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How to Increase Your WordPress Page Speed (5 Simple Ways)

Sep 6, 2023

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The slow loading of websites could harm your business. The constant barrage of information have diminished the attention span of humans, meaning users lose interest quicker than ever before.

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If your website takes too lengthy to load, potential customers may simply click away.

It is good to know that there are effective strategies to boost the speed of your WordPress website's performance. Using plugins and following guidelines can help increase the speed at which your website loads and also keep your visitors visiting your website.

In this guide, we'll look at five methods to increase your WordPress site speed. Also, we'll look at what slows down your site, and why fast load times are essential. Let's begin!

What slows down your WordPress website's performance? (And Why Speed Is Crucial)

Time to load a website refers to the amount of time it takes your site to show all of the content in its entirety. The content could include pictures video, text, or other elements.

Some of the elements that could slow down your site include:

  • Images
  • Videos
  • Slow plugins
  • Lack of caching
  • External scripts

The algorithm penalizes websites that are slow and makes them appear lower on the search results list which makes it more difficult for your customers to find your company.

It is possible to use a no-cost software such as that of the IsItWP speed tests to assess the speed of your WordPress website's performance.

When you have a base line, it is time to start making tweaks to improve loading times. Additionally, you can utilize this tool to perform tests as part of the updating process to determine which strategies work best for your website.

How to Improve Your WordPress Speed of Your Website (5 Easy Ways)

Once you've realized the significance of the WordPress site's speed is, we'll take a look some simple ways you can reduce your site's loading time.

1. Pick the right theme and add-ons.

Themes and plugins play an important role as parts of WordPress websites. They are the primary components. But, poorly-designed themes and plugins may make your site slow.

If you are choosing a theme or plugin for your site, it is important to

  • Check out user ratings and reviews. This can give an idea of how the plugin and theme will perform for users.
  • Find out whether your theme or plugin have been updated recently. Tools that receive frequent updates from their creators are more stable and likely to be better optimized.
  • You can test the staging site's performance before and after the addition of the tool to determine the extent of any decreases.

2. Optimize Your Images

In order to reduce the impact of your media files' impact, you can consider using an image optimizer such as the ShortPixel software:

This plugin integrates into your WordPress website. It lets you optimize the images from all types of files that include PNG and JPEG. It's very easy to use, and allows you to compress all photos on your site with a single click.

You can use ShortPixel as a ShortPixel plugin to make images more efficient by going to Media > Bulk ShortPixel > Start Optimizing:

This tool is able to compress all the images in your WordPress library all at once.

There is another option to consider using "lazy loading". This will stop your site from showing images until the user is scrolling down until they reach them. This helps to speed the loading process.

You can enable lazy loading by using the help of a plugin such as Smush:

After installing the plugin, all you need to do is navigate towards Smush > Lazy Load and then activate:

Once you activate lazy loading, it is possible to customize various settings, including kinds of media, exclusions and script placements. Smush can also be a great option to compress and resize images if you don't use ShortPixel.

3. Utilize a Caching plugin (or an Host that has Built-In Caching)

Caching is a vital procedure to make your site load faster. It makes and saves duplicates of your website in a location called a cache, so the entire website doesn't have to reload with every new visitor. The server can retrieve these information from the cache for any new visitors, which means it's much quicker to load.

One of the easiest ways to cache your site is using an application like the WP Super Cache. It uses a few different methods, including basic static files that are suitable for all users, and "super-cached" static documents designed for expert users:

The WP Super Cache to cache your website details through Settings > WP Super Cache > Caching On:

In this dashboard, you can also adjust the settings of your cache by going into the Advancedtab. In this tab, you have the option of choosing what users will receive cached content, how long your caches last, and if you wish to enable expert cache delivery.

Its internal caching feature is one of the most efficient available, which makes it literally the fastest WordPress hosting service available.

4. Utilize an Content Delivery Network (CDN)

A Content Delivery Network (CDN) is a group of servers spread across the world. Each one stores a cache of data for your site as well as when a visitor comes to your website they'll receive content from the CDN that is closest to them. Your website is therefore able to load a lot more quickly since there's less geographical distance.

There are a variety of CDN choices available, such as Cloudflare. It is possible to sign up for a paid account and start making use of this top CDN to get your website to visitors faster.

5. Utilize Excerpts

If you have a blog, you will probably want to showcase the blog's content. But, showing the blog's entire content can slow down your website's speed. You can instead consider displaying excerpts of your blog posts on your page's landing pages.

You can observe on the blog's home page that it does not show articles in all their detail. It shows just a few phrases from each and lets the user select the headline to read the rest:

In accordance with your theme it is possible to alter the settings of your browser to show excerpts through Settings > Reading > For each blog post Include > Summary:

Then, you can easily customize the excerpts of new posts by going to Posts > Add New. Within this page, you can click on Post > Excerpt:

There, you can create a customized excerpt that can be displayed instead of the complete article. You can also add excerpts to existing posts.

Conclusion

Slow loading websites can ruin your business. If your customers click away and leave, you may miss chances to increase conversions. So, optimizing your WordPress website's speed is among of the most important things you can do.

In summary, these are some ways that you can boost the quality of your WordPress performance:

  1. Reduce your image file sizes through the ShortPixel plug-in Also, think about lazy loading.
  2. Use a Content Delivery Network (CDN) such as Cloudflare to cut down on loading time.
  3. Post excerpts from posts to increase loading speed.

Have you got any concerns about how to improve your WordPress speed? Let us know in the comments section below!

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