting bandwidth by loading the rest of the page if they can locate what they need at the top of your page.
You can streamline the customer experience by doing this. While only loading the information they require when they require it, you assist in giving them access to helpful information.
Quickly Connect Viewers to the Content
Users can quickly connect to your content, which is one of the biggest advantages of lazy loading. The load time increases when you attempt to load your complete page. Because they can’t rapidly access your information, you run the risk of losing leads.
Your audience will have instant access to content with lazy loading. As soon as they load your website, they are able to see your information. As they scroll through your website, the additional information gradually loads.
This has enormous advantages because it controls how quickly your audience can obtain information. They can read your content at their own rate and load the remaining content as they scroll further down your page. It helps you provide information while also conserving bandwidth for your website.
Keep Viewers for a Long Period
Users spend more time on your website when they can reach your content quickly. As a result of keeping leads on your website longer, more people become aware of your business’s existence.
In order to expand your company, it’s critical to keep customers. Your audience is more likely to remain on your page when your site loads quickly. Your audience will have fast and effective access to information as a result of lazy loading.
This is essential to your ability to generate conversions. Your audience gets to know your brand as they spend more time on your website. Brand recognition is crucial for helping your company gain future leads. When people are aware of your brand, they are more likely to choose you over the competition. Because they are familiar with your brand, they will feel confident choosing your company.
Final Thought
It is up to you to use lazy loading for your website’s optimisation, as it is still very much pertinent. It offers a method to speed up page loads, enhance website functionality, and lower overall costs. We hope you read the full article and gained better knowledge about lazy loading.
