When it comes to the business of websites, every second counts. According to a study by the Aberdeen Group, a one-second delay in page load results in a 7 percent decrease in conversions. Many factors contribute to a slower site speed, but one of the main issues websites are facing today is the growing size of web pages. In fact, GigaOm recently lamented the growing epidemic of page bloat, noting that the average web page is now more than 1 MB in size. What’s behind this bloat? One reason is the increasing number of third-party vendor tags (JavaScript snippets) and poor tag placements that weigh down the page and equate to slower response times. Over the years, Tealium has pioneered best practices in tagging techniques to minimize the impact of tags on site performance.
Below are five ways Tealium helps improve website performance. To discover more ways, download the white paper, “How Tealium Improves Site Performance.”
- Asynchronous Tag Loading: Most tags today are loaded in a synchronous, or serial, fashion. That is, a page starts by completely loading the first tag, then moves on to loading the second tag, then the third tag, and so on. With asynchronous tagging, the browser can load the different tags in parallel. It no longer has to wait for a certain tag to load completely before moving on to the next tag or the rest of the page content. This process is completed in a fraction of a time compared to the synchronous method.
- Conditional Tag Loading: Conditional load rules can be set up within Tealium to reduce the number of times a tag is loaded on a page. For example, many tags need to be loaded only once during a session or per visit. Traditionally, every tag that’s set up for a site will load on a page every time, regardless of whether that tag is needed on the page. With conditional loading, you can decide under which circumstance to load each tag on a given page. Conditional loading improves load time by dramatically reducing the number of tags being loaded onto a page.
- Slow Tag Killing: One of the most common reasons tags slow down page load speed is that some tags are slow. Various factors impact the performance of tags, ranging from Internet router bottlenecks to low-cost cloud services by vendors. It only takes a single slow-loading tag to significantly slow down the entire web site. Slow tag killing eliminates this potential by terminating the underperforming tags. You can set the criteria that define slow tags, say, at half a second. When a tag hits this half a second mark, the system will terminate the tag from loading.
- Reduced Page Weight: Tealium replaces all vendor tags on a website with a single tag. For example, a typical Adobe SiteCatalyst implementation may consist of about 2KB in page code on each page. For a website averaging 10 page views per session, this translates to 20KB in page code savings during each session. The page code replacement results in substantially smaller footprint, which helps load pages faster.
- Script Compression: Tealium optimizes JavaScript libraries by compressing them using the “gzip” compression format. Compression is a simple and effective way to speed up websites by saving bandwidth and reducing the data transfers necessary. Compression allows required libraries to be transferred at a fraction of the time compared to traditional tagging. Because files are downloaded faster, tags execute faster, providing both an improved performance and more accurate tracking.
Website performance is an important issue for any organization looking to provide a better customer experience and maximize conversions. Tealium offers extensive ways to ensure that your website delivers key data while maintaining high site performance. To find out more about how Tealium can help improve site performance, download our free white paper.
