How to speed up WordPress
Figuring out how to accelerate WordPress is a basic ability for any site proprietor.
Why?
Because page load speed affects everything from traffic to bounce rate to conversions. For this reason, we have compiled a detailed guide on how to speed up the WordPress website. We’ll talk about why page loading speed is so important, what factors affect the speed of your WordPress site, and how you can measure it.
After that, we compiled the best technologies to make your site as fast as possible. Ranging from basic all the way to advanced metrics so users of advanced skill levels find something they can do.
But first, what is the importance of site speed?
The primary inquiry when discussing site speed is: Why would it be a good idea for me to think about it in any case? That is to say, as long as your site loads inside a couple of moments, it ought to be fine, right? People can’t face difficulties at the time, right? Taking everything into account, the suitable reaction may stun you.
Keep your web technology up to date
The second element in our list of measures to speed up WordPress is keeping your core technology up to date. New forms of HTML, PHP and other web advances show up which is as it should be. It contains improvements, new features, and often improved speed. Therefore, it is essential to remain educated.
All websites must run at least PHP 7.2 now because it is the oldest version still receiving security updates. You can check the presently bolstered PHP forms here.
The quality host will take care of this himself and notify you if the PHP version is outdated. However, this does not relieve you of the responsibility of verification. When logging into the hosting backend, be sure to check for a PHP configuration or similar list item. Here, you can often control which version of PHP you’re using.
Just a quick note: Some older icons (and older versions of WordPress) are not compatible, for example, with the latest version of PHP. For this reason, when updating, be sure to test on a staging site first and make a backup. Along these lines, you don’t inadvertently break your live site and you have a simple method to invert your progressions if something turns out badly.
Invest in quality accommodation
One of the most basic steps to increasing site performance is choosing a good web host to host your site. Of course, there are plenty of cheap deals out there. Keep in mind that hosting is one of those areas where you get your money’s worth. Since we saw earlier that speed matters, this isn’t a good place to skimp.
As an initial step, keep away from shared facilitating in the event that you can. This eliminates the risk of having bad neighbors on your server which can slow down your site. Also, unless you have a huge site and the manpower/budget to run your own server, a dedicated server may be more than you need.
For this reason, a VPS is probably the best option. This type of accommodation offers a nice balance between speed, comfort, and cost.
Another option is to go with one of the growing managed WordPress hosting offerings. This means that your site will run on a server specially optimized for WordPress and you don’t have to worry about the technicalities of running a website. Additionally, the prices for managed WordPress hosting are dropping and the costs of developing a managed platform yourself are extremely high.
Utilize the most recent adaptations of WordPress and its parts
What is valid for your server software is also valid for WordPress. Every rendition of the CMS accompanies new highlights, bug fixes and that’s just the beginning. They make your website more efficient and prevent it from slowing down too much.
Keeping your website up to date is not just about speed, but also about security. With the latest version of WordPress, your themes and plugins, you also make sure that all known vulnerabilities are fixed. Nothing will back you off more than an undermined site.
It’s a good idea to keep a spreadsheet with your plugins and what they do too, a free Google Sheet is a great starting point for organizing and keeping an overview of your WordPress and WooCommerce plugins.
Configure monitoring
Do you know how we say that only what is measured is managed? This is also true for the speed of the website. Only if you know there is a problem can you take corrective action.
We already covered how to measure your site speed earlier. A considerable lot of the instruments referenced above like Pingdom likewise offer programmed observing. When you sign up, they’ll send you an email if your site gets too slow. It’s worth the investment.
GTmetrix offers a paid service starting at $ 14.95 that will monitor key metrics like server response time and visual rendering time, which both Google and your visitors will really appreciate.
Avoid hosting videos on your own site
Continuing the media theme, videos are also a problem. While WordPress is perfectly capable of hosting and playing videos, that’s not a good idea.
Above all else, it costs you transfer speed, which is particularly significant in the event that you have a constrained facilitating account. Secondly, it will make your WordPress site considerably bigger and therefore more difficult to save.
More importantly, there are plenty of blazing-fast video hosting sites out there that can probably do a much better job than your own server. Also, with automatic integration, literally, all you have to do to include videos in your content is copy the YouTube, Vimeo, or DailyMotion link and paste it into the WordPress editor.
