1.
Introduction to Optimizing
WordPress for Website Speed
Nile Flores @blondishnet

2.
Objective:
To give you a basic guide to help
you to optimize (speed up)
WordPress, for a better user
experience.

3.
Areas that this presentation will cover:
❏ Plugins
❏ Themes
❏ Cache
❏ CDN
❏ Images
❏ Database
❏ CSS
❏ Javascript
❏ General speed up tips

4.
In the beginning...
WordPress was slick when you first
installed it, but adding a theme,
plugins, and content just makes it slow
down.
And now you’ve got a frowny face on,
because your website is slow.

5.
Benefits of having a faster site
❏ Better User experience.
❏ Visitors are more apt to visit longer,
subscribe, share, fill out a form, or even
buy your services or products.
❏ Good for your web hosting, especially
using your database resources more
efficiently, and saving on bandwidth.
❏ Good for Google, as speed is part of
ranking.

6.
Updates are important!
Always keep WordPress core, themes, and
plugins up-to-date.
Some updates actually include speeding up
certain areas of your site.
Reminder: Before you update,
create a backup of your site.!

7.
Plugins: Use what you need
Deactivate plugins that you’re not
using.
Oh, and don’t forget to delete plugins
that are are not using. A lot of people
forget this step.

8.
Use Plugins Responsibly
You can use as many
plugins as you want, BUT if
it’s breaking your website,
or even slowing down your
website, then perhaps it’s
time for a plugin diet.

9.
Shut off Plugins Page by Page
For those who can’t code, this allows you to control what plugins can run
globally, or on specific post types (posts, pages, custom post types.)
❏ Plugin Organizer - https://wordpress.org/plugins/plugin-organizer/
❏ Asset CleanUp - https://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-asset-clean-up/
Note: Choose only 1 of these plugins, not both.

10.
Theme Choosing
❏ Sometimes too many theme options may be a
bad thing. Use KISS method.
❏ Don’t forget to choose a responsive theme!
❏ Don’t be afraid to test the theme for speed on
a beta or development site.
❏ Find a theme that has a design you like. If
you’re new to designing themes, don’t choose
a theme that offers umpteen design choices
to switch between. Usually it has a lot of
theme options, and it’s slow.

11.
Caution: Page Builder Themes and Plugins
WordPress, and the themes and plugins built for
it have come far, in order to make designing sites
faster, and more convenient. Some themes are
page builders, and then there are powerful page
builder plugins.
There are a lot of people who install and use
multiple page builders. You only need one. Any
more, will either create conflicts or slow down
your site.

12.
Gutenberg VS Page builders
Gutenberg isn’t a page builder, but it has blocks that can be customized and used
similar to what page builder can do, in order to display your content dynamically. And
what’s cool about it, is that its already built into WordPress by default.
Think about what you need, before choosing a page builder. Sometimes keeping it
simple is better than trying to learn a complex page builder plugin. It also can keep
your site leaner.
WordPress Gutenberg Guide -
https://www.codeinwp.com/blog/wordpress-gutenberg-guide/

13.
A Few Speedy Theme Suggestions
❏ Genesis framework (premium) - https://studiopress.com
❏ Astra - https://wordpress.org/themes/astra/
❏ Twenty Twenty-One -
https://wordpress.org/themes/twentytwentyone/

14.
Test Your Website’s Speed
❏ Pingdom - https://tools.pingdom.com/
❏ GTMetrix - http://gtmetrix.com (specifically the Legacy Reports)
❏ Google PageSpeed -
https://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/
❏ Web Page test - http://www.webpagetest.org/
Note: Your site will fluctuate at times, so sometimes, your test may
result in faster or slower. If you notice a large fluctuation quite
frequently, you may want to ask your web host about it to troubleshoot
why this is occurring.

15.
Why GTMetrix Legacy Report
Since November 2020, GTMetrix has offered by reports based on Google Lighthouse
software, and overall, it doesn’t focus on page speed, which is the most important
metric that most WP Speedup services focus on, and a ranking factor with Google.
Lighthouse report is generally said as being the worst tool to test the site. Use the
Legacy Report instead.
❏ https://wp-rocket.me/blog/the-truth-about-google-pagespeed-insights/
❏ https://wpfixit.com/do-not-use-google-pagespeed-insights/
Note: To get the Legacy Report, you have to sign up for a free GTMetrix account and
set the test type to Legacy Reports. 50 tests per week are allowed with the free
account.

16.
Example of a Speed test
(Uses GTMetrix Legacy Report)

17.
You need a caching plugin
A caching plugin stores a HTML copy of your pages on your server, so
each time a visitor comes by, instead of taking more resource to load
every script and PHP function over again, it delivers a speedier, lighter
HTML page.

18.
Cache Plugins
❏ W3 Total Cache - http://bit.ly/O6hDMy
❏ WP Super Cache - http://bit.ly/1nywhqg
❏ WP Rocket (premium) - http://wp-rocket.me/
❏ Swift Performance (premium) - https://swiftperformance.io/
There are a lot more out there. Google “Recommended Settings…” to
help set up your cache plugin. For the premium plugins, they have their
own knowledge base that’s chock full of helpful information.

19.
Wait...
That last slide… please be careful.
Most of the cache plugins
shouldn’t be combined. Some of
them will even give you a warning
so you’re not doubling up or
negating features.

20.
CDN
A content delivery network or content distribution
network (CDN) is a large distributed system of servers
deployed in multiple data centers across the Internet. -
Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Content_delivery_netw
ork
❏ Cloudflare - http://cloudflare.com
❏ MaxCDN - http://maxcdn.com

21.
CDN, continued...
In simple terms, if your site is targeting people
across the world, the farther they are from where
your site is hosted (the data center), the slower
the site.
A CDN allows you to distributed your site from
multiple locations, so those people from around
the world, experience the site nearly the same as
if they were closer to where your site’s server is
located.

22.
Optimization: Your Host
Your host can offer hosting on servers
ready to make your site blazing fast. Look
for or ask if the web host has or offers:
❏ Memcache
❏ Varnish Cache
❏ APC/ OpCache
❏ “Website Booster”
These tools help hand-in-hand when you’re
optimizing your site, from the server-level.

23.
Optimization: Images
You may want to use a plugin to strip out all the extra stuff, and overall,
reduces file size, while maintaining the quality of the image (lossy, glossy, or
lossless*.) You can pick one of the following:
❏ Smush - https://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-smushit/
❏ ShortPixel Image Optimizer -
https://wordpress.org/plugins/shortpixel-image-optimiser/
❏ Imagify - https://wordpress.org/plugins/imagify/
* Lossy, Glossy, and Lossless explained - https://bit.ly/38RwgA9

24.
Image Optimization Tips
❏ Use WebP image option in image or cache plugin to
deliver fast, quality images that are smaller in file
size.
❏ Don’t upload huge images. Resize them down before
uploading.
❏ Use Lazy Load option in image or cache plugin, to
delay image load, as the user scrolls the page.
❏ Make sure you generate exact sizes for smaller image
areas, instead of letting HTML or CSS scale or crop
your image.
❏ Specify dimensions of image (some cache plugins will
do that for you.)

25.
CSS - Optimization Tips
❏ Minify CSS
❏ Combine CSS
❏ Eliminate render-blocking resources -
https://wp-rocket.me/blog/critical-css/
Most cache plugins have these options. However, use with caution, and
test, test, test! You can break your site. Often, you will need to exclude
some CSS from being minified or combined, if this is happening.

26.
JavaScript Optimization Tips
❏ Minify JavaScript
❏ Combine JavaScript
❏ Defer JavaScript -
https://wp-rocket.me/blog/deferred-loading-of-javascript/
❏ Delay some scripts
Most cache plugins contain options for all of these. Proceed with
caution, and test, test, test! Some JS may need to be excluded, from
some of these options.

27.
Optimization: Database
Over time your site builds up data that is no longer necessary and may bog down your
site. You will need to:
❏ Repair and Optimize Tables
❏ Remove extra revisions
❏ Remove trashed comments
❏ Remove expired transients
You can do this with the WP-Optimize plugin - http://bit.ly/1FnSMu5
Note: Premium plugins like WP Rocket and Swift Performance have features that offer
database optimization.

28.
Wanna Optimize More?
If you’re code savvy, or just want to learn more, here’s some great
resources on Optimizing WordPress:
❏ WordPress Optimization - https://wordpress.org/support/article/optimization/
❏ GTMetrix WordPress Optimization Guide - http://bit.ly/1dkctde
❏ Tips to Speed Up WordPress - https://bit.ly/3nRYTRR
❏ How to Speed Test Your WordPress Site (tips) - https://bit.ly/3svfYod
❏ Web.Dev on Fast Load times (resources) - https://web.dev/fast/

29.
Still confused about how to speed up your site, or just don’t have the
time or patience?
No worries. You can always hire someone to do it for you.

30.
Nile Flores
https://blondish.net
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