Table of Contents
WordPress optimization is a technical step undertaken to improve the performance of websites. This is implemented through a series of technical measures as follows:
Top 20 WordPress Optimization techniques
1) Caching Plugin
2) Image Optimization
3) High performance hosting
4) GZIP compression
5) Content Delivery Network (CDN)
6) Speed Optimized WordPress Theme
7) Remove unnecessary plugins
8) Optimize database
9) Update themes and plugins
10) Use DNS-level firewall
11) Use the latest WordPress version
12) Use the latest PHP version
13) Minify JavaScript, CSS, and HTML code
14) Adjust backup frequency
15) Declutter media library
16) Display excerpts instead of full posts
17) Break comments into pages
18) Split long content into multiple pages
19) Lazy load images
20) Load Google fonts directly
Caching Plugin
The use of caching plugins is very effective in optimizing WordPress websites. A caching plugin is required to provide speedy access to pages by storing temporary data for rapid access. When users visit your website, a request is usually made to the server to allow access to a webpage.
These requests are made continually as users visit different pages of your website, which can strain or use up resources and overload the server, making it difficult or impossible in certain cases for the server to respond on time and to continually serve the requests. This could lead to website shutdown and application or feature shutdown. Caching allows web browsers to store temporary website data and serve users with no need for repeated requests to the server.
Caching is a major requirement by search engines for server optimization as well as website optimization. You can implement object or browser caching.
Object caching is implemented with full-page caching and a CDN to speed up slow queries on websites, while browser caching is implemented to allow the browser to store temporary website files and serve a copy to servers to guard against repeated server requests. WordPress optimization services are focused on reducing potential server load as a result of repeated requests from servers.
There are several WordPress caching plugins, such as WP Rocket, W3 Total Cache, Litespeed, WP Super Cache, WP Fastest Cache etc.
Image Optimization
Image optimization is necessary for improved website speeds and load times. Large images tend to slow down WordPress websites and hence it is important to reduce image file sizes to improve loading times.
Image sizes can significantly increase front-end website size and this comes with a slowing website. Bulk website optimization and compression of existing images as well as new images reduces the disk size of files in the upload folder on your server and with this comes improved website speeds. WordPress speed optimization is focused on reducing image sizes through effective optimization strategies. There are several WordPress image optimization plugins, such as: Optimole. Optimole, ShortPixel Image Optimizer, Imagify, EWWW Image Optimizer, Smush etc.
High Performance Hosting
Efficient website hosting is necessary for enhanced website performance and WordPress optimization. High-performance hosting provides enhanced security, stability and infeasible uptime.
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GZIP Compression
GZIP lossless compression is used to shrink file sizes for improved performance and load times. It can shrink files by up to 70% and is faster and requires less processing power.
GZIP compression reduces bandwidth for WordPress websites and provides faster access to web content.
GZIP compression can be achieved by using a WordPress plugin or by adding code to your htaccess file if an Apache server hosts your website.
This code helps to compress all HyperText Markup Language (HTML), Cascading Style Sheet (CSS), JavaScript, Extendable Markup Language (XML) and font files. WordPress optimization is crucial for achieving fast website speeds and a positive user experience. If your server uses an NGINX server, the software only compresses HTML files. To achieve GZIP compression, open your nginx.conf file and look for the following line to apply GZIP compression to your website files.
gzip on;
Add the following code in quotation (” “) directly after that line:
“gzip_vary on; gzip_types text/plain text/css text/xml text/javascript application/x-javascript application/xml; gzip_min_length 1000; gzip_proxied no-cache no-store private expired auth;”
Once you’ve done that, save the file and reload your NGINX settings.
The above code will compress all HTML, CSS, JavaScript, XML and font files. G-Zip compression is an important step in WordPress website speed optimization.
Content Delivery Network (CDN)
CDN features geographically distributed data centers or points of presence to ensure that users or visitors are served website content based on their geographical locations, using servers closest to them.
Website visitors from Africa may be served from a different point of presence than, say, Europe or America, bringing about optimized proximity that can increase website speed. The Content Delivery Network is very effective for WordPress optimization, especially when your website visitors are spread across geographical locations and provides tremendous benefits for WordPress websites. CDN serves static assets such as JavaScript and Image files from servers closest to unique users worldwide, conserving bandwidth and reducing server traffic.
This feature brings about increased user experience, improved SEO, and increased page views for WordPress websites due to server stability.
CDN supports on-the-fly image optimization, allowing website images to be served to users or visitors using next-gen image formats such as AVIFor WebP as long as they are supported by their browsers.
CDN solutions are provided by Cloudflare, BunnyCDN, or StackPath, etc. These platforms provide high-level WordPress optimization, resulting in high-performing websites.
Speed-Optimized WordPress Theme
Lightweight themes are the best option for boosting website speeds. Several WordPress themes are optimized for speed, providing a blazing-fast user experience.
Some WordPress themes with high-resolution images and effects may negatively impact page load speeds.
A minimal theme can speed up your WordPress website significantly. Plugins can be used to create animations for your website instead of using themes with eye-catching animations.
Some WordPress speed-optimized themes with premium features are Astra, Kadence, Divi, StudioPress, CSSIgniter, and Themify. To achieve WordPress optimization, a lightweight theme should be used.
Uninstall unnecessary themes and plugins
It is necessary to uninstall outdated themes and plugins to protect the integrity of your website and avoid compromising the integrity of your WordPress website. Hackers may take advantage of outdated plugins to attack your website. Inactive themes and plugins should be uninstalled or deleted, as the case may be.
Do not use multiple form plugins, cache or security plugins to avoid conflicts as well as for security reasons.
Unused themes and plugins may contribute to increased server usage and significantly increase data backups. Removing these themes and plugins can increase server performance.
Always disable unused plugins before deleting them, but make sure your website continues to function optimally by testing the site’s features.
Always use lightweight plugins to boost website speed.
Optimize database
Database optimization involves removing unnecessary data and cleaning up database tables for optimum website performance. It is a key aspect of WordPress optimization.
Database tables for plugins that are no longer used, and leftover data are the main cause of database bloat. Even after removing or uninstalling a plugin, certain data remains in the database and some plugins make provisions for deleting all associated data after the plugin is uninstalled through a ‘remove-data’ setting. WordPress optimization is a continuous process, especially in relation to database optimization.
This ‘remove-data’ setting should be enabled before deactivating the plugin.
You should ensure to keep the size of your database to a minimum to improve the speed of your WordPress website.
Unnecessary website data mostly comes from fake users, old post drafts, unwanted plugins, spam comments and unused themes.
Several WordPress plugins are used for database optimization, such as WP-Optimize and Advanced Database Cleaner.
Update Themes and Plugins
It is critical to update themes and plugins to the newest both from a security standpoint and for performance and functionality. Suspicious activities such as hacking and phishing mostly exploit vulnerabilities in third-party plugins to compromise website security. Regular updates of WordPress themes and plugins are key to successful WordPress optimization.
Use a DNS-level Firewall
DNS-level website firewall routes website traffic through cloud proxy servers.
This measure allows only legitimate traffic to web servers. A DNS-level firewall is able to distinguish between legitimate traffic and malicious requests and significantly reduces potential load on your WordPress hosting server. Excessive server load can use up resources, cause website and application failure and increase the potential of your website going offline.
There are several WordPress firewall plugins, such as: Web Application Firewall (WAF), Sucuri, MaxCDN (StackPath), Cloudflare, Wordfence Security, and Jetpack. Jetpack provides feature-rich WordPress optimization tools.
Use the Latest WordPress Version
Updating your website to the latest WordPress version provides enhanced security and performance. Each WordPress version comes with added security and improved performance.
Using an outdated WordPress version increases the potential for compromise, security breaches and other malicious attacks. Regular WordPress updates provide access to new features, reduce bugs and other security flaws. This is important for WordPress optimization.
Recently, WordPress has begun implementing automated core updates without any action or effort on your part. The target is to continue to provide a secure website infrastructure. Users receive automated emails and notifications on their dashboards once an update is implemented.
Use Latest PHP Version
PHP is critical for WordPress websites because it contributes immensely to website performance, user experience and is used for back-end WordPress development. Using the latest PHP version can significantly improve WordPress optimization and increase your website’s speed since it runs faster and comes with improved features. Several PHP versions have reached EOL (end-of-life) and hence it is important to check with your developer to install or activate the latest version as security and other key updates may no longer be supported for older PHP versions.
Updates to the latest PHP version must be done in such a way that it allows you to check for plugin compatibility to ensure they are supported and what measures and alternatives should be put in place to deal with unsupported plugins. This measure can be handled in consultation with your developer for enhanced WordPress optimization.
Minify JavaScript, CSS, and HTML code
To minify JavaScript, CSS and HTML code simply means removing unnecessary code and shortening variable and function names. This procedure helps to improve Google Page Speed score with a potential increase in search visibility and rankings in search engine result pages (SERPs).
Minification is a key step in WordPress optimization as it helps to decrease your website bandwidth usage and load times by disabling unneeded assets such as CSS and JavaScript from loading.
Certain WordPress plugins commonly load their assets on every page and post rather than on specific pages. This creates several unneeded CSS and JavaScript files across the website. These files can significantly slow down your website as these assets struggle with other website features to load when a webpage is accessed.
A typical plugin that may load their assets across the pages of your website is WooCommerce. WooCommerce features such as payment gateway, for instance, may load assets on every page instead of on the cart on the checkout page. For enhanced WordPress optimization, tools such as GTmetrix or WebPageTest may provide details about assets loading on your website which can help you monitor the slowest assets by looking at the waterfall. Review waterfall results and examine POST admin-ajax.PHP requests.
Admin-ajax.php requests which load on the front-end of your site increase PHP worker usage and bypass all caching in place on the site and can significantly slow down your website. Track the plugin making the request by examining the response.
Pop-up plugins or email opt-in plugins are common plugin types that cause slow requests.
You can also check the number of third-party analytics or tracking scripts that load onto your website. Scripts hosted externally can have slow load times as well and improve WordPress optimization.
A measure of good housekeeping could be to serve web fonts and analytics from the server for the benefits of browser caching, and using CDN to serve assets.
There are several WordPress speed optimization and minification plugins, such as WP-Optimize or Autoptimize. These plugins provide features to automatically minify JavaScript, CSS and HTML code.
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Adjust backup frequency
Frequent website backup is key to protecting your website from serious technical problems and other feature failures. This helps you to quickly restore your website in case of a website breach or other security compromise. However, these backups may significantly contribute to your server load, which can potentially slow down your website and negatively impact WordPress optimization.
It is therefore important to adjust your WordPress website backup frequency to free up server space for improved website performance. Backups should be implemented during low traffic periods. Choose an incremental website backup that keeps only the most recent backups to avoid straining server resources.
Alternatively, you can also use external or remote servers to back up your content as an additional security measure for quick restoration of the website or recovery. This helps to improve WordPress optimization.
Several WordPress plugins provide quick backup and restoration of website content, such as Jetpack.
Declutter media library
Unnecessary media files should be removed from your website storage to improve website speed and performance.
The media library holds several files, from images to videos as well as documents and audio files. As you add more pages, features and posts to your website, the media library grows and this comes with potential load on your server. As these files increase, they can significantly slow down your website, and negatively impact WordPress optimization.
You can clean up your media files manually or automatically using a WordPress plugin.
To achieve this process manually, go to your WordPress dashboard and navigate to the media tab. There you can delete your media files one by one or by selecting multiple files for deletion.
Several WordPress plugins are used to automatically clean up media files, such as Media Cleaner.
Display excerpts instead of full posts
Configure your WordPress website to display excerpts instead of full posts for WordPress optimization and to speed up your website. As you develop content for your website, the post page or homepage begins to display more content and this comes with the potential for slow website speed or loading.
It is important to display excerpts such as a read more link that allows users to quickly click on any post or content that is of interest to them rather than scouring through dozens of uninteresting or unnecessary content. The number of WordPress posts per page can be limited to, say, 10 or at most 20 with provision for next page or more content tabs for enhanced WordPress optimization.
This ensures that page assets will load easily with potential fast speeds. By default, WordPress shows the complete content of every article, which slows down your website and can result in fewer visitors as users wait aimlessly for your website to load and display content. WordPress optimization ensures fast page loading.
To achieve this, navigate to your website Settings and then to Reading. Select “For each article in the feed, show: Summary. The default is full text.
Break Comments into Pages
WordPress websites are designed to load comments along with page content.
Where you have so many comments loading alongside the page elements can significantly slow down your website.
If your comments section is popular, you may need to break comments into pages, allowing users to click to see more comments in order to boost website speed and enhance WordPress optimization. By paginating comments, you can reduce the amount of content on a page and boost your website speed overall.
Follow the steps below to break comments into pages. Login to your WordPress dashboard and navigate to Settings, next go to Discussion and select Break comments into pages.
Split long content into multiple pages
Long content usually ranks higher in search engine result pages (SERPs). Visitors are more likely to spend more time on your website reading your posts or contents. Lengthy posts or long articles with multiple media such as images or videos can slow down your website. Slow-loading websites can negatively impact user experience and increase bounce rates. WordPress optimization ensures that your web pages and media load quickly.
You can speed up page load times by splitting long content into multiple pages.
To achieve this, use the Page Break block while editing your page or post and place it where you want the next page to begin.
Alternatively, you can insert the tag where you want the new page to begin.
Lazy load images
If your website page or post contains several media, such as images, videos, audio or animation, it becomes necessary to lazy load images. The Lazy loading feature only allows loading images or other media that are visible to the user. Other media or contents load as the user scrolls down.
Lazy loading is an important WordPress optimization tip if your website contains many images. With lazy loading, your website only loads images that are visible to the user in their browser window. Other images load when the user scrolls down to view them. This method of WordPress optimization helps webpages to load faster since content only loads as users scroll down the contents.
Lazy load is very important where you have several posts on your homepage or post page but want a fast-loading website.
Several WordPress plugins can be used to implement lazy loading, such as JetPack and WL Rocket. These plugins provide support for images, videos and Iframes for effective WordPress optimization. JetPack is very effective at lazily loading content on homepages or post pages.
Load Google Fonts Directly
WordPress website performance can be improved by directly loading Google fonts. This involves directly copying the appropriate fonts from Google. You can also load Google fonts directly by using the customizer in the appearance tab of your WordPress dashboard. Here you to navigate to your current theme and navigate to the “load Google fonts directly” option.
WordPress optimization is a critical part of website development and maintenance. Optimization is a continuous process that requires regular attention. Hence, every WordPress website must develop a comprehensive maintenance strategy to sustain website performance.
How to optimize website speed
Website speeds can be optimized with effective database optimization, image optimization, G-Zip compression, server optimization and minification of JavaScript, HTML and CSS.
What is WordPress optimization?
This is the method of improving the performance of WordPress websites by enhancing speed, layout, server load times, content, SEO and conversation conversion rate optimization (CRO)… These steps are critical for optimum website performance with the potential for a positive user experience. WordPress websites are built using several third-party plugins and themes that may require updates from time to time. Most of these plugins become outdated with time, especially as new versions of core WordPress become available.
Outdated plugins can break a website, which negatively affects performance. Always plugins and themes that are compatible with the latest version of WordPress. Databases should always be optimized and a suitable caching plugin should be used for optimization as well as image optimization.