For any digital agency offering website development to their clients, knowing how to optimise JavaScript can help create even faster, more efficient websites. As a top reseller offering one of the best web development reseller programs, Globital South Africa keeps an eye on the tech world as part of our ongoing efforts to improve our services for outsource website development and outsource digital marketing services. Recently, Google shared six key JavaScript optimisation tips that will help digital agencies enhance the performance of their clients’ websites.
Try To Avoid Proliferation
The number of JavaScript files on your client’s website can become excessive, especially if there are separate files for each UI component. This can result in JavaScript file proliferation, negatively impacting the website’s performance. Digital agencies can combine small files to create one larger file to download. They could also support HTTP2 on their client’s websites, boosting performance without the need to join files.
Minimise DNS Lookups
When there are too many DNS lookups searching for the reference JavaScript files, a user’s first visit to your client’s website can be significantly slowed down. Luckily for digital agencies, this is a simple fix. To reduce the number of DNS lookups, digital agencies can host externally referenced copies of JavaScript files on their clients’ websites.
Inefficient JavaScript Needs To Go
When JavaScript is inefficiently written, web pages can be seriously slowed down, resulting in a less-than-favourable user experience. By looking at Google’s PageSpeed Insights report, digital agencies can look for opportunities to rewrite inefficient JavaScript to achieve any of the following:
- Reduce JavaScript execution time
- Eliminate render-blocking resources
- Document.write
- Does not use passive listeners
Get Rid Of Unused JavaScript
When code is reused across a website, it’s not uncommon for code to be included that’s not actually needed. JavaScript that sits on a website that is never called on is deemed unused. Even though JavaScript may be unused and is never called upon, browsers still need to download and parse it, which wastes resources and contributes to a website performing badly. Tree-shaking can help digital agencies locate any JavaScript that is unused and is safe to delete on their clients’ websites. Eliminating this script will improve a website’s performance.
Look Into Compressing JavaScript Files
Ensuring that JavaScript files are compressed when downloaded is a big must in the eyes of Google. It will take more CPU time to decompress the file, but a compressed JavaScript file is still preferred. Most content management systems and web browsers already have support for compressing downloads built into them. Digital agencies would simply need to configure and enable compression for their clients’ websites properly.
Cache Duration For JavaScript
To avoid overhead checking when JavaScript files in the cache are out of date, digital agencies must check that JavaScript files return with suitable expiry time headers. Digital agencies can cache commonly used JavaScript files by referencing files from shared public locations that will allow browsers to be simpy used copies of files it has already downloaded, boosting site performance.
Looking to outsource website development for your clients’ websites? Want a digital agency that will optimise JavaScript to ensure websites perform at their best? Globital South Africa would love to help out! Contact us at support@globitalmarketing.com to find out more.
