Internet has made rapid inroads in Pakistan since its debut in the early 90s. According to the latest statistics, one in every ten individuals in the country has access to internet. Overall the country has about 30-million connected users. Of this, over 50-percent users get online via mobile internet. The information technology sector is thriving and there’s clear impetus to put the country on the global map for technology and innovation. The government has actively supported the cause and continues offers various sops to the IT industry to aid its growth.
With the focus firmly on the technology, internet connectivity and speed has become a necessity. Currently, various service providers offer broadband internet and 3G and 4G is on the horizon. Given this premise, it’s interesting to see how the websites fare on accessibility and responsiveness. We picked the top sites in Pakistan to check their performance on Google’s PageSpeed tool. We skipped the popular generic sites like Google, Facebook etc while choosing the local websites that rank high on Alexa.
Express.com.pk
This is a popular news site catering to both Urdu and English readers. The site is rated #17 locally and its global Alexa ranking is #2223.
PageSpeed Test Synopsis
The overall performance of the site is average with a score of 77/100
The average load time for the site was 1.8s which is fair.
There is a significant delay in page render time due to 4 synchronously-loading blocking script that causes delay in page load times.
The website does not leverage browser caching to load previously downloaded resources locally.
The images need proper formatting and compressing to boost load speed.
There is redundant HTML script that’s causing page load delays.
Urdupoint.com
It’s a news website that features breaking news, entertainment, and sports. The website is ranked #2333 globally and #13 locally as per Alexa.
PageSpeed Test Synopsis
The overall performance of this site on the speed is low with a score of 71/100
The load time is significantly high at 4.2 s which is rather slow.
The biggest issue identified from the test is 21 blocking resources and 21 CSS resources that hinder the page load times.
There is no browser caching present on the site.
Visible content needs optimizing to render above the fold content.
Images are not compressed and in correct format to reduce size and boost speed.
HTML code needs optimizing with removal of redundant code.
jang.com.pk
Another news and current affairs website that provides top headlines in sports, politics, and world affairs make it to this list. The site ranks #18 locally and #2064 among global sites.
PageSpeed Test Synopsis
The page took over 2.2s to load which is high and needs improvement.
The site does not leverage browser caching which could significantly reduces time spent on loading resources over the network.
There are 8 blocking resources that slow down the page considerably.
The webpage contains inflated resources that need gzip compression to reduce data size.
Visible content needs prioritizing with reduction of HTML.
Over 10% reduction is possible through proper formatting and compressing the images.
HTML codes are not compact, causing higher load and parse times. Minifying HTML can free up 20% of the resources.
hamariweb.com
This is a local search portal that aims to link users to optimum website based on their query. The site enjoys local popularity and is ranked #26 in Pakistan and #2642 globally.
PageSpeed Test Synopsis
The site load times are high at 4.6s and needs optimizing to better performance.
The overall Google PageSpeed score for the site is 69/100 which again points to various issues that need addressing.
The site has 15 blocking resources that’s causing major lag in page render times. Of these 11 are scripts blocking resources.
Using asynchronous scripts would add to the page load speed.
CSS delivery needs optimization for better above the fold content loading.
The site does not use browser caching resulting in delayed response time.
Images need formatting and compression to reduce their size. It would free up 17% space and enhance load time.
The site should consider Minifying HTML code in order to reduce lag.
As much as 50% resources can be freed by compressing resources using deflate or gzip.
Rozee.pk
This is one of the most popular job portal based in Pakistan. The site provides job listings from across the sectors. The site is ranked #4883 globally and one of the top 50 sites locally.
PageSpeed Test Synopsis
Of the sites sampled, Rozee had the highest load time at over 6s.
The site did not score too high on PageSpeed test as well garnering a score of 60/100.
There are 13 blocking script resources and 2 blocking CSS resources that are causing major delay in page render.
Expiry date is not set in the HTTP header for static resources to load previously downloaded resources from the local disk.
Images with proper formatting and compressing can reduce by 21% in size. This would help load the page faster.
The site server response time was 0.66s which has room for optimization. The system administrator can refer to Google recommendations to boost server response time.
Reduction in the amount of HTML needed to render above-the-fold content would lead to better site performance.
Compacting HTML code could save over 5% of data in bytes and lead to better download and parse times.
Overall, the most common issue that we came across in the sites sampled was on scripts that are not optimized, redundant code that can be further compressed and bulky images. Another metric that web admins need to keep a close watch on is the bounce rates. Though not covered in the PageSpeed analysis tool, bounce rates are available in the analytics report of the website. A slow loading website usually suffers from high bounce rates. After all, a site that takes too long to load is a turn off and doesn’t fare well in user experience. Web pages need to work smarter and harder. Site administrators not only need to adopt core best practices, but also utilize advanced techniques that optimize the browser’s efficiency.
Useful Resources:
Alexa Actionable Analytics for the Web
Featured Image: Toby Bradbury via Flickr
