Here we discuss about the common performance issues that Ordinary WordPress Users might encounter on their site.
We will add any new valuable information by other users to this discussion as we go.
So, without further ado, lets start.
Hosting
Most of the time it's just terrible hosting. Cheap shared hosting is infamous for painful performance. If your host is dragging then nothing else will matter much, so you should first check that.
Decently optimize images
This is a relatively simple one. Don’t use huge images that are 8000 x 6000px. Figure out the maximum display size for your use case and resize.
Secondly ditch PNG and JPG and use WEBP. The recommendation is to convert before you upload. Most image editors will let you save in webp and 75-80% compression works well for a balance.
To bulk convert, use XnConvert or Photoshop Batch process.
For existing media you can use a plugin. There are many Smush, Optimole etc. Converter For Media is a free option.
Some servers like Siteground and/or other optimization plugins may have this feature inbuilt so always check so you don’t do optimization twice.
Since 6.3, WordPress can also convert to WEBP on upload. You can use the Performance Lab plugin by the WordPress team themselves to manage this.
Lazy load
Lazy loading images, videos and iframes will speed up things significantly since 5.3 this has been a feature in core WordPress and should work out of the box for most cases. Some page builders and themes will have an option for this as well. Some hosts and caching plugins like WP Rocket will also have this option.
If you find that it is not working on your site for some reason you can use a plugin such as Lazy Load by WP Rocket or A3 Lazy Load for more control.
Caching, CDN's, Minification
You should be using caching on your website if you care about performance.
WARNING: Using minification and/or combining files and scripts can cause your website to break so always test it thoroughly on staging before going to production!
There are numerous free and commercial plugins for this. Some hosts will have their own caching plugin, this should be preferred over others. For example, if you have a Litespeed server use Litespeed plugin.
The general recommendation here is to use Cloudflare free with Super Page Cache For Cloudflare.
FAQ
Should I keep my hosts caching on with Cloudflare?
Yes. Your server is the origin server and having your own files cached means it is less taxing on your server resources and Cloudflare fetches files faster.
I’m getting an SSL error or redirect loop.
Make sure you have a valid SSL certificate server on your origin server and make sure to set Cloudflare > SSL/TLS > Overview to Full.
Other popular recommended options:
- Autoptimize (Free)
- WP Rocket (Subscription)
Advanced optimization
If you really want to squeeze every last bit out of your setup then:
- Use a plugin like Disable Everything for a quick bloat disabling.
- Use Asset Clean Up to go through each page and disable unused stuff.
- Use Query Monitor to inspect what is going on and find unnecessary scripts etc.
That’s it, hopefully you will use these suggestions to get your WordPress site faster. If you have any further questions or want to contribute to the discussion feel free to reply.
Happy Optimizing!
