How to optimize WordPress for better performance

WordPress offers an easy and quick way for you to set up and manage your website. Sometimes your WordPress website can run slowly, but no matter the size and speed of your website you should optimize it to run as efficiently as possible. Here are some tips on how to optimize your WordPress website.

How to measure the speed of your website

Google PageSpeed is an excellent way to measure your WordPress site’s performance and receive clear, specific feedback on how to make improvements.

Caching

Caching is the easiest and quickest way to get results. Plugins like W3 Total Cache or WP Super Cache can be easily installed and will cache your WordPress posts and pages as static files. These static files are then served to users, reducing the processing load on the server. This can improve performance several hundred times over for fairly static pages.  

Plugins

Too many unnecessary or outdated plugins are probably the most common cause of a slow site.

  • Deactivating and deleting unnecessary plugins will often greatly improve your site’s performance     
  • Only use plugins that are up-to-date. You can see what version of WordPress a plugin is compatible with when you go to install it.

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Themes

After you have deactivated and deleted any unnecessary plugins and made sure you’re only using up-to-date plugins, the next thing to look at is the theme you’re using and the content of your site.

Delete inactive themes and only use themes that are regularly updated by the theme author

Don’t include unnecessary images, and make sure all image files are optimized. Plugins such as Smush.it and WP Smush.it can help with this.

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