Performance website upgrades for the Chinese internet

Recommended performance improvement for internet in China

While the points below have been written to improve website performance in China, many apply to improving website performance anywhere in the world.

Most of the points below concern using the Internet's resources more efficiently or, in some cases, using fewer Internet resources.

The world today, correctly, is looking at resource usage. The internet is a resource. It costs Multiable billions of dollars to build and operate worldwide, most of which is energy.

Most internet connections are fixed-cost; therefore, reducing internet usage does not benefit you in terms of financial savings.

Looking at your internet performance, which is required if you want to be seen in China, will generally improve your customer experience and help reduce internet power usage worldwide.

In our thinking, website improving website performance is a “green” and customer experience improvement.

Generally, except for social media content, minimal internet content for business is blocked in China.

If you need more information on these points below, we would be happy to help. Please make the request here...

Internet in China performance issues for overseas websites

• Internet from overseas into China There is a limited capacity for internet traffic entering and leaving China. Read more about the public internet structure in China.
• Internet public traffic routing worldwide Public internet traffic is routed from China through Japan and Taiwan and, in most cases, to North America for distribution. This often adds between 3 and 10 times to the network response times. Read more about the public internet structure in China.
• Great Chinese Firewall There are restrictions on social media websites/apps and third-party services, such as Google. This results in missing parts on your website or pages not loading. Read more about the Great Chinese Firewall.
• Overseas DNS performance. China's preference for overseas DNS is poor. The time it takes to look up overseas DNS records results in the customer not finding your website. Read more about Overseas DNS performance in China.

Slow DNS lookup in China

Your internet content cannot be found from China without asking your browser a few times (press enter three or four times).

If there is one thing you should do if you want to be seen in China, it is to purchase your domain name from China and use a Chinese DNS service.

For more information, please see – local Chinese DNS records.

Size of your images on your website

Check the size of your images. Most images on websites, APIs, etc, are larger than the size displayed. Reduce the size of your images and reload them to your API / website.

A large image will always be displayed slowly in China and will take longer to load than needed in the rest of the world.

Please use the site page test to see how long it takes to load your images.

Size of your images on your website from a mobile / tablet

The size of images becomes even more critical when you access internet content over a mobile network. A mobile network often has slower data download speeds than a Wi-Fi mobile connection.

Reducing your image size to fit on a mobile screen is essential. This will significantly speed up response and reduce internet usage and server processing times.

There are many ways of achieving this. Here are a few examples;

• loading different image sizes for mobiles, tablets, etc. It is not the most effective, as a small change to the website's HTML may be required for each image.
• A configuration change on the web server (Apache, Nginx, etc.) that automatically allows the image size. A change may also be needed to the HTML code.
• Some CDN services support different image sizes for mobiles, tablets, etc. Again, a change may also be needed to the HTML code. This is a poor option for China, given that China has restrictions on CDN data.

If you would like more information on automatically resizing your images, videos, etc, we would be happy to help. Please make the request here...

Displayed images as required

Prioritised your image loading on your website pages from top to bottom. This allows the first images the customers see to be displayed first, and then the rest are displayed as you scroll down the page. This is called “native lazy loading”.

If a customer jumps from page to page, response times will be reduced with “native lazy loading” on a slower internet connection, which is the case for overseas networks in China. If your business's most crucial message, links, images, etc., is at the top of each page, the customer experience is improved both in response time and understanding of your business, products, and services.

Third-party software in your website/app internet contents

In today’s "Cloud" services, knowing what is happening to the internet components of your website/app is challenging. Often, the parts (files) that create your internet content come from different parts of the internet.

Most internet pages' contents come from many locations worldwide. While this approach allows your internet developer to create content quickly, it's essential to be aware that when you access data from China, the international performance can be very slow or blocked, potentially leaving your internet page without information. This awareness can help you plan and optimise your content for a smoother user experience. For example;

Googlefiles. Google fonts are used in most websites to use these files. They are very slow to access in China (over a minute)

CDN systems. Many Cloud companies use CDN systems. These systems split the contents of your large file across many points on the Internet, which is a good idea for large websites. However, it is not necessary for most websites/apps. Loading website content for a single location, provided the website server is correctly configured, will generally be the fastest. In China, CDNs are slow to respond or are blocked.

Overseas Social Media. Social media companies, like Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, etc., are often enabled on websites, but this is blocked in China, leaving missing content. Always leave links to social media channels on your website / APP.  Try avoiding enabling social media content. Adding new content directly to your website/app will help with performance and search engine indexing.

You can see what is happening to your website content by using this testing APP – Internet site page test.

Slow/busy Chinese Internet

The internet to and from China often runs slow, including in Hong Kong.

The internet has run fast in China. However, it is beginning to slow during peak usage, e.g., during the working day, early evening when children come home from school, bad weather, etc.

To understand how the Internet works - the Chinese Internet Structure.