How to Eliminate Render-blocking Resources to boost site speed in 2023

Google's PageSpeed Insights tool is a great way to identify render-blocking resources on your website. Render-blocking resources prevent the visible part of your web page from appearing until they load.

This can impact your page's performance and cause visitors to have a negative experience.

This post will show you how to fix and eliminate render-blocking resources so your pages load faster and provide a better user experience.

Understand what render-blocking resources are and how they can impact your website's performance

Website performance can be significantly affected by something as simple as a render-blocking resource.

These elements and code must be loaded before the page can start rendering; anything preventing it from doing so will cause delays in loading times.

Identifying any render-blocking resources on a website is essential to ensure fast and efficient performance.

Resources like JavaScript and external CSS files should be placed at the bottom of the page or deferred loading to minimize their effect on the website's speed.

Taking preventative measures like these ensures visitors don't hesitate to return to your website, allowing you more opportunities to make meaningful connections with them.

Use tools like Google PageSpeed Insights to identify render-blocking resources on your website

If you're an experienced web designer, you know how important it is to constantly optimize your website's performance.

Tools like Google PageSpeed Insights can be highly beneficial to achieve this goal.

They allow you to quickly and easily identify any resources causing a render-blocking issue on your website so that you can tackle these issues before they become a bigger problem.

With fewer render-blocking elements, your site will perform faster, leading to a better user experience.

Because of this, every web designer needs to take advantage of the free and valuable resources available from Google PageSpeed Insights!

After you enter your webpage and click "Analyze" you will get your Core Web Vitals report. Afterwards check the reports below the scores;

Click on the same and check the resources that are render-blocking your webpage.

How to Eliminate Render Blocking Resources

There are different methods to eliminate render-blocking resources.

One way is to use asynchronous loading, which allows resources like JavaScript and CSS to be loaded simultaneously. This makes loading faster and the page performance better.

Inline small JavaScript and CSS code into HTML documents instead of using external files can also help. Inlining moves resource requests from external server calls to local memory, thus reducing the load time.

Another way to eliminate render-blocking resources is by optimizing images and ensuring they are properly compressed. This helps reduce the size of the file, which in turn decreases loading times.

Finally, use browser caching to store data on a visitor's computer to retrieve it faster when they revisit your website.

Combining these methods can help reduce render-blocking resources and provide a better user experience.

By taking the steps necessary to eliminate render-blocking resources, you will be helping your website perform at its best! With fewer rendering issues, visitors can enjoy a smooth browsing experience with faster loading times.

We will discuss each method in detail for WordPress and non-WordPress websites below.

Defer loading of Render Blocking JavaScript files until after the initial page load

JavaScript files are an essential part of web pages but can also be a source of lag and poor performance. There may be many render-blocking javascript files on your page that needs to be optimized.

The best way to avoid poor performance caused by JavaScript is to defer loading all JavaScript files until after the initial page load.

This makes page layouts render faster, and users have a smoother experience.

Additionally, by implementing this practice with other techniques such as minifying, compressing, and caching, page load times can be further improved for better user experiences.

Deferring the loading of JavaScript files ensures that your users' pages are loading optimally!

How to Defer the load of Javascript files on WordPress websites

For WordPress, we have only one solution for all of your core web vitals problems, i.e. WPROCKET cache plugin. Here signup for the account and download the plugin here.

After uploading and activating the plugin, you need to go to the settings and then click on WPROCKET as below;

WPRocket dashboard will open, and here you need to navigate to the "File optimization" option from the left and check the "Loads Javascript Deferred" option as below;

Now click on save, and you're good to go!

How to defer javascript on Non-WordPress Websites

If you use the custom script, then you may have a basic or advance knowledge of HTML, and then you can implement this easily; all you need to do is to add a "defer" tag to your javascript files that need to load defer.

For example, the below code is the basic structure of HTML Code;

In order to defer the loading of this, you just need to add defer tag as below;

After adding the "defer" tag, your script file will load after the HTML page is loaded.

Optimize Render Blocking CSS delivery by using techniques such as inline CSS or media queries

With the world of web development and design constantly growing, it's essential to be prepared for every potential outcome.

By utilizing techniques such as inline CSS or media queries, web developers can optimize the delivery of their website's CSS files and components.

Inline CSS is tremendously helpful when only a few elements are used, while media queries allow CSS changes based on different device sizes and resolutions.

By applying these powerful optimization tools correctly, web developers can ensure their websites look their best no matter the circumstance.

How to eliminate Render blocking CSS on WordPress Websites

You can use the WPRocket cache plugin to eliminate render-blocking CSS on WordPress. You are blessed to have a WP Plugin like WPRocket that can elevate your WordPress speed to another level.

Go to WProcket Dashboard, navigate to File optimization and check the "Optimize CSS Delivery" option as below;

This will generate inline CSS from your Render blocking CSS files such that it will remove the blocking time of your website's paint.

How to Eliminate Render Blocking CSS on Non-WordPress Websites

If you are using a custom Script, then you can implement it in your code by including the same style sheet twice, once with a media query and another with a deferred loading.

First, you need to extract critical CSS paths from your CSS files. Second, You will extract those Critical CSS and paste it as Inline CSS to improve render-blocking time.

Now you must be wondering how to know which CSS we should extract. Then we have a tool for you, i.e. Sitelocity's Critical Path CSS Generator;

Enter your web page's URL there and let the tool extract critical CSS for you as follows;

Now click on "Combined Minified Critical CSS File" using the red button below the results;

Now upload it to your static or resources files folder and link it to your webpage. You are good to go!

Minimize the number of HTTP requests by using sprites or combining files

Every website needs to be fast and optimized, and a great way to ensure this is by reducing the number of HTTP requests.

One approach to making websites faster is to use sprites or combine files, which can reduce the number of resource requests on a web page.

Sprites are graphical objects used in a single image but can be seen as multiple entities on a website.

Creating one large image (containing smaller images) instead of several single images can significantly reduce the loading time for end-users, as there will be fewer requests to the server.

Similarly, combining files by compiling code into a single CSS or JavaScript document using tools such as YUI Compressor and Google Closure Compiler dramatically reduces the load time spent requesting individual files.

Making these changes can create drastic improvements in decreased load times, allowing you to provide your users with an even more enjoyable experience while visiting your website.

How to combine CSS & JS Files on WordPress Website

If you are using WordPress, you can use WPRocket Plugin to combine CSS & JS files.

Go to the WP-Rocket Dashboard and navigate to File optimization and check Combine All CSS Files option as follows;

For javascript, scroll down to the option of Combine Javascript Files as follows;

Note: Combining Javascript files are Not recommended if your site uses HTTP/2

How to Combine CSS & JS Files on Non-WordPress Website

If you do not use WordPress, then no worries; you will be able to combine manually.

Combine CSS Files

For all stylesheets on your page, You can use the same tool as above of Sitelocity, type your domain, and after the result, you do have an option of "Download Minified Combined CSS Files" as follows;

After the download, upload and link the new in-between <head></head> tags.

Combine JS Files

For combining JS files, you need to do it manually since it is not recommended to combine JS files because there may be a bunch of third-party resources attached, like Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager etc.

Therefore, download all files on your computer using the File Manager of your hosting and create a new file, i.e. Combined.js.

Paste all of your code into it and click on save.

Now upload the same file to your server and link them just before </body> tag.

Click here to learn How to Use CSS Sprites for your Images

Why is Combining CSS/JS Files Potentially Bad?

Combining files is a great way to reduce the number of HTTP requests on your page, but it can also cause some problems.

Reason#1 - The aggregate file size of the document may be significantly large.

If you combine many files, the resulting file may be much larger than it needs to be. This can cause your page to take longer to download and render, defeating the purpose of combining the files in the first place.

Reason#2 - Your page's performance in users' eyes could be impacted detrimentally.

Combining files can increase the total size of your page and make it appear to take longer to download and render. This is because the browser needs to download an entire large file, rather than several smaller ones that may already be in the cache.

Reason#3 - CSS/JS Combination Can Potentially Break Your Site

If you combine two CSS files and one overwrites the styles set in the other, your page's style may break. You should avoid combining files until you are sure that they won't conflict. Furthermore, an error in one of the combined JavaScript files can potentially cause errors on all of your pages.

Combining files should be done with caution and only when necessary. Make sure to test your website thoroughly after combining any files to ensure everything works properly.

Core Web Vital Resources

• What is Google Core Web Vitals? Step-by-step Guide to Improve it in 2023
• How to Improve Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) in 2023
• How to Improve Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) in 2023 Easily
• How to Improve First Input Delay (FID) in 2023
• Interaction to Next Paint (INP) – Measure & Optimize

Conclusion

Render-blocking resources can hurt your website's performance. However, there are ways to optimize CSS delivery and defer loading of JavaScript files to improve website speed.

Minimizing the number of HTTP requests can also help improve website performance.

By understanding what render-blocking resources are and how they can impact your website, you can take steps to ensure that your website loads quickly and efficiently.