A Comprehensive Guide to Fixing a Slow WordPress Website

Introduction

Running a WordPress site that loads quickly is not just a nice-to-have; it's essential in today's fast-paced digital world. A slow website can lead to higher bounce rates, lower search engine rankings, and frustrated visitors. Faster websites, on the other hand, lead to a better user experience and potentially higher engagement and SEO rankings, not to mention more sales. 

Here’s a guide to help you optimize your WordPress site for peak performance

Understanding what impacts WordPress Performance

Before diving into optimization, it’s crucial to understand what affects WordPress speed. Factors include server response time, the number of HTTP requests, page size, and the complexity of your theme and plugins.

Factors That Impact WordPress Performance

Hosting Server Quality

Your choice of hosting (shared, VPS, dedicated, or cloud) significantly affects performance. Insufficient resources (CPU, RAM, bandwidth) on shared hosting can cause slow load times. Opt for optimized WordPress hosting or scalable cloud solutions for better speed.

Web hosting location has implications for the physical distance between your server and your users, and this affects website load times. Choose a hosting provider with servers close to your target audience is not always practical so it is recommended that you use a CDN like Cloudflare.

• Use Efficient Hosting - Shared hosting can lead to performance issues due to resource sharing.
• Select a Reliable Host: Choose a hosting provider that offers high-performance servers and optimised WordPress hosting plans. 

Consider:

• Managed WordPress Hosting: Offers optimisations, updates, and support tailored to WordPress.
• Cloud or VPS Hosting: For high traffic, these options provide more resources and scalability.

Choose a Lightweight Theme

Complex themes with excessive features, heavy animations, and poorly written code slow performance. Use lightweight, optimized themes built for speed, like GeneratePress, Avada or Astra. Start with a theme that's designed for speed. Themes like Avada come with built-in tools and performance-enhancing features that make it easier to build fast-loading websites, reducing the load on your server. 

Avoid themes with heavy plugins pre-installed or those with complex, resource-intensive designs or themes that don't provide all the features needed for your website to function.

Minimize the Use of Plugins and Extensions

Each plugin can add load time to your site. Evaluate your plugins:

• Use only necessary plugins: Remove any plugins that aren't essential for your site's functionality.
• Choose lightweight plugins: Opt for plugins that are known for efficiency rather than those with bloated code.
• Too many active plugins, especially poorly coded ones, increase resource usage.
• Deactivate unused plugins and regularly test for plugin conflicts or inefficiencies.

Image Size and Optimization

Images often contribute to the largest part of your page load problems

Optimize them by:

• Compressing images: Use tools or plugins like Smush, TinyPNG or Squoosh or ShortPixel to reduce file sizes without significant quality loss.
• Use Proper Image Formats: Choose the right format (JPEG, PNG, WebP) for each image to minimise file size.
• Optimise Image Dimensions: Ensure images are the correct size for their intended use.
• Lazy loading: Load images only as they're needed by the user, which can cut initial load times significantly.
• Optimise Media Library: Regularly clean up your media library to remove unused files.

Optimize Your Database

Over time, the database accumulates unnecessary data like post revisions, spam comments, transient options and unused tags.

Regularly clean up your bloated database by:

• Deleting old post revisions: WordPress saves multiple versions of your posts. You can limit or disable this to reduce database size.
• Removing spam comments: Spam can accumulate quickly. Regularly clear out spam comments to keep your database lean.
•     Optimise Database Queries: Identify and optimise slow queries.
• Indexing: Create indexes on frequently queried data columns to speed up search queries.
• Optimizing tables: Use tools like phpMyAdmin or WordPress plugins to optimize your database tables, reducing overhead space.
• Orphaned Tables and Records: Remove orphanned data from the database after testing and removing a plugin.

An unoptimized database can be a major factor in poor website performance. Regularly clean and optimize your database with tools like WP-Optimize or manual queries.

Minification and Combining Files

• Minify CSS and JavaScript: Remove unnecessary characters (whitespace, comments) to reduce file size.
• Combine Files: Merge multiple CSS and JavaScript files into fewer files to reduce HTTP requests.

Use Caching Solutions

Caching is one of the most effective ways to speed up WordPress:

• Browser caching: Instruct browsers to store static resources locally, reducing load times on subsequent visits.
• Page Caching: Cache entire pages to avoid processing them on every request.
• Database Caching: Cache database queries to speed up database interactions.
• Server-side caching: Use plugins like W3 Total Cache or WP Super Cache to serve static HTML files rather than processing PHP on every page load.

Use a Content Delivery Network (CDN)

• Without a CDN, content delivery can be slow for users far from the hosting server location.
• CDNs like Cloudflare or BunnyCDN deliver content from the closest server to reduce latency.

A CDN can dramatically decrease load times by serving your content from servers closer to your visitors' geographic locations. This reduces latency, particularly important for sites with international audiences.

Excessive HTTP Requests

• Multiple CSS, JavaScript, and image files increase HTTP requests.
• Minify and combine CSS/JS files, and reduce requests by using tools like Autoptimize.

External Scripts and Third-Party Resources

• Embedding external scripts (ads, analytics, fonts, videos) adds load time.
• Only include necessary scripts and defer non-critical ones to improve page speed.

Lack of GZIP Compression

• GZIP compresses files before sending them to the browser. Without it, pages load larger files.
• Enable GZIP via plugins or server configurations to reduce file size.

Outdated WordPress Core, Plugins, and Themes - Update Regularly

• Running outdated versions can cause performance issues and security vulnerabilities.
• Keep WordPress core, themes, and plugins up to date to benefit from performance improvements.

Keeping WordPress, themes, and plugins updated ensures you have the latest performance enhancements. Updates often include fixes for speed-related issues.

Optimize Your WordPress Configuration

• Limit the number of posts on blog pages: Fewer posts mean fewer database queries and faster load times.
• Use excerpts instead of full posts on archives: This reduces the amount of content loaded on each page.

Poorly Written Custom Code

• Inefficient custom code or unoptimized queries can slow down pages.
• Optimize code, scripts, and SQL database queries to improve efficiency.

Use Lazy Loading

• Loading all media at once increases initial load time.
• Enable lazy loading so images and videos load only when they come into view.

High Traffic Without Scalability

• Sudden traffic spikes can overwhelm servers without adequate resources or caching.
• Use load balancers, scalable hosting, and CDNs to handle high traffic effectively.

Security Vulnerabilities

• Malware or malicious scripts can drain server resources and slow performance.
• Use security plugins like Wordfence and regularly scan your site.
• Backup Your Website: Create regular backups to protect your site from data loss.
• Security Audits: Conduct regular security audits to identify and address potential vulnerabilities.

Monitor and Test

• Regularly check your site's speed:
• Use tools like GTmetrix, Pingdom, or Google PageSpeed Insights: These tools give you actionable insights into what's slowing your site down.

Conclusion

Optimising WordPress performance isn't a one-time task but an ongoing process. By implementing these strategies, you can significantly enhance your site's speed, leading to a better user experience and potentially higher engagement and SEO rankings.

Remember, every site is unique, so some trial and error might be necessary to find the perfect optimisation balance for your WordPress site. Keep testing, keep optimizing, and stay ahead in the digital space.

Not everyone is a DIY IT expert, ITM Web Design can assist you to get your WordPress website performing optimally. Contact Us.