Okay, so chances are, unless you've been living under a rock for the last decade or so, you've used zip file compression on your computer at least once or twice. Zip compression will take large files and make them significantly smaller provided they aren't compressed already, and best results are seen when compressing text files. This is fantastic when moving or storing large files on your computer, as it saves space and time when copying the files.

Now I know you're thinking, "We know that Dave, but what does this have to do with with my website?" Well, it's actually possible to compress your website as a zip file too! This digital alchemy will take the text files on your website, compress them, and then send them to visitors zipped. Don't worry, the process is transparent for the visitor because their browser will automatically uncompress the files as they arrive and display them as if the website wasn't compressed, only faster!

Why would you want to do this, you ask? Well, there are two very good reasons for using gzip compression (what it's actually called) on website, so let's take a look:

1. Makes Your Site Load Faster

If you're using a large Ajax library or other text intensive files when loading your website, gzip compression will make your website load significantly faster. You have less than 10 seconds to grab a visitor's attention, so even losing a few seconds while your site loads can be costly. Therefore, the faster the site loads, the better chance you have of grabbing that user.

2. Google Caffeine

Google frequently updates their algorithm to present users with better search results, and Caffeine is the name of their latest update (previous updates include Bourbon, Jagger, and Big Daddy among others). While Google keeps a pretty tight lid on the secret sauce that goes into their search engine results, the web professional community is usually pretty good at figuring out basic info about what Google is currently emphasizing for search engine rankings, and one of the factors that Caffeine seems to place greater emphasis on is page load time. So, now more than ever, it's important for your page to load quickly as it could have an effect on your search engine rankings.

What Do I Do Now?

Now that you know about this fancy new zip compression, you probably want to make sure your website is using it, right? Well, the bad news is, it's a little bit more complicated than zipping a file up on your computer... so it will be beyond the average user. The good news is, for someone who knows what they are doing, it is relatively simple to activate, so if you contact your web hosting provider they should be able to do it for you for little to no cost. If you're a current client, we don't charge to activate gzip compression -- so get in touch with us today!