As global statistics show, more than 43% of all websites run on WordPress. Therefore, in this article we will talk about it. Every webmaster knows that site loading speed is very important. After all, this affects SEO, as well as the behavioral factors of visitors. A slow website ranks worse in search engines and is more likely to be abandoned by customers.
However, despite its broad usage, many who use WordPress face issues with slow site performance, which can block their path to online success. This detailed guide is designed to tackle this widespread problem by delving into the typical causes of slow-loading WordPress sites and offering practical advice on how webmasters can enhance their websites to achieve exceptionally quick loading times.
Basic Moments
This measurement encompasses several elements, including server response time, the volume and dimensions of files (like HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and images) required for download, and the effectiveness of the underlying code.
Website speed stands as a pivotal element of the overall user experience, given users' growing intolerance for sluggish websites. A tardy website can result in reduced search visibility, complicating the task of potential customers finding your business online.
To correctly and quickly diagnose the reason for the slow operation of a WordPress site, it is better to use special tools. This way you can quickly identify exactly the area where your site is loading slowly.
* Google PageSpeed Insights. This free tool by Google analyzes the performance of your website on both desktop and mobile devices, providing optimization suggestions and performance scores based on various metrics.
* Host-Tracker. This powerful website monitoring and performance testing tool is specifically designed for webmasters and website owners. It offers a range of features to help you monitor and optimize your WordPress website's speed. For example, you can check web hosting speed in real time to approve or disapprove problems on the server side.
Slow WordPress Website: Causes and Solutions
Now let's move on directly to the reasons that may slow down your WordPress site. This can be either one reason or several at the same time. First of all, you need to conduct diagnostics or use a monitoring service to find the cause of the problem. Then you can quickly use the tips from this article and speed up your website.
Poor Hosting Performance
Subpar hosting performance significantly contributes to sluggish WordPress websites. Reliable and stable hosting is the basis not only for a fast website, but also for its continuous operation. The optimal provider should guarantee uninterrupted operation and 24/7 competent support.
If you choose Shared Hosting, it has an attractive price, but the performance headroom is limited. This is especially noticeable when there is a sharp jump in traffic and as the site’s database increases.
If your website requires more performance, especially when you scale your business, then VPS will be an excellent solution. This will not only increase the speed of the WordPress site, but also increase its stability.
Unoptimized Images
Unoptimized images are among the primary causes of slow WordPress websites. Large, high-resolution image files can dramatically extend page load times, resulting in subpar user experiences. Fortunately, WordPress offers several plugins like:
* Smush;
* Imagify;
* ShortPixel.
These plugins can compress and optimize images without compromising quality.
Optimal practices involve resizing images accurately, selecting the appropriate file format, and employing techniques such as lazy loading to delay image loading until they appear on the user's screen.
Excessive Plugin Use
Regularly assessing your installed plugins is crucial. Remove any redundant ones or those duplicating functions already offered by your theme or other plugins. Disabling or uninstalling these surplus plugins can streamline your website, enhancing its speed.
By ensuring a lean plugin usage and prioritizing performance-optimized solutions, you can uphold a swift and efficient WordPress website while retaining functionality.
Check out WordPress Core, Plugins and Themes
Many inexperienced webmasters forget to update WordPress CMS itself, as well as themes and plugins. Such an unprofessional approach can lead not only to a decrease in the speed of the website, but also to a deterioration in overall efficiency and increase vulnerability. You must keep your WordPress ecosystem up to date to avoid serious risks.
* If the software has not been updated for a long time, then it lacks current optimizations that are aimed at performance and speed.
* Lack of the latest updates can contribute to hacking, data leakage, and malicious attacks.
* Outdated software ultimately leads to compatibility issues, crashes, and increases performance problems.
The optimal solution would be to activate automatic updates for WordPress CMS, themes and plugins. Or you can do it manually once a month, for example.
Overloaded Database
Over the course of usage, your WordPress database can amass a substantial volume of redundant data, including post revisions, expired transients, orphaned data, and other clutter. This accumulation can burden the database, resulting in slower query execution times and ultimately impeding your website's performance.
To address this issue, you can leverage database optimization plugins like:
* WP-Optimize;
* WP-Sweep;
* Advanced Database Cleaner.
These tools enable you to detect and eliminate redundant data from your WordPress database, streamlining its operations and enhancing overall website speed. Moreover, you can incorporate routine database maintenance tasks, such as trimming post revisions, purging spam comments, and optimizing database tables.
Not Using Caching
You should not neglect caching plugins, because they directly affect the loading speed of your site. This becomes possible through the implementation of cached versions of the site: which reduces the load on the server and speeds up user-server interaction.
It is worth considering caching plugins that have proven themselves well and have positive ratings from other webmasters: W3 Total Cache, WP Rocket and WP Super Cache. They offer proven caching mechanisms (objects and browser), and also have flexible settings.
Lack of Content Delivery Network (CDN)
Utilizing a CDN can notably reduce latency and enhance page load times by serving static assets from a server close to the user, especially beneficial for visitors distant from your hosting server. For WordPress sites, several CDN services seamlessly integrate with the platform, offering effortless setup and configuration. Recommended CDN providers compatible with WordPress include:
* Cloudflare: A popular CDN service with a free plan and robust security features, easily integrated with WordPress through plugins like Cloudflare and Cloudflare Flexible SSL.
* StackPath: Offering WordPress-specific CDN plans with advanced features such as image optimization and intelligent caching, StackPath provides a user-friendly dashboard for CDN management.
* Bunny CDN: Prioritizing affordability and performance, Bunny CDN offers WordPress-specific plugins for seamless integration and offers various pricing plans to accommodate different website needs.
* KeyCDN: Renowned for its high-performance CDN infrastructure and intuitive WordPress plugin, KeyCDN offers advanced features like origin shield, SSL support, and real-time analytics.
Poorly Coded Themes and Plugins
Poorly optimized code, inefficiencies, and compatibility problems may result in slow loading times, heightened server burden, and possible conflicts with other elements of your website. Seek out well-crafted solutions that emphasize performance optimization, frequent updates, and alignment with the latest WordPress versions.
Set up Site Monitoring
To achieve optimal website speed, you will need to spend time maintaining the site. It is also better to use special monitoring services to facilitate the process. This will allow you to quickly respond to critical changes on the site.
For example, Host Tracker offers automatic monitoring of the site as a whole and its individual pages. If the system detects a sharp drop in the loading speed of your WordPress site, it will instantly warn you about it. You can also view a detailed report to find out the reason that led to the decrease in speed.
* You can find out how fast (or slow) your site loads in a particular country. The service can simulate the behavior of real users in order to identify the weak points of the site.
* Webmasters can track more than just site speed. Uptime, server performance, and site availability in different regions are also important. When using Host Tracker, you do not waste time on this, the entire process is automated.
* There are also detailed reports with the ability to select the time period that interests you. This way, site owners can track trends and anticipate potential problems.
As you can see, using a tool like Host Tracker allows you to quickly respond to problems with website speed and more.
Endnotes
Our team hopes that this material helped you return the speed of your WordPress site to optimal values. These practical methods for solving the problem are designed to help young webmasters and website owners. Some of the tips will also be relevant for sites based on other CMSs.
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