List every script added for the season, test the pages people land on with a phone connection, and keep only what is used, on the pages that need it, with a date to take each one down.

Added one at a time

By late November most business sites have collected a few seasonal extras: a chat window, a gift card pop-up, a pixel for the holiday ads, a countdown on the home page.

Each was added by someone with a good reason, often by pasting a line of code into the site's header. Each loads on every page, for every visitor.

Visitors on office Wi-Fi barely notice. Visitors on phones, looking for hours or a menu on the way somewhere, wait through all of it before they can read a word.

What arrives in November

The first is often the heaviest. A chat window loads its scripts, fonts and images on every page view, whether or not anyone ever opens it.

Why one line of code is not small

A line pasted into the header usually fetches a script from another company's server, and that script fetches more: images, fonts and further scripts, sometimes from several other servers.

Each new server means another connection to set up, which is slow on a phone signal. Then the phone has to run all of the code, and phones are far slower at that than computers.

Some scripts hold up the page until they finish. The visitor sees a blank or half-built screen, then a jump as each addition arrives.

Listing what was added

Start with a list, because nobody remembers all of it. Look in the theme's header settings, the plugins installed this autumn, the Google Tag Manager container if there is one, and the page builder's settings.

Ask staff and anyone running ads what they added. Pixels in particular get added by whoever set up a campaign.

For each item, note what it does, who added it, which pages need it and when it should come off.

Testing on a phone connection

WebPageTest, a free testing site, can load a page as a phone on a slow mobile connection and list every file it fetched, grouped by the server it came from.

It can also run the same test with a chosen script blocked. Comparing the two shows what that one addition costs.

Test the pages people land on, not only the home page: the menu, the booking page, the gift card page. Keep the results to compare in January.

A worked example

A Greek restaurant with a banquet room upstairs books office parties through December and sells gift cards online.

Within two weeks in early November, its site gained a chat window for party enquiries, a gift card pop-up on every page and a countdown to New Year's Eve.

Two tracking tags went in for the holiday ads, and the reservation service's widget was added to every sidebar.

Most visitors arrive on phones looking for the menu. A member of staff checking it on the bus found the page stayed blank for several seconds, jumped twice, and then disappeared behind the pop-up.

A phone test showed why: every addition loaded on every page, calling servers at five different companies before the menu could be read.

The chat window came off, since nobody could answer it during service. The pop-up became a line under the header, the countdown became a sentence with the date, and the reservation widget now loads only on the reservations page.

The two tags now run through Google Tag Manager, with an end date noted beside each. On a phone, the menu page loads much as it did in October.

Pop-ups on phones

Google's phone pop-up rule has applied since January. A page whose content is covered by an offer the moment someone arrives from a search on their phone can be ranked lower for it.

A gift card offer that fills a phone screen is exactly that. A banner across the top, or a line within the page, makes the same offer without hiding what the visitor came for.

Loading what stays more lightly

Keep each script to the pages that need it. A reservation widget belongs on the reservations page and a chat window on the contact page, not on every blog post.

Google Tag Manager can fire each tag on chosen pages only, and many plugins have settings that do the same. Ask whoever maintains the site to load what remains after the page itself, so the content appears first.

Pixels from campaigns that ended

Tracking tags outlive their campaigns. A pixel from last spring's ads, still loading on every page, costs time and sends visit information to a company you no longer pay.

Remove each tag when its campaign ends, and keep the privacy policy's list of tracking tools in step with what is actually installed.

A date to take them down

Write an end date beside each seasonal addition, and put a reminder in the calendar for the second week of January.

Keep the list. Next November it shows what was added, what earned its place and what can be skipped.

The counter-case

Some additions pay their way. A booking widget that takes reservations, a chat window someone actually answers and a pixel for a campaign that is running all do a job.

A site whose visitors are mostly at desks on fast connections feels the cost less, though it still pays it.

Even so, list every script, test the landing pages on a phone connection, and give each addition a page it belongs on and a date it comes off.

The script audit

  1. List every script added since October.
  2. Note who added each and why.
  3. Test landing pages on a phone connection.
  4. Block each script in a test to see its cost.
  5. Remove anything nobody uses or answers.
  6. Limit the rest to the pages that need them.
  7. Set an end date for each addition.

Step four is the one that settles arguments. A measured cost for the countdown, paid by every visitor, makes the decision easier than debating whether it looks festive.

What those additions cost a visitor on a small plan is covered in heavy pages on expensive Canadian data plans.

Frequently asked questions

Why do holiday scripts slow a website?

Each one fetches code from another company's server, which often fetches more. A phone must connect to every server and run all the code before the page settles.

How do I find what was added?

Check the theme's header settings, recently installed plugins, the Google Tag Manager container and the page builder, then ask staff and whoever runs your ads.

How can I measure one script's cost?

Run a phone test in WebPageTest, then run it again with that script blocked. The difference between the two tests is what it costs visitors.

Are pop-ups on phones a problem?

They can be. Under a rule in force since January, a page covered by a pop-up for someone arriving from a phone search can rank lower. A banner avoids that.

Should a chat window load on every page?

No. Load it only where questions arise, such as the contact or booking page, and only if someone is answering. An unanswered chat window costs time and goodwill.

When should holiday scripts come off?

Set an end date for each when it goes in, and review the list in the second week of January. Keep the list for next November.

West Coast Media Solutions Inc. provides web design, web development, hosting, digital marketing, and business consulting to organisations across Canada, drawing on more than twenty-five years in the field.

Site slower since the holiday additions?

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