Success in the modern digital world depends heavily on the user experience and the speed of the website.
A slow loading website lowers the search engine rankings and frustrates the users too.
In order to overcome that, Lazy loading can be utilized. It is an effective method to optimize the performance of the website. This is specifically efficient for WordPress powered websites with a large number of images.
So in this article, let us explore what is lazy loading in WordPress, how it works and how to implement it to boost the speed and performance of the website.
What is Lazy Loading in WordPress?
Lazy Loading in WordPress is a performance optimization technique. It delays the loading of non-critical resources like images and videos until they are actually needed.
Lazy Loading will not load all the page elements at once. It delays the loading of images that aren’t immediately visible on the screen.
This improves the user experience, lowers the initial load time of the page and conserves bandwidth.
Lazy loading activates and loads media and images as they enter the viewport when a user scrolls down a webpage.
Even if the website has a lot of heavy content, this process makes the website feel faster.
Importance of Lazy Loading in WordPress:
WordPress’ lazy loading feature has the following benefits:
- Benefits of SEO – Google uses page speed as one of its major ranking factors. So the websites that implement Lazy Loading see an increase in SEO Performance. This in turn results in higher rankings.
- Improved Mobile Experience – Lazy Loading benefits mobile visitors by speeding up delivery of the content. It also lowers the requirement for excessive data consumption.
- Enhanced Page Speed – Lazy Loading loads only the necessary content up front. This in turn significantly reduces the initial load time of the website. Thus, users enjoy a better experience on faster pages.
- Decreased Bandwidth Usage – When users scroll, only the resources that are necessary are loaded. This reduces the server load and bandwidth consumption. Users with slower networks or those using mobile devices will find this especially helpful.
How to enable Lazy Loading in WordPress?
The implementation of Lazy Loading in WordPress is simple. It can be done in various ways as follows:
1.Using a Lazy Loading Plugin
Advanced Lazy Loading features can be added with a variety of plugins.
Some well-liked choices are,
a.Smush
It is a plugin for Image optimization and widely used. It includes Lazy Loading for Images and also compresses the images to improve performance.
Step 1: Install and Activate Smush Plugin
- Go to the WordPress Dashboard > Plugins > Add New
- In the search bar, search for “Smush”
- Click Install Now for Smush – Lazy Load Images, Optimize and Compress Images by WPMU Dev and then Activate.
Step 2: Access the Settings of Smush Plugin
- In the WordPress dashboard, go to Smush > Dashboard
Step 3: Enable Lazy Loading
- In the Smush Dashboard, go to the Lazy Load option from the menus.
- In that page, toggle the switch to Enable lazy Loading.
b. WP Rocket
It is an all-in-one performance plugin. It includes Lazy Loading for Images, iframes and videos. Other Components like caching and minification are also optimized.
Here is how to enable Lazy Loading in WordPress using WP Rocket Plugin:
Step 1: Install and Activate WP Rocket
- In the WordPress Dashboard, navigate to Plugins > Add New
- Search for WP Rocket or purchase it from its official website, download and upload it in WordPress.
- Now Click Install Now and then Activate.
Step 2: Access the Settings of WP Rocket
- Now you will see a new menu “WP Rocket” in the WordPress Dashboard.
- From there, navigate to WP Rocket>Settings
Step 3: Enable Lazy Loading
- In the WP Rocket settings page > Media > Lazy Load Section
- Check the boxes to enable lazy loading for Images, iframes and Videos.
- Also replace you tube iframe with preview image. This option replaces the you tube video iframe with a preview thumbnail. Thus it enhances the loading speed
Step 4: Save Changes
- Scroll down and click “Save Changes” at the bottom of the Page.
2.Making use of the default WordPress Core Lazy Loading Option
Lazy loading of images is enabled by default starting with WordPress 5.5.
Here’s the easiest way to enable lazy loading: WordPress adds the loading=”lazy” attribute to images automatically.
So, upgrade the WordPress, if it is older than 5.4. Do the following steps to implement that,
- Go to the WordPress dashboard > Update
- A prompt to update to a newer version will appear if you’re using the older version.
Although it is the simplest option, you have the least control over which images to lazy load with this technique.
For this reason, the developers might not think of it as a reliable option.
3.Enabling Native Lazy Loading in WordPress
Lazy Loading can be added manually to the WordPress theme for advanced users.
Take complete control over lazy loading by directly adding the loading=”lazy” attribute to your HTML image tags or theme files.
- For Images, use like the following:
<img src="image.jpg" alt="Description" loading="lazy">
- To lazy load the iframes, add the same attribute to the <iframe> tag.
<iframe src="video.html" loading="lazy"></iframe>
Lazy Loading in WordPress: Best Practices
Consider the following best practices, when implementing Lazy Loading in WordPress.
- Before enabling Lazy Loading, utilize tools like Google PageSpeed Insights or GTmetrix to test the performance of the website. Repeat the same after enabling the lazy Loading too.
- Content Above-the-Fold Should not be Lazy Loaded. Also, avoid letting images that are visible above the fold load slowly. For a seamless user experience and to avoid delays, these should load instantly.
- Optimized images work best in conjunction with lazy loading. To reduce the size of the images without compromising quality, use plugins or image compression tools like Smush or Short Pixel.
- Consider employing lazy loading to postpone the loading of any embedded videos or iFrames in the website. This will improve your website’s speed even more.
Conclusion
Thus, this article reveals about Lazy Loading in WordPress. It improves the speed, performance and overall experience of the WordPress website.
A faster website can be built by deferring the loading of non-critical resources. It also lowers the server load and improves SEO.
Any WordPress website owner, whether using built-in features, plugins or custom code, if trying to maximize the performance of the site needs to have lazy loading enabled.
Follow the steps and best practices outlined in this guide. You can make sure your WordPress website is faster, more effective and ready to rank higher in search engines.
