Tips to speed up WordPress performance
Check your server’s proximity
The closer a server is to your visitors, the smaller the latency they’ll experience. That’s why it’s key to know where most of your visitors are based to define your server’s proximity.
A quick way to find the best location for your servers is to look at Google Analytics to find the Geolocation of your visitors.
Pick the right WordPress theme
There are numerous WordPress themes you could choose from. Not all of them though, are optimized for speed and great user experience.
It’s useful to aim for a fast and lightweight WordPress theme that has all the features you need without too many unnecessary shiny features.
Check the quality of your plugins
Not all of plugins are developed following best practices and with performance in mind.
That’s why you shouldn’t worry about the number of plugins you’re installing as long as those plugins are coded properly.
Review your plugins on a regular basis to make sure they’re all working as they should and aren’t slowing down your website.
Be Caching
A WordPress caching plugin can make it easier for your server to store your files to use fewer resources in the future when accessing the same content.
It can also make your server’s job easier, which is very useful when having a dynamic site.
Caching can help your server remember your content to make access to your pages faster.
Image optimization
Pay attention to the size of the images that you’re using on your website.
Large images can significantly affect your site’s load speed and it can be one of the critical aspects many site owners overlook.
A quick way to improve your load speed is to compress your images before uploading them.
There needs to be a balance between the file size and the quality to make sure that your content is not losing its quality to favor the performance.
Build a light 404 page
There are many 404 pages that a website can contain. The problem is that 404 pages can be heavy, especially on a WordPress website.
A good trick is to work on building a light and minimal template for 404 pages and serve that instead of the default one.
Optimize comments
- Comments can negatively affect the load speed of your pages.Ways to tackle this problem to speed up WordPress performance:
Disable comments:
If you’re not having too many comments you can disable them. The goal is to have only comments and it’s ok to disable them if your content is not generating any. - Optimize native WordPress comments:
You can improve the load speed of your page by reducing the number of comments displayed on your page.
You can even hide them from the initial load to allow the users to click on the comments to view them if they want to. - Use a third-party system:
Many sites prefer to use a third-party comment system to take off the work from their own host. This is a great option for cheaper servers with limited resources. However, picking a third-party comment system in a premium high-quality host can sometimes end up slowing your load speed.
Disable embeds and RSS feeds
It’s easy to embed YouTube videos, tweets, and other external resources to your website.
This is a very useful feature for many of us but it can also slow down your page load as it generates additional HTTP requests.
If needed, you can disable the embeds through a plugin or with the use of code.
Another idea to consider is to disable RSS feeds. If you are not running a blog on your site, you could simply disable the RSS feed to improve your page performance.