How To Optimize Your WordPress Blog Speed

While many bloggers focus on content and backlinks to grow their blog, how fast that blog load is just as important. Page speed impacts your blogging success, from SEO organic rankings to overall user experience, website traffic, and, thus, conversions.

Your readers deserve comfort while accessing your blog content; if they don’t get it, they have the right to leave. This article will review 22 ways to speed up loading your WordPress blog.

1. Pick a reliable host

Choosing the correct type of web hosting is an essential factor in page speed. It is not the area where you should think of saving money. Depending on your website needs and traffic, you can opt for shared hosting or VPS (virtual private server) plan that fits. Consider reading my HostPapa review so you can make an informed decision.

David Woutersen of Outofthe925 adds, “As your traffic goes high, basic shared server hosting will reduce your site speed as server resources are spread among various websites, which can hamper your growth. To maintain a fast WordPress blog, you have several hosting options like VPS, Managed WordPress, or customized, depending on your technical ability and the amount you’re willing to spend.”

So you must know your current needs and plans for your website so you can choose your host wisely. Perfect hosting usually offers SSD storage and an in-built cache mechanism and allocates maximum server resources for your website to perform better.

Here are a few names I recommend:

• Dreamhost
• Namecheap

After rigorously searching the web hosting market, here are a few more names that I recommend.

2. Use a CDN (Content Delivery Network)

If the server location affects access speed generally, a CDN will make your website quickly accessible from any location. CDN networks exist worldwide and store static files for your website. Wherever your server is located, website visitors will get information from the nearest CDN so that your web pages can be accessed more quickly.

For example, your server location is in the United States, and your website visitors are in India. Visitors will get their information from the CDN nearest India but not directly from your server in the United States.

3. Choose a light and fast theme

When deciding on a theme for your blog, don’t just decide by its appearance and price. It is tough to conclude the fastest WordPress theme as you have to consider and test various factors. It would be awesome to hear that experts have already done the work for you and concluded some of the fastest and most stunning themes. Here are a few names:

• Astra
• Kadence
• GeneratePress
• Neve
• Zakra

These themes are optimized for better speed and the creation of modules with a library full of demos and customizable elements. Plus, they will be integrated with popular page builders like Elementor.

4. Enable caching

The essential and first thing you should do is use a caching plugin on your WordPress website. Do it with the help of several plugins like WP Rocket, WP Super Cache, W3 Total Cache, and WP Super.

Basically, the caching plugin will create a static HTML file to be accessed more quickly when it is reaccessed because there is no need to load dynamic scripts that burden server performance. Besides, some caching plugins have additional functions, such as minifying HTML files, CSS, and even browser caching.

5. Compress large-sized images

Large images on your website can drastically increase loading times. The solution is optimal. The critical point is to minimize the image’s size and make sure it appears in a fair resolution.

You can use the WP-Smush plugin for image optimization throughout the website, and the resolution you get is still better. After that, to minimize the image size, do a check using GTMetrix. It may provide additional tips to optimize still.

Nikola Roza of Nikola Roza adds,

“Use my tip below, and you can boost site speed by 100% in 5m or less.

So, my tip is to implement a combo of image optimization and lazy loading.

For image optimization, use ShortPixel, a premium WP plugin that will optimize your images to be as small as possible while preserving high picture quality. And don’t worry, ShortPixel is really cheap. For $10, you get 1000 image optimization credits, meaning you can optimize 1000 images.

For lazy loading, use Lazy Load. This plugin works out of the box, and you don’t need to set it up. It works by delaying image loading until they come upon the user’s screen.

How much does this help?

This page on my site has many images and was loading in 4.5s on average. After implementing my two tips, it now loads in 2.4s on average. That is almost 100% improvement in speed.”

6. Update your WordPress

WordPress is an open-source platform that is continually growing and constantly improving. You must always update the latest version of WordPress. Updates were made to improvise features and eliminate bugs in the previous version. Likewise, WordPress that doesn’t update is slower in speed and is vulnerable to malware, viruses, and even hacker threats.

7. Keep your site’s PHP version updated

Eniola Samuel of Blogging Scheme explains, “You may already know that WordPress.org is developed in PHP. Since it is a server-side language, you must understand what it takes to run the programs smoothly. More optimized PHP means better speed. So choose a reliable hosting company like HostPapa that will help your blog run on the latest PHP version all the time. “

8. Minimize plugins

Plugins help improve the performance and design of your website. However, make sure you only use the plugins you need depending on the purpose of your website. Too many plugins with heavy code and files and not tested with your WordPress can damage your website speed.

The more plugins you use, the more resources you will need. This, of course, will affect your website performance. Therefore, use plugins optimally.

If you currently use many plugins and are confused about which to uninstall, use the “Performance Profiler” Plugin. It will do the trick!!

• 19 Best WordPress Plugins for bloggers

9. Perform database optimization

Various activities on your WordPress website will add to the work, and the database will increase heavily. I recommend using the WP-Optimize plugin to clean and optimize your databases.

10. Embed, not upload

Adding a video will only burden your website performance by consuming your hosting bandwidth, even if you use unlimited hosting. So don’t upload a video directly to your WordPress; embed the link in your WordPress editor.

This optimization effectively maintains your website’s speed, especially if you display video content.

11. Enable Gzip compression

When you use Gzip compression, your WordPress website loads faster. Gzip compression functions reduce website file size for CSS, HTML, javascript, JSON, XML, and fonts. In addition to speeding up website loading, your server resources and hosting bandwidth will be more efficient.

Using this method, your website visitors will certainly feel happier because you don’t have to wait long to access the website.

How to enable Gzip compression?

You can do it manually via cPanel. Login to your cPanel hosting, copy the following code and paste it into your .htacess.

<IfModule mod_filter.c>
 <IfModule mod_deflate.c>
     AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE "application/atom+xml" \
                                   "application/javascript" \
                                   "application/json" \
                                   "application/ld+json" \
                                   "application/manifest+json" \
                                   "application/rdf+xml" \
                                   "application/rss+xml" \
                                   "application/schema+json" \
                                   "application/vnd.geo+json" \
                                   "application/vnd.ms-fontobject" \
                                   "application/x-font-ttf" \
                                   "application/x-javascript" \
                                   "application/x-web-app-manifest+json" \
                                   "application/xhtml+xml" \
                                   "application/xml" \
                                   "font/eot" \
                                   "font/opentype" \
                                   "image/bmp" \
                                   "image/svg+xml" \
                                   "image/vnd.microsoft.icon" \
                                   "image/x-icon" \
                                   "text/cache-manifest" \
                                   "text/css" \
                                   "text/html" \
                                   "text/javascript" \
                                   "text/plain" \
                                   "text/vcard" \
                                   "text/vnd.rim.location.xloc" \
                                   "text/vtt" \
                                   "text/x-component" \
                                   "text/x-cross-domain-policy" \
                                   "text/xml"
 </IfModule>
</IfModule>

12. Disable hotlinks on your website

When several websites use your image, which is accessed by users, indirectly, these websites will ‘steal’ your server bandwidth. To avoid this, you can easily disable hotlinking.

Although disabling hotlinks do not directly affect the website’s loading speed, this is one of the speed optimizations you can do yourself. In short, you just need to make sure your hotlinking is off.

Upload the following files to your .htaccess. Change the domain name according to your domain name.

RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^$
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^http(s)?://(www.)?YOURDOMAIN.COM [NC]
RewriteRule .(jpg|jpeg|png|gif)$ – [NC,F,L]

13. Limit the number of content pieces per page

Show your flagship content on your main pages. However, you shouldn’t just put all the content there. Limiting the number of post views on each page will significantly reduce website load time. A total of 5 to 7 posts will undoubtedly make it easier than 10-15 posts on each page. Pay close attention to this, and your website can load faster.

14. Disable trackback and pingbacks

Trackbacks and pingbacks can make your WordPress website indexed by search engines faster. However, this feature is often used by spammers to get automatic backlinks. Spam that is sent will gradually become trash in your WordPress database. This, of course, can lead to slower-loading websites. To disable it, use a plugin called ‘Disable XML-RPC Pingback.’

Alternatively, you can also do this manually via your 

• WordPress Dashboard > Settings > Discussion > Uncheck the allow link notifications.

15. Limit revisions of each post

By default, WordPress stores a copy of each revision that you make. A pile of post-revisions will result in an accumulation of garbage in your database.

Limiting post revisions does not necessarily increase website speed but maintains the database’s optimal performance. Limit revisions in each post by adding the following code in wp-config.

define( 'WP_POST_REVISIONS', 5 );

It means WordPress deletes older versions once it reaches 5 stored revisions.

Check out the below video to learn how to edit the WP-config file:

You can even try out this plugin to limit your revisions.

16. Put CSS on the header and JS on the footer

Javascript is client-side programming. The file will run from the client’s web browser side, not your web server’s side. Therefore, put the footer JS files at the footer so that the webserver can load the page first to completion and then, from the client side, execute the js file. Your website can be accessed more quickly by placing an appropriate load script.

17. Unpack the database query

Requesting a WordPress database for the server dramatically affects the website’s speed. You should reduce the use of database tables with high queries. Please use the Query Monitor plugin if you don’t know which database tables burden the server. This plugin will help you to check the database. Using this plugin, you can easily view database queries that burden server performance and slow queries.

18. Minimize redirects

You certainly want visitors’ information on the website to be entirely received. However, sometimes information must be directed to another website using a different URL. This is not wrong; a redirect can cause excessive HTTP load requests, slowing down your website’s load.

In essence, you need to simplify the flow of your website redirects. You can reduce links to other pages outside of your website.

For example, let’s say you have two pages: Pages 1 and 2, and you want to navigate to Page 3. In this case, you should point from Page 1 directly to Page 3 without going to Page 2 first.

19. Enable HTTP keep-alive

HTTP Keep-Alive is a method to speed up website loading by keeping your website typed so that the server’s file requests don’t repeat. You can activate it easily via .htaccess. Copy the following code to get started.

<IfModule mod_headers.c>
 Header set Connection keep-alive
 </IfModule>

20. Remove query strings from static sources

Eliminating static queries like style sheets and Javascript will affect your website’s speed, as cache clearing is impossible.

Clearing the cache is impossible on links containing the punctuation “?” character. Please use query strings only on dynamic sources.

You don’t need to be confused. The “Remove Query String From Static Resource” plugin will help you.

21. Ditch traditional ads if you can

Vishwajeet Kumar of Bloggingpond says, “Let’s put more ads on my blog and make big money – most newbies think this way. While ads depending on your niche CPC can earn you money, they can also cause your site to slow down with excessive codes, many resource calls, uncompressed images, and scripts.

So learn the ad revenue potential of your niche to decide if it is worth running ads. If yes, make sure you follow best practices to optimize speed.”

22. Intercept the wp-login page for hackers

Sayem Ibn Kashem of Facileway explains bloggers usually have “www.domainname.com/wp-admin” formatted link to log in to their WordPress dashboard. So the cyber hackers and their bots would keep trying various credential combinations to hack your site, which means your admin URL gets hit many times a day. This results in your site consuming more bandwidth and increasing the load on your website.

So there is a plugin called WPS Hide Login which creates a secret login page for admin and ensures high-speed site surfing for your visitors by reducing the bandwidth usage.”

Conclusion

I hope this article helped optimize your blog loading speed. After optimization, don’t forget to re-check your page speed. You will be surprised to see the results.

Please let me know in the comments if you have information or experience related to WordPress website optimization.