Everyone says WordPress is slow? Do you think Naibabiji's access speed is slow? In fact, for any website program, as data increases, it won't be as fast as it was initially. But as long as we do some necessary optimizations, the speed can still become very fast. In this article, Naiba shares 10 methods to improve WordPress speed.
10 Methods to Optimize WordPress Speed
The 10 WordPress speed optimization tips shared by Naiba here can be followed even by novice users, so don't feel too burdened. Just follow along and operate.
Choose a server with good performance
This is the most immediate optimization technique. If you don't know how to optimize, simply spend more money to upgrade your server configuration. For example,
NaibabijiThe earliest server was purchased from
Tencent Cloudwith a configuration of a 1-core 1GB cloud server. Now it has been upgraded to a 2-core 4GB server. The website loading speed on the new server, even without using caching or other optimizations, is faster than the old server. This sufficiently demonstrates how significant the impact of a high-performance server is on website speed. Of course, if you are using shared hosting, you'll find that there are basically no hardware upgrade options available. Therefore, using
VPSto build a website offers more flexible upgrades.
Use a caching plugin
The speed difference for a WordPress website with and without caching is noticeable. Caching plugins can be considered one of the essential plugins for WordPress.
WordPress has many free caching plugins. Naibabiji recommends that you can use WP Super Cache.
For a paid caching plugin, you can consider WP Rocket. This plugin is indeed very useful, and Naibabiji is currently using it.
Optimize the WordPress database
After your website has been running for several months or years, the database will contain a lot of unnecessary content. This content increases the server load, so you can clean up the unwanted database content. Optimization is also very simple; you can directly install a plugin to help, such as WP Optimize.
Delete unnecessary plugins
When server performance is insufficient and plugin quality is not high, the more plugins you install, the greater the impact on website speed. As ordinary users,
building your own websitedue to a lack of technical knowledge, we often consider using plugins to implement many features. To optimize WordPress loading speed, a trade-off needs to be made. Unnecessary plugins and inactive plugins should be considered for deletion. Of course, if you think plugins do not affect your website's speed, you can disable all plugins and then enable them one by one to determine if they truly have no impact on your website's speed.
Keep software updated
Most business websites do not keep WordPress versions and plugins updated, which is incorrect. Theme, plugin, and WordPress updates typically include code optimization, bug fixes, and new features. If your website has too many items requiring updates, it will not only affect the loading speed of your frontend but also have a certain impact on the backend speed.
Use smaller images
Naiba has seen many business websites uploading original images taken with digital cameras or mobile phones. The pixel dimensions of these original images are often several thousand pixels. You need to consider that the widest pixel width for most websites is only 1200 pixels. This means uploading images wider than 1200 pixels is not very meaningful, as you are not running a wallpaper website. Therefore, it is recommended to manually reduce the image pixel size when uploading, keeping images within a width of 800-1200 pixels is more appropriate.
Image compression
Manually reducing the pixel size of images is not enough; you can also use third-party services to compress the images. Image compression is a common method to solve slow website image loading, and it is relatively easy to implement.
There are two methods for image compression: One method is manual compression, for example, using local image compression software or online image compression services. For local image compression, you can try the software XnConvert. Previously, Naiba wrote
Method for Batch Processing Images on Mac: Resizing, Adding Watermarks, Rotating, which introduced this XnConvert software. Of course, XnConvert's professional capability is not specifically image compression. Although it can batch compress images, the results might not be the best.
NaibabijiThe images on the website are basically processed through online image compression services before uploading. Naiba frequently uses the services of the following two websites.
https://tinypng.com/ and
https://compressor.io/compress Another method is to use a plugin for automatic compressionThere are many image compression plugins on the WordPress platform, but almost all have limits on free compression quantities, such as EWWW Image Optimizer and ShortPixel Image Optimizer.
Use CDN acceleration
Many beginners don't know what CDN is. You can simply understand CDN as the local warehouse of JD.com when you shop online. The CDN service first stores static files from your website, such as images and JS files, on its own servers. When a user visits your website, it automatically routes the resource server request to the server closest to the user. This way, users can retrieve resources from the nearest server, resulting in faster loading speeds (CDN servers also typically have larger bandwidth than your own server).
Disable comment notifications and pingbacks
The pingback feature itself is a good thing. It's similar to when you cite someone else's article, you send a notification to them, informing them that you referenced their work. This facilitates communication between blogs and sharing of original content. However, nowadays many people are accustomed to scraping content from other websites without leaving links. The pingbacks to your website are often advertisements, so you can also consider disabling this service.
Use Gzip compression
This feature can be implemented in various ways. Some good service providers enable Gzip directly at the server side. If the server doesn't have it enabled by default, you can also use caching plugins or other plugins to achieve compression. Most CDN services also provide compression services. After applying the above 10 methods to optimize WordPress, your website's access speed will show a noticeable improvement. Of course, there's no such thing as the fastest website speed optimization; there's always faster. However, we don't necessarily need to optimize to be extremely fast. As long as users feel the website isn't slow when they open it, that's OK.
WordPress Speed Optimization FAQ
Q: What factors typically affect the slow access speed of a WordPress website?A: The most significant factor affecting the slow access speed of a WordPress website is the server, including server performance and server location. For example, if you use a server located abroad, no matter how much you optimize, it won't be as fast as a domestic server. However, considering many users are foreign trade enterprise websites, you shouldn't choose a domestic server just for faster access speed within your own country.
Q: What methods can optimize slow image loading on a website?A: The most common methods are uploading smaller images and compressing image sizes. If it's still slow, you can consider using a CDN or directly using a paid
image hosting service。
Q: How to optimize slow access to the WordPress Admin Dashboard?A: Slow access to the WordPress Admin Dashboard is often encountered with domestic servers. This is caused by poor network connectivity from domestic networks to WordPress. You can consider installing a
WP China Yesor
kill 429Plugin. If you are using a server abroad, then it's usually due to poor server performance and too many plugins on the website that need updating.
Q: Are there other methods besides the 10 mentioned in the article?A: Yes, for example, server-level database caching; reducing the number of database queries on the website; separating dynamic and static content, etc. However, these operations are not suitable for novice users. If you want to try, Naiba will create a separate tutorial to share later.
This is the most immediate optimization technique. If you don't know how to optimize, simply spend more money to upgrade your server configuration. For example,NaibabijiThe earliest server was purchased fromTencent Cloudwith a configuration of a 1-core 1GB cloud server. Now it has been upgraded to a 2-core 4GB server. The website loading speed on the new server, even without using caching or other optimizations, is faster than the old server. This sufficiently demonstrates how significant the impact of a high-performance server is on website speed. Of course, if you are using shared hosting, you'll find that there are basically no hardware upgrade options available. Therefore, usingVPSto build a website offers more flexible upgrades.
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