Speed Secrets: Keeping Your Google Site Lightning Fast

A fast site is a happy site. Learn how to optimize your Stride template for instant loading, better user experience, and higher Google rankings.

Performance Power-Up: How to Fine-Tune Your Website for Peak Speed

In the digital world, speed is currency. If your website takes more than 3 seconds to load, over half of your visitors will hit the "back" button before they even see your logo.

Because you’re using a Stride template on Google Sites, you’re already ahead of the pack—your site is hosted on Google’s world-class servers. However, you can still "clog the pipes" with unoptimized content. Here is how to put your website on a digital diet and keep it running at top speed.

1. The Golden Rule: Compress Your Images

The #1 cause of slow websites is massive image files. If you take a photo on your iPhone and upload it directly, that file might be 5MB—far too big for a web page.

The Fix: Before you upload any photo, run it through a free compressor.
Tools: Use TinyPNG or Squoosh.app. You can often reduce a file’s size by 80% without losing any visible quality.
Aim for: Keeping images under 500KB whenever possible.

2. Choose the Right File Format

Not all images are created equal. Using the wrong format can make your site sluggish.

How: JPEGs: Best for photographs. They offer great compression.
PNGs: Best for logos or graphics with transparent backgrounds. Avoid using these for big photos, as they are much heavier files.

3. Be Mindful of "Embed Bloat"

Every time you embed a YouTube video, a Google Map, or a social media feed, your site has to "call" another website to get that data. Doing this too many times on one page creates a bottleneck.

The Fix: If you have ten videos to show, don't embed them all. Instead, use a nice thumbnail image that links to your YouTube channel, or only embed your most important video.

4. Limit the Number of Fonts

Google Sites allows you to pick custom fonts, which is great for branding. But every custom font you add is an extra file the browser has to download.

The Fix: Stick to two fonts maximum—one for headings and one for body text. It looks cleaner and loads faster.

5. Keep the Homepage Lean

Your homepage is your "Front Door." If it's heavy with 50 images and 5 maps, people won't stick around to see your other pages.

The Fix: Keep the homepage punchy and fast. Use it to direct people to sub-pages (like a "Gallery" or "FAQ") where it's more acceptable to have heavier content.

Pro Tip: Google uses "Page Speed" as a ranking factor. A faster Stride template doesn't just feel better for your users—it actually helps you climb higher in search results!

The Stride Speed Audit: Rate Your Site

Run through this checklist to see if your website is a high-performance machine or if it needs a pit stop. Total your "Yes" marks to find your score.

Image Compression: Are all images on your homepage under 500KB?
Format Check: Are you using JPEGs for photos and PNGs only for logos?
Embed Limit: Do you have fewer than 3 heavy embeds (Maps/YouTube) per page?
Font Consistency: Are you using 2 or fewer custom font styles across the site?
Mobile UX: Does the site load and scroll smoothly on a smartphone?
Clean Navigation: Is your menu free of "clutter" (fewer than 6 main links)?
Broken Link Check: Have you clicked every button to ensure there are no 404 errors?

Pro-tip: See the Google Sites Pre-Flight Checklist for free online tools to check for broken links!

How did you score?

6-7 Points: The Speed Demon 🏎️ Your site is optimized for 2026 standards. Google loves your speed, and your customers will too. You’re ready to scale!
4-5 Points: The Steady Cruiser 🚙 Your site is functional but could be snappier. Check your largest images and try compressing them to see a major jump in performance.
0-3 Points: The Speed Trap 🐢 Time for a digital spring cleaning. Start by removing unnecessary widgets and shrinking your photos. A few small tweaks will make a world of difference.

Why Speed Matters for Your SEO

Google doesn't just look at what you say; it looks at how you say it. Page Experience is a core part of Google’s ranking algorithm. A fast-loading site tells search engines that you provide a high-quality experience, which can help you outrank competitors who have bloated, slow-loading websites.

By keeping your Stride template lean, you aren't just helping your users; you're actively helping your business climb the search results.