How to Improve First Byte Time
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- TTFB measures server response time and directly impacts site speed
- Improve First Byte Time with fast hosting, caching and a CDN
- Use tools like PageSpeed Plus and Lighthouse to monitor and enhance TTFB.
TTFB (Time to First Byte) is a measurement of how long it takes a browser to receive the first byte of data from a server. The faster this is, the faster a page will display to users. If you can reduce TTFB, your site will provide a better user experience.
Websites must load in less than 2.2 seconds to be in the fastest 10% of sites, and knowing how to improve TTFB will help you achieve this.
In this guide, we'll look at:
- The causes of slow TTFB
- What a good TTFB is
- How to measure TTFB
- How to improve TTFB
Page Speed Plus has an excellent Time To First Byte Test that is free to use so before getting started, measure your score to establish a benchmark:
Contents
- What Causes Slow TTFB?
- What Is a Good TTFB?
- Measuring TTFB
- How to Improve TTFB
- Making Sure Your Website Is as Fast as It Can Be
What Causes Slow TTFB?
A slow TTFB is an irrtaiting experience. Several factors can cause this.
Slow Server
The number one cause of slow TTFB is a slow server. An origin server may take an extended period to process the root HTML request and respond to the browser. This usually means insufficient server resources meaning your server isn't powerful enough.
A hosting plan that doesn't have suitable CPU or memory resources can struggle here. You're more likely to experience this if you use a shared hosting plan as each site will be competing for resources.
Long Redirect Chain
The more redirects you have before a page starts loading, the slower the TTFB will be. It can cause a several-second delay before the web server starts processing the root HTML request.
Connection Issues
Various connection issues can affect TTFB. Some common examples of this include:
- SSL connection issues
- Slow DNS lookups (these usually only affect first-time website users)
- Downstream connection issues at data centers
What Is a Good TTFB?
According to web.dev, a site should aim to have a First Byte Time that ensures the 75th percentile of users experience a First Contentful Paint (FCP) within the good threshold. For most sites, 800 milliseconds or less is a good target TTFB.
If a site has a TTFB that falls between 800 and 1800 ms, it's considered average. When it moves past 1800 ms, it falls into the poor range.
It's worth noting that TTFB isn't a Core Web Vitals metric. As such, it's not a requirement for sites to meet the "good" threshold. At the same time, having a lower TTFB is always beneficial.
Measuring TTFB
Before trying to improve site speed, you should get an understanding of what yours is. You can use a range of tools to test TTFB. The best of the bunch is of course the Time To First Byte Test from Page Speed Plus.
Bear in mind different tools will often provide slightly different results. Various factors such as test location and testing methodology can affect the precise results.
PageSpeed Plus is a very effective solution here. On top of TTFB, it can provide:
- Pagespeed Insights
- Web Vitals
- Lighthouse
It can compare your site to competitors to see how it stacks up. You can set up regular tests which can run automatically, making it easier to gather useful insights. PageSpeed Plus also offers a wide range of additional features and capabilities such as testing tools and cache warming.
How to Improve TTFB
After measuring your TTFB, you may find it's a lot poorer than it should be. There are several ways you improve this.
Get A More Powerful Server
The first (and most effective) thing to do is get faster server. This is a simple matter of clicking a bigger size in your hosting panel. Bigger server means more CPU, RAM and network throughput which results in pages being sent back down the wire faster. There is no risk to changing server sizes and nothing is impacted aside from the brief window when the upgrade is running. Do it today!
Use Fewer Third Party Plugins and Choose a Fast Theme
Plugins can add a lot of functionality to your site, but you should only use them if you need them. Some plugins shouldn't have a huge impact on the speed, but they can add up. Using too many will slow your site down, impacting the user experience.
Similarly, a lightweight theme can be beneficial. It will be less resource-heavy, further improving your TTFB and overall speed.
Implement Caching Layers
Caching is a very effective method of improving performance. You can use either full-page caching or object caching to achieve this. Cloudflare's full page cache is an excellent choice that is easy to turn on.
Both options store site resources in a separate location from your original server. This means users who have these resources stored won't need to download them again each time they visit your site. The result is faster load times and reduced server overhead.
Utilize a Content Delivery Network (CDN)
A CDN uses multiple servers in different geographic locations. Large physical distances can cause latency issues, and this solution helps avoid this.
This is ideal if your origin server is a long distance from most of your users. For example, if your server is in the US but most of your website visitors are located in Asia, you can use a CDN to take advantage of a much closer server.
Use Minification and Compression
These approaches can compress your site's resources to reduce transfer time. Minification removes unnecessary parts from code (such as comments and whitespace). Code compression uses algorithms to rewrite the binary code of files using fewer bits.
Some hosting providers will do this by default, or you can use external services to do it. It's worth finding out if your hosting plan includes this or if you should do it yourself.
Optimize Your Images
Images can take up more space than needed, so you should optimize them to improve performance. You can use next-gen image formats such as:
- JPEG2000
- JPEG XR
- WebP
- AVIF
You can also compress images to reduce their file size further.
Making Sure Your Website Is as Fast as It Can Be
Now that you know how to Improve First Byte Time, you can start implementing these strategies. The performance of your site will have a huge impact on the user experience, helping you achieve your business goals.
PageSpeed Plus is a powerful tool with a wide range of features you can use to analyze and improve your website. We're trusted by several large organizations such as Zoom, Forbes, and Acer, and have multiple pricing plans so you can select one that fits your business needs. Use our platform to test your site speed today.