The first impression of a site design means a lot to the visitors. To put it another way, a theme can make or break your WordPress website. And among the firstmost noticed things is page’s speed. It affects the loading time and ranking and according to a research, the visitor gives a margin of 3 seconds to a website to load. PageSpeed emphasizes on these points and other aspects such as being all-around, aesthetically pleasing, convenient etc. This in-depth PageSpeed review will shed light on its aforementioned elements and tell you the verdict.
Prelude to the PageSpeed Theme
Back in 2009 came the famous Swift theme and recently the team behind its development has released its brother PageSpeed. It is built upon the lightweight theme framework Helium. With time PageSpeed has many seen changes and improvements. The cycle of PageSpeed’s development is evident from their blog which gives reports about ongoing theme advancements. PageSpeed has two versions, premium and free. The theme looks quite promising as it feels fast. Here are the results we had from three online page speed testers, Google PageSpeed tools, GTmetrix and Pingdom:
As you can see from the results, the theme is quicker than 99 percent of the websites, which is a remarkable achievement. The theme also loaded in less than a second (which is equal to 1000 milliseconds).
Page Loading Rate and SEO
Today, people who use mobile devices account for almost half of the internet users. But what’s more, recently Google has announced that the speed of a web page will also affect the search ranking in mobile devices. So it turns out that the speed of a webpage is a game changer in page SEO.
It is important to analyze your website’s speed on a regular basis. Another top free speed test tool is available from Dotcom-Monitor. Not only does their tool enable you to test your website from 25 locations worldwide, it also allows you to select which browser and/or mobile device you’d like to test from. Their speed test tool supports Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer, and mobile browsers including iPhone, iPad, and Android. Once a test is complete, you can drill down into robust performance reports and waterfall chart analysis, helping you improve the user experience on your site.
In addition to the lightning speed, there are other ranking factors that PageSpeed takes care of. For instance, the code follows SEO standards—it is validated and the main content is prioritized (appears on the top) in the page’s HTML no matter what layout is selected. The usage of H1 and H2 header tags also assists in higher ranking. On top of all this, Schema Markup is supported wherever possible. So there are good chances of securing a top position in almost any search engine.
Let us see what more PageSpeed has to offer.
PageSpeed Review: The Bunch of Features
Apart from the swiftness, there are other exciting features PageSpeed boasts that will minimize the bounce rate and generate traffic:
- The theme has built-in support for Page Builders (plugins that help you create custom pages) that is highly preferable for users that who lack coding skills. PageSpeed is perfect for building landing pages with Page Builders like elementor, beaver, and siteorigin. It lets you easily customize the outer container (header, footer, copyright container) and has handy full-width templates to build your actual page.
- Other popular plugins such as AdSense, WPML, and WooCommerce are also supported by PageSpeed.
- 6 vivid color schemes are at your disposal in the WordPress customizer menu. The hues of the theme can be inverted and the base colors can be picked from a color picker without losing the color harmony.
- A tiny footprint of 20KB allows the PageSpeed to load in less than a second.
- The PageSpeed code offers robust security and it is laid out properly so adjustments can be easily made by programmers.
- This one theme fits all since there are several layouts, especially 2 column and 3 column, for different business needs.
- The theme is optimized for several devices and will feel like a native app due to its blazing fast speed.
- The 10 unique page templates offered by this theme are another evidence that proves this theme can morph into any desired website whether the industry is IT, food or clothing.
- The widget areas/locations are about 21 including four footer columns.
- Moreover, there is no plugin dependency. The theme provides a complete package without being reliant on any plugin.
Ease of Use
Due to the fact that the theme integrates with WordPress customizer after installation, PageSpeed is extremely functional. You get pre-made layouts, color schemes, header styles and typography settings that help you create a webpage oriented towards your business. All of this is possible with only a few tweaks to the pre-configured theme settings. If you have no prior experience in HTML or CSS, then this theme is the right fit for you as it comes with logo uploading support and other design options.
Customer Support
The PageSpeed theme has its own support forum where you can have your say. There are live threads which can answer your questions and PageSpeed’s team is very helpful and responds quickly. After going through the comments, the overwhelmingly positive customer feedback about PageSpeed becomes apparent.
Outdated themes will break your website as they are not compatible with the latest version of WordPress. You will have to code yourself to correct the theme and this will cost you your time. But this is not the case with PageSpeed. This stable theme is being actively developed.
Pricing
The premium PageSpeed comes with a price tag. There are two premium theme plans. Upgrading to the Personal Pro version—which supports 5 sites—will cost you $74 a year. Whereas the Developer Pro Plan is priced at $167 per year. After installing pro PageSpeed you can unlock customizable footer, support for websites, color options and much more. Discounts for PageSpeed are often available at certain periods of time. The theme also has an affiliate program which can be joined for free. 51% commision can be earned upon every PageSpeed sale generated by you.
Final Verdict
Is PageSpeed worth the money and does it really supercharge a WordPress website? After critically analyzing the theme and the reasonable price, odur answer is yes! Keeping in mind the continuous maintenance, the way the developers welcome feedback and how PageSpeed justifies its name, the theme is definitely up to the mark and will not disappoint in the future. Give PageSpeed a try and test it yourself to see if it is really that fast.
Discount
Tell us in the comments section that what particular things do you look for when choosing a theme and share our review on Facebook and Twitter. As a bonus, you will get a 35% OFF with the “WPArena” coupon for the PageSpeed theme.
Giveaway
We are running a giveaway program in which 3 lucky winners will get the PageSpeed theme for free. To be one of them you have to meet certain conditions.
Requirements:
- Share our post on your Facebook, Twitter or any other social media account.
- Then mention the shared link in the comments section below, for us to verify and count you as a candidate.