How Does Minifier Improve Website Performance?
Minifier is basically an online tool that can help improve website’s overall performance. It also improves search engine ranking by improving the loading speed, which is a confirmed ranking factor. The tool quickly and accurately shrinks the HTML, CSS, and JavaScript code files of the website.
To do so, the minifier removes unnecessary characters, classes, tags, whitespaces, new liners, and many more from the input code.
However, to further understand how a minifier will contribute to improving the loading speed and, ultimately, the performance of a site, you will have to read this blog post till the very end.
Ways Through Which a Minifier Can Enhance Site Performance In terms of Loading Speed?
Below we have discussed some of the most common ways through which a minifier can help improve website performance.
Reduced File Size:
Most of the websites on the internet have HTML, CSS, and JavaScript files. If these are heavy in terms of size, they will definitely cause the site to load slow. This is because more data or packets are needed to be transferred from the main server to the user’s local server. The slow loading speed of the site will ultimately increase the risk of facing Google penalties and poor user experience.
Fortunately, a minifier can help in solving this problem, let us explain how. The minifier is trained according to the rules of different programming languages which allows it to shrink the given code quickly and accurately without damaging the overall working.
To demonstrate better, we provided an HTML code to a Minifier to ensure how it would reduce the code size.
Input HTML Code:
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
<title>Sample HTML Page</title>
<link rel="stylesheet" href="styles.css">
</head>
<body>
<h1>Welcome to My Website</h1>
<p>This is a sample paragraph of text.</p>
<div id="content">
<img src="image.jpg" alt="Sample Image">
<p>This is another paragraph within a div.</p>
</div>
<script src="script.js"></script>
</body>
</html>
Output from minifier:
As you can see in the screenshot above, the minifier has cut down the input HTML code in half. So, the smaller code files mean less data needs to be transferred from the server, resulting in quick loading.
Faster Data Parsing:
Do you know? Even after receiving all the packets of the requested site from the main server, your local browser also needs to parse and analyze them before showing the interface to you. Remember, this process is crucial because the packets contain information about how the browser should display the requested site.
So, if your site code files are large, the browser will have to devote time to scanning and parsing them. This is where a minifier comes in handy again. It will help you condense HTML, CSS, and JavaScript files with a single click.
The small number of packets will be easier to handle and parse for your local browser, leading to a quick page loading speed. This will further result in improved user experience and ultimately increased SERP visibility – which is one of the primary goals of every website…right?
Reduced Bandwidth Usage
We all know that rural areas all around the globe often have to face internet speed issues. Besides this, mobile phones also have issues with loading sites quickly. A minifier can also prove beneficial in this regard. On the backend, optimized SQL statements that return only the required data can also help reduce bandwidth usage, ensuring faster data delivery even on limited connections.
Wrapping Up
Website loading is an essential ranking factor that has a direct relation with the overall site performance. There are numerous tools available that can improve loading speed, one such tool is minifier. It works by condensing the given code to reduce the file size. The reduced code file size will improve loading speed and ultimately increase SERP visibility.
Frequently Asked Questions
What Exactly A Minifier Is?
A minifier is an online tool that is capable of minifying HTML, CSS, and JavaScript code by removing unnecessary characters, tags, comments, classes, spaces, etc. During the elimination of such elements, the tool also ensures the working of the actual code remains unchanged.
What type of code files can be minified with a minifier?
Most minifiers available on the internet are capable of condensing HTML, CSS, and JavaScript files.
Does code minification boost all website performance?
Minification is highly effective for websites with larger CSS, HTML, and JavaScript files. In general, almost any site can benefit from it, especially the ones with hundreds of pages.
