diff --git a/src/hb-buffer.cc b/src/hb-buffer.cc
index bfe06da74..bb7f3c7c1 100644
--- a/src/hb-buffer.cc
+++ b/src/hb-buffer.cc
@@ -324,7 +324,7 @@ hb_buffer_t::clear_positions ()
   out_len = 0;
   out_info = info;
 
-  if (len)
+  if (likely (len))
     memset (pos, 0, sizeof (pos[0]) * len);
 }
 
diff --git a/src/hb-common.cc b/src/hb-common.cc
index 08ec04e41..0ae0c05f4 100644
--- a/src/hb-common.cc
+++ b/src/hb-common.cc
@@ -381,7 +381,7 @@ hb_language_from_string (const char *str, int len)
 const char *
 hb_language_to_string (hb_language_t language)
 {
-  if (!language) return nullptr;
+  if (unlikely (!language)) return nullptr;
 
   return language->s;
 }