How to speed up WordPress site in 2023

In this era of online platforms, optimization to speed up WordPress websites is mandatory. A slow loading website can be a big issue for growing an online platform. Site speed is essential for positive user experience, search engine ranking and overall success.

A slow website can affect your search engine rankings, conversion rate and your site’s popularity. One irritated visitor prefers to leave a slow website and never come back. Thus you can lose tons of potential customers  just because of your slow website.

To speed up WordPress sites, you can follow some effective process like using a speed optimization plugin, choosing the right hosting provider etc.

In this article, we’ll discuss 11 processes for speeding up your WordPress website. So that you can smoothly complete all the tasks for WordPress speed optimization.

Let’s get started.

What is speed optimization?

Speed optimization for WordPress is a process to create a faster website. That means lessening page loading time, optimizing server time, streamlining browser rendering, implementing caching, utilizing content delivery networks (CDNs), optimizing images and multimedia, minifying code by removing unnecessary characters and reducing the number of HTTP requests. 

Speed optimization takes for a web page to fully load in a user’s browser. Faster loading times contribute to a better user experience and can positively impact search engine rankings.

Why should you speed up your website?

A swift-loading website cultivates a seamless and enjoyable user experience. Search engines prioritize fast-loading sites, resulting in higher rankings ultimately driving organic traffic.

Moreover, the positive effects extend to conversion rates with faster websites.

Reducing bounce rates is another significant outcome of improved speed. Users are naturally drawn to websites that deliver content swiftly and reliably, giving you an edge in attracting and retaining your audience.

A Study shows some information about the relation between conversion rate and website speed.

• A site that loads in 1 second has a conversion rate 3x. It is higher than a site that loads in 5 seconds.
• A site that loads in 1 second has a conversion rate 5x which is higher than a site that loads in 10 seconds.
• When pages load in 1 second, the average conversion rate is almost 40%. At a 2-second load time, the conversion rate decreases to 34%. At 3 seconds, the conversion rate reduces at 29%. Reaches its lowest at a 6-second load time.

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Here are some benefits you can expect from website optimization: 

• Faster loading times provide a more seamless and enjoyable experience for visitors.
• Users prefer to stay on a website that loads quickly, reducing bounce rates.
• Search engines prioritize page speed as a ranking factor.
• Faster websites are more likely to rank higher in search engine results, improving visibility.
• Users are more likely to convert (make a purchase, sign up, etc.) on a fast-loading website.
• Improved site speed positively influences conversion rates and user engagement.
• Faster websites cater to the growing number of users accessing content on mobile devices.
• Faster loading times decrease bounce rates, indicating that users find the content engaging and accessible.
• Fast-loading websites require less server resources and bandwidth, leading to cost savings.
• A fast website reflects positively on your brand, conveying professionalism and reliability.
• Users associate a quick and responsive site with a trustworthy and credible online presence.

11 effective ways to speed up a WordPress website

To improve the overall performance of  WordPress sites depends on some significant elements. So, you may have to follow some specific ways and complete some necessary tasks to speed up WordPress website.

Let’s go through all the major ways that can help you to convert your slow website into a speedy and efficient one. 

1. Choose fast website hosting

An optimized WordPress hosting provides a positive effect on website speed. A cheap and unoptimized hosting can never improve your site speed. So, you can lose your site’s visitors, customers, and higher rankings.

Selecting a fast hosting provider is important to optimize the speed. Managed WordPress hosting services are particularly beneficial. As they are specifically optimized for WordPress websites. 

You can look for different hosting providers. Search their offers, different plans, and features. Consider their offers, different plans, and features and find options like Hostinger, Bluehost, SiteGround, HostGator, and GreenGeeks. 

Choose a hosting provider that fits your requirements.

Choosing a hosting provider that prioritizes speed and performance is an essential step in creating a website that meets user expectations

2. Employ effective caching plugin

An effective caching plugin improves the performance of a WordPress website by optimizing the content. Caching refers to storing static versions of web pages. As it reduces the need for the server to generate the page dynamically with each user request. 

The plugin functions by creating and storing a cached copy of frequently accessed elements, such as images, stylesheets, and HTML files. When a user visits the site, the cached content is delivered swiftly. 

This reduces server load and minimizes response times, contributing to a faster website. Additionally, a well-designed caching plugin often offers customization options, allowing users to specify which elements to cache and for how long.

An effective caching plugin is a valuable tool for streamlining the delivery of content on a WordPress website. It improves speed and enhances user experience. 

Here are the best 5 caching plugins:

• WP Rocket: WP Rocket is one of the best caching plugins available. Its user-friendly interface allows a user to control caching functionality very swiftly.
• WP-Optimize: It is an all-in-one tool that can cache web pages, minify CSS and Javascript files, compress photos, and clean up databases.
• W3 Total Cache: W3 Total Cache is a popular caching plugin. It has a lot of features, which can be overwhelming for beginners.
• Speed Optimizer: The Speed Optimizer plugin is a free WordPress performance-boosting solution to improve user experience. It also increases conversion rates and drives more traffic.
• WP Fastest Cache: WP Fastest Cache is both an optimization and cache plugin. The plugin improves the PageSpeed Insights score and speeds up the wordpress sites.

3. Use a CDN 

A content delivery network (CDN) plays a crucial role in accelerating the speed and overall performance of a WordPress website. A Content Delivery Network (CDN) speeds up a WordPress website by spreading its content across servers in different locations. 

This reduces the distance in which data must travel between the server and the user’s browser. As it leads to faster loading times for assets like images and scripts. 

The CDN stores static content in different places. Users can access resources from the closest server, reducing response times. Also, a CDN handles traffic spikes by distributing the load across multiple servers to ensure consistent performance. 

Some popular CDN services are given below:

• Cloudflare: Cloudflare is quite widely recognized. It has established its reputation by consistently delivering performance over the years.
• Google Cloud CDN: The Google Cloud Platform, provided by Google, constitutes a collection of cloud computing services.  
• Amazon CloudFront: Throughout the past decade, the foundation of the internet has predominantly relied on Amazon’s AWS hosting.

4. Minify JS, CSS, and HTML 

Minifying JavaScript (JS), Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), and Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) is a crucial strategy to improve a WordPress website performance. The process of assets minification means removing unnecessary characters, spaces, and line breaks from the code. 

Smaller file sizes mean quicker download times, leading to faster page loading speeds. Minification not only enhances the efficiency of data transfer but also contributes to improved rendering by browsers.

By implementing minification techniques, WordPress website owners can significantly optimize their site’s performance.

Here are the top 4 plugins to minify CSS, HTML, and JS.

• Next3 Offload: The plugin is one of the most popular plugins that optimizes files and minifies HTML, CSS, JS as well.
• WP Super Minify: This plugin combines, minifies, and caches inline JavaScript and CSS files to speed up WordPress site.
• WP Rocket: This plugin is also one of the most effective plugins for minifying Js, CSS and HTML.
• Fast Velocity: It is another workable HTML, CSS & JS optimization plugin for developers and advanced users.

5. Optimize images

Optimizing images is important for accelerating the speed and efficiency of a WordPress website. Large images can slow down page loading times. 

Image optimization involves reducing file sizes without compromising visual quality. Smaller image files require less bandwidth, resulting in faster download speeds for visitors. Additionally, optimized images contribute to improved search engine rankings. 

In WordPress, various plugins and tools are available to automate the image optimization process.

The best 6 image optimization plugins are given below:

• Next3 Offload: You can optimize all images of your website with Next3 Offload. Just enable the image optimization feature to optimize all the image by only one click.
• ShortPixel: Optimize images and create WebP/AVIF versions efficiently. The plugin is a comprehensive, lightweight, stable and frequently updated freemium image compression plugin. 
• Imagify: Imagify is the most advanced image optimization plugin. It helps you resize and optimize images.
• EWWW: With EWWW image optimization plugin, you can optimize all your existing images.
• Optimole: Optimole is the all-in-one solution to all of your image optimization requirements.
• TinyPNG: This plugin automatically optimizes all your images. It works by integrating with the popular image compression services TinyJPG and TinyPNG.

6. Install offload media plugin

Offloading media plugins generally move or copy media files, such as images, videos, or audio, from one location to another. More clearly, an offload media plugin moves or copies WordPress media files from local server to Cloud storage like Amazon S3, DigitalOcean Spaces, Bunny CDN, Wasabi Cloud etc.

This offloading  process saves WordPress storage space, provides the facility of backup file, helps to optimize a WordPress website, speeds up WordPress website and so on. 

You can find some extra-ordinary offload media plugin that can serve almost all kinds of functionalities and features to speed up WordPress website prominently. Like minify Assets, Database optimization, Image compression, webP format image etc. 

You can check the top 4 offload media plugin list below:

• Next3 Offload: Next3 Offload is the most popular site speed optimization plugin nowadays.It offload WordPress media files to Amazon S3, DigitalOcean Spaces, Bunny CDN, Wasabi Cloud. It contains thousands of features altogether.
• WP Offload Media: WP Offload Media is a WordPress plugin designed to store your media files and assets in the cloud, enabling them to be served from a Content Delivery Network (CDN).
• Infinite Uploads: Infinite Uploads serves as a comprehensive media solution. It offers you  video hosting, encoding, and streaming. It functions as a cloud storage and CDN delivery provider specifically for your WordPress media library.
• Publitio: The offloading plugin offloads your media library to Publitio – Media Asset Management in the cloud. It also replaces links to images/videos within posts/pages.

7. Clean up Database

Cleaning the database is necessary for optimizing the speed of a WordPress website. Over time, databases can accumulate unnecessary data, such as post revisions, spam comments, transients, and other redundant information. 

This accumulation can lead to increased database size and slower execution times. Cleaning the database involves removing these unnecessary elements, streamlining the data structure. Smaller, well-organized databases result in faster query responses. 

WordPress users can employ plugins or manual techniques to clean and optimize their databases. Regular database maintenance is a proactive approach to prevent potential slowdowns. 

Here is presenting 4 database cleaner plugins for WordPress:

• Next3 Offload: The plugin has recently launched the feature for clean databases. 

• Advanced Database Cleaner: Advanced Database Cleaner supports delete old drafts, post revisions, and comment spam. It optimizes the database and improves website speed.
• Optimize Database after Deleting Revisions: Optimize Database after Deleting Revisions, or ODAR, optimizes database after completing the removal of revision process.
• WP-Optimize: WP-Optimize is a multifunctional database management plugin. It also works to clean up the database.

8. Reduce the use of inactive plugin

Inactive plugins, even when not actively in use, can still have an impact on the site’s loading times. By minimizing the number of inactive plugins, website owners can streamline their site’s code, reduce server overhead, and enhance efficiency. 

This approach contributes to faster loading times. It also improves the website’s stability and security. Regularly auditing and deactivating unused plugins is a proactive measure that ensures the website remains speedy and responsive. 

9. Pick a lightweight theme

Choosing a lightweight theme is a fundamental process for optimizing the speed of a WordPress website. The theme can be considered as the foundation for the site’s design and functionality. 

A lightweight theme is characterized by its minimalistic code and efficient design. Lightweight themes have smaller file sizes and fewer scripts, resulting in faster loading times for web pages. 

Lightweight themes are particularly beneficial for mobile users and those with slower internet connections. By selecting a lightweight theme, WordPress website owners can significantly contribute to an efficient, speed-optimized, and user-friendly online presence.

Let’s have a look on top 3 lightweight themes below:

• Hello: This is a plain vanilla-free theme. The theme is developed  by Elementor and tailored for their page builder.
• Astra: Astra is one of the most popular free WordPress themes. It contains lightweight code, user-friendly features, and thousands of ready-to-use templates.
• OceanWP: Lightweight and highly extendable theme. It allows you to create almost any kind of website. It’s a fully responsive theme. 

10. Enable GZIP compression

GZIP compression is a data compression technique. It reduces the size of files transmitted between the server and the user’s browser. By compressing CSS, HTML, JavaScript, and other web page elements, GZIP minimizes the amount of data that needs to be transferred. 

WordPress websites can implement GZIP compression through server configurations or with the help of plugins. It ensures that your site’s assets are delivered in a compressed format and decompressed by the user’s browser for seamless rendering. 

GZIP compression is a valuable tool that optimizes your website performance. It helps to reduce bandwidth usage, and provide visitors with a faster, more responsive online experience.

11. Update PHP

Updating PHP is a measure for speeding up a WordPress website and improving overall performance. PHP is the scripting language that powers WordPress. Each new PHP version typically brings enhancements in speed, security and efficiency. 

WordPress regularly updates its software to be compatible with the latest PHP releases, so keeping the PHP version up-to-date boosts performance. It also ensures the website remains secure and compatible with the latest technologies. 

Updating PHP is a fundamental step in optimizing a WordPress website for speed, efficiency, and security.

Bonus tips: 

Here are some tips that can be beneficial to speed up WordPress. So have a look on these points

• Deactivate automatic updates: Manually update plugins instead of using automatic updates. As it prevents a constant background process from slowing down your site.
• Disable trackbacks and pingbacks: Disable trackbacks and pingbacks in the discussion settings of WordPress to improve speed. These features can be a drain on performance.
• Restrict the number of posts on the blog roll page: If your blog experiences speed issues, consider limiting the number of featured posts on a single page. Loading numerous posts on one page can slow down your site.
• Activate object caching: Improve WordPress speed by enabling object caching. It involves storing database queries for efficient data retrieval during server requests.
• Remove unused images: Unused images on your site can significantly affect it’s performance. If certain images are not in use, you can delete them to prevent slowdowns.
• Manage cron jobs: Cron jobs are useful for setting up automatic tasks. When you use too many of them, that can really slow your site down. So, try to limit the number you create.
• Optimize Google Fonts: Optimize the use of Google Fonts for a better user experience without compromising page speed by following some tips.

Final thoughts

WordPress is the most popular CMS. So, it is mandatory to speed up WordPress websites that can hugely grow your business.  

As you’ll lose so many visitors because of a slow and low performing website. That’s why it’s important to take steps to speed up your WordPress website.A slow WordPress site threatens your position in the SERPs. 

By maintaining the above mentioned best practices such as going for a good hosting provider like SiteGround and a few speed optimization and offloading plugins like Next3 Offload, your site will function more smoothly and become faster than ever.

So, take the right steps and employ the right solution for your website to step up your SEO and engage more and more visitors.

How to Speed Up WordPress Site FAQ

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