Name: Hyper Text Transfer Protocol
Referred to as: HTTP
Category: On-page SEO
Correct Use: n/a
Description:
Hyper Text Transfer Protocol (HTTP) is the standard for computers to transfer hypertext (HTML-web pages) over the internet.
Behind every web transaction that happens every second on the digital platform, lies the potency of HTTP. It is the language of servers and web browsers, search engines and portals, web services, and e-commerce. If you are dealing with web-based programs, then it is an absolute necessity to understand the Hyper Text Transfer Protocol. On the other hand HTTPS refers to Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure.
Whether you are involved in the designing, programming, analysis, and administration of a web page, the protocol will be mandatory to complete the interactions. Although the basic concept is simple, the advanced features of the protocol can be very challenging. It is the bi-product of numerous complex technologies and terminologies belonging to different disciplines.
So if you don’t understand the interrelated technologies that form the core of the protocol, you may not logically analyze its role in maintaining your web-based program, app, or website. As it will be the chief path to allow any online interactions and transactions, you have to gather more information and understand the concept for future planning.
Our take:
When you visit any website, have you noticed the “HTTP” prefix just before the address of the site? For instance, http://www.google.com. This certainly looks familiar. And it is also time to know that HTTP is the fundamental element of the ever-growing world wide web. It will allow any web browser, like Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer, or Apple Safari to communicate with the server that hosts the particular website.
The sending and receiving of the messages between the server and the client (you, in this case) will allow you to access all the websites that you check. If the protocol denies access to a particular website, you can’t access the site.
Now imagine this way. You have a website, and you have a huge client base who are continuously accessing the site. All of you know that a slow loading page is something that irritates the visitors and makes you lose potential customers. Unfortunately, the high number of HTTP requests can lead to the slow loading of the pages.
Whenever a user is visiting any page on your website, the browser will request a lot of files. It will increase the number of HTTP requests that will slow down the page loading process. So, if you are looking for a faster-loading website, you have to curtail the HTTP requests.
As the loading speed of the website can very well become a significant parameter to influence your ranking on the SERP, you have to be careful about the HTTP requests. The top 10 results on Google will need only 1.65 seconds on average to load the site.
Of course, the above information pretty clearly shows how the fast-loading website can affect the ranking on the search engine result page. So why don’t you learn about the do’s and dont’s that will help you to get a better rank on the SERP with a fast-loading page?
Extra reading
Do:
You have to deal with the total number of HTTP requests on the site if you want to have a massive impact on the SEO. Go through the following tips that will certainly show you how to increase the loading speed by managing HTTP.
1. Delete unnecessary images
You already know that more files imply more requests. Therefore, your goal should be to minimize the number of files. If you can reduce the number of images on the page, it will always affect the page loading speed as it reduces the number of HTTP requests.
So delete the images that you don’t think will add much additional value to the page.
2. Reducing image size
The next step to minimize the HTTP requests is to reduce the size of the image files that you are putting on the site. If you can use smart plug-ins that can help in compressing the image files, it can make the images web friendly. For instance, it is always better to use .jpg images instead of .png images.
The reduction in the file size will always reduce the server load which will accelerate the performance of the website.
Don’t:
- Don’t allow the site to send HTTP requests for all images once the visitor lands on the home page. Instead, apply lazy loading techniques that send the server a request only when the user scrolls over to an image.
Tip:
A few points should be under the radar to manage HTTP:
- You should clean the media library frequently and also delete the images that are no longer necessary,
- Don’t delete images that are significant to the relevant page.
Identify the number of HTTP requests your website is receiving to optimize accordingly.
Introduced:
What Google Says:
What experts say: