Page speed is an important aspect of a website. Internet users do not like to be kept waiting by a slow loading page. Even Google has been emphasizing the importance of loading speed for quite some time now. The good news is that there are many free tools that can help in page speed optimization.
The process of page speed optimization should start with a visit to your account at Google Webmaster Tools. Here you can check the performance of your website, including loading speed. The information is based on the data provided by Google search engine crawlers. Although detailed information is not available, you can get a sample of some problem pages from your site along with their load times. You can start you page optimization efforts by investigating problems in the sample pages.
For page speed optimization, Google’s Page Speed and YSlow are useful tools. Page Speed gives your pages scores out of hundred. It also comes up with a green check, a yellow triangle or a red symbol based on the speed of your pages. YSlow can be used to grade each page of your site as well as different page elements. Both the tools have very similar functions.
AOL Page Test is another useful tool for optimizing page speed. It gives a visual representation of statistics on page components in the form of a waterfall graphic. For a SEO company and for end users interested in optimizing their sites, these three tools will be very useful for page speed optimization.