Buzz
Besides security, the speed of a website is a crucial factor in determining the success of a WordPress site. Page load time plays a significant role in user experience and affects search engine rankings (especially SEO). A 1-second delay in page load time can lead to a 7% reduction in conversions, and a 7-second delay can cut conversions in half. Therefore, referring to some speed optimization tricks for WordPress is essential to attract more users to your website.
WordPress is commonly used to create blogs and websites. You can explore how to create a WordPress blog here.
Optimizing Speed for WordPress: Some Clever Tricks
Measuring Page Load Speed with PageSpeed Insights
Several factors impact page load time. Instead of guessing, take steps to optimize your website speed. Use Google's PageSpeed Insights to identify what needs improvement for your website.
Step 1: Visit the PageSpeed Insights page
Step 2: In the Enter a web page URL box, input your website's URL.
Step 3: Click on the Analyze button.
Step 4: After loading, the screen will display the website performance report. This report indicates where you've gone wrong and suggests changes to make. The Mobile and Desktop windows on the report page show your website's speed. Each report window is divided into two sections, where Possible Optimizations tells you what you can do to optimize the website, and Optimizations Found shows the improvements you've made.
The Mobile and Desktop windows on the report page show your website's speed. Each report window is divided into two sections, where Possible Optimizations tells you what you can do to optimize the website, and Optimizations Found shows the improvements you've made.
In this example, the Possible Optimizations section includes:
- Removing JavaScript that blocks rendering and CSS above the fold.
- Utilizing browser caching.
- Optimizing images.
If your website has low optimization speed, you'll receive more optimization suggestions.
PageSpeed Insights is a truly useful tool, providing insights into page load speed and offering recommendations for speed optimization.
In this example, the Optimizations Found section includes:
Optimizing the speed of WordPress websites
Use optimization suggestions from PageSpeed Insights to enhance the speed of your WordPress website:
1. Remove JavaScript that blocks rendering and CSS above the fold
PageSpeed suggests improving the speed of certain CSS on the website. The challenge is that PageSpeed provides quite technical optimization recommendations, especially if you're not a developer. To enhance the speed of your WordPress website without delving into code, use the Autoptimize plugin.
Download and install the Autoptimize plugin here: Download Autoptimize
Autoptimize can optimize, aggregate, minify, and cache scripts and styles. It defaults to moving CSS to the head and scripts to the footer. Additionally, the plugin optimizes HTML.
2. Utilize browser cache
Utilize WordPress plugins to store your website content. Cache memory for web content is stored as static HTML files. Some popular cache memory plugins for WordPress websites include WP Super Cache, W3 Total Cache, WP-Rocket, and WP Fastest Cache.
Download and install WP Super Cache here: Download WP Super Cache
Download and install W3 Total Cache here: Download W3 Total Cache
Download and install WP-Rocket here: Download WP-Rocket
Download and install WP Fastest Cache here: Download WP Fastest Cache
3. Optimize Images
There are various options for image optimization. You can optimize images before uploading and enhance them using plugins.
If images are created with Fireworks or Photoshop, reduce image size by choosing the Save for Web option. Without graphic software, you can use other optimization tools like ImageOptim (for Mac only), Compressor.io (available online), and TinyPNG (also available online) .
Download and install ImageOptim here: Download ImageOptim
Visit the Compressor.io homepage HERE
Visit the TinyPNG homepage HERE
To automate the optimization process, you can use image optimization plugins like WP Smush, PixPie, ...
Download and install WP Smush here: Download WP Smush
Download and install PixPie here: Download PixPie
The LazyLoad plugin is another solution to improve website speed. This plugin conserves bandwidth by loading images on demand (when users scroll down the page).
Download and install LazyLoad here: Download LazyLoad
Servers and Hosting Plans
Shared hosting promises users Unlimited page views akin to a deal but without prior notice of fees users must pay. Website speed will be impacted (affecting reputation, SEO, and user experience on the website) and ultimately prolonging page load time.
How does hosting affect page load speed? According to Colocation America, VPS hosting improves page load speed by up to 62%. According to SEJ, websites on shared hosting servers take nearly 8 seconds to load, while those on VPS hosting take just over 2 seconds.
If possible, consider moving to VPS or other hosting options, avoiding shared hosting. While using cheap hosting may save you a considerable amount of money, in the long run, it might kill your website.
Choose hosting servers utilizing GZIP compression to reduce file size by up to 70%, including video, audio, and image files without compromising their quality or your website. GZIP compression can significantly speed up your website.
Utilize CDN (Content Delivery Network)
Use a Content Delivery Network (CDN), such as Amazon CloudFront, if your website's traffic is increasing substantially. CDN will take all static assets of the website like images, CSS, Javascript, and distribute them across servers in different geographical locations. Visitors to your website will benefit from accelerated page load speed when accessing content based on their geographical proximity to CDN servers.
You can also use the CDN Enabler plugin to quickly integrate your favorite CDN services into your WordPress site.
Download and install CDN Enabler here: Download CDN Enabler
Google prioritizes fast-loading websites, and it's not just search engines; users also prefer fast-loading sites. With some speed optimization tricks for WordPress introduced by Mytour above, hopefully, you'll discover additional ways to speed up your WordPress website.
Installing WordPress on localhost is crucial for publicizing a website on the internet. If you're not familiar with the process, refer to how to install WordPress on localhost here
