Tips and tricks for an optimised WordPress site
Optimising your WordPress site can improve its speed, performance, and overall user experience.
Here are some basic tips to help optimize your WordPress site:
1. Use a lightweight theme
- Choose a theme that is well-coded and lightweight, meaning it should be fast and not include unnecessary features. To know if a theme is lightweight, look for themes that focus on simplicity and performance. Avoid themes with excessive built-in features you don’t need, as they can slow down your website.
- Some examples of lightweight themes you can explore include Astra, GeneratePress, and Neve. Each is known for speed and clean coding, but it’s important to evaluate them based on your specific needs, such as design flexibility, features, and performance.
2. Install a caching plugin
- Caching helps reduce server load and speeds up your site for returning visitors. Popular caching plugins include W3 Total Cache, WP Super Cache, and Cache Enabler. For step-by-step instructions on using the WP Super Cache plugin, refer to our guide: Configure WordPress with WP Super Cache.
3. Limit the number of plugins
- Excessive plugins can slow down your site. Deactivate and delete any plugins you are not using. Always choose high-quality plugins and avoid installing too many.
- You can easily manage your plugins without logging into your WordPress dashboard by using our WordPress Management tool. Check out our guide here: Manage Plugins and Themes with WordPress Management Tool.
4. Choosing the Right PHP Version
- Newer versions of PHP offer significant performance improvements for WordPress sites. However, it’s important to note that using the latest PHP version isn’t always the best choice. Ensure compatibility with your themes and plugins by using the PHP version they support to avoid potential issues.
- You can follow our guide here on how to change your PHP version: How to change the active PHP Version
5. Minify CSS, JavaScript, and HTML, and optimise images and databases
- Minify your files (CSS, JavaScript, and HTML) to remove unnecessary spaces and comments, reducing file size and improving load times.
- Optimise your images by compressing them without losing quality.
- Regularly clean up your database by deleting old post revisions, drafts, and spam comments to enhance overall performance.
Some popular plugins such as WP-Optimize, Autoptimize, or Smush can help automate these tasks.
By applying these simple optimization techniques, you can make your WordPress site run a lot faster. This means a better experience for your visitors, with quicker load times keeping them on your site longer and reducing the chances they’ll leave right away.
An optimised site also stands a better chance of ranking higher in search results, which can bring more people to your site. Plus, it can help your site run smoothly, even when there’s a lot of traffic, ensuring everything loads seamlessly for your users.
IMPORTANT NOTE:
Before updating your WordPress version, plugins, themes, or performing any database cleanup, it’s crucial to back up your site first. This ensures that if any updates cause issues or break the site, you can easily restore it. Here’s a quick guide on how to back up your site using JetBackup 5: Backup or Restore Site/Files.