GZipped Packets Web Optimization Through Compression

GZip optimization and the many benefits

GZip has global energy-saving ramifications.

I originally planned to write something here about an energy saving provisional patent on a device a friend and I prototyped and lodged some years back. But I think it will suffice to say that when I first came across the subject of website compression, I understood quite quickly that this does have energy saving ramifications on a global scale. It might be miniscule yes, but it all adds up to big numbers. And so your participation on this step does contribute to a greener planet with a faster internet.

Ok, so if you have a job that entails using the internet, you are governed by the technological laws of networking whether you know about them or not. And at this time, transfer between computers is done in packets which is bits of your data bundled with various bits of other information to help the packet find its way through the maze of computers which comprise the internet.

These packets bounce around the globe finding one route or another until both servers find and complete the transaction with each other. Each bounce is another computer wishing to route your packet. And a packet is only as big as the largest possible packet size any one of those single computers can handle.

So the bigger your webpage is, the more of this bouncing around is needed. You might not notice this as much with broadband but it still occurs. And the fastest web page of course is one made of pure text with no images or JavaScript/flash/silverlight driven ads or counters etc.

Other Benefits of using GZip

There are also other benefits of using GZip.

One is that we know that Google looks at the speed factor. So a slow down in the time required to display your web page can lead to a drop in your serp position. Another is that independant studies (Velocity 2009) indicate that there is a relationship between the page rendering speeds and the willingness of visitors to further explore your pages.

Website Optimization through compression

Once your browser has all the data relating to the shape of your web page, it is able to begin the rendering of the web page.

And so it is that using GZip reduces text type files by such a large percentage, the browser receives the needed core data in less packets and can then formulate and render the screen sooner. The images and all else play catch up (JavaScript calls to statistics or ads can often slow the page rendering process).

On the next page, of this course, we are going to test if you have compression successfully enabled. This is something anyone can do. All you need is copy and paste skills to find out if you are serving lightening fast web pages or not.

You can find our technical article on how to GZip linked in the next paragraph, however this actual seo course won't teach the technical aspects of this procedure as it requires a good level of technical ability. It is a Website Administrator's task and not one for the inexperienced as it can involve altering your website hosting configuration. So if you are not a technical wizard, hire us or hire another or call in a favour from a guru friend or the like. As we previously mentioned, we are more than happy to assist paid students of the course. Also, not all hosts allow for compression.

using ob_gzhandler for website optimization

However, if you use PHP and your install of apache or iis doesn't allow mod_gzip or mod_deflate, you can use ob_gzhandler to get around this problem (the above image is from our how to gzip using ob_gzhandler with apache 2.2 tutorial article).

We will learn how to test if our site has compression enabled on the next page.

Note: Small website owners paying more than $100 per year for their website hosting should contact us for a better deal. We include free setup and you get unlimited up/down load, emails and much, much more.