Is your WordPress site slow? A slow loading website can hurt your rankings, frustrate users, and lower conversions. But don’t worry! We will show you step-by-step how to optimize your WordPress site for blazing speed.
Images are often the heaviest assets on a website. Large images slow down loading times, increasing bounce rates. Optimizing images ensures your site loads faster while maintaining high-quality visuals.
To enable lazy loading, add this snippet to your functions.php
file:
function enable_lazy_loading() {
add_filter( 'wp_lazy_loading_enabled', '__return_true' );
}
add_action( 'init', 'enable_lazy_loading' );
Each CSS or JavaScript file makes a request to the server. The more requests, the slower the page loads. By minifying and combining these files, you reduce the number of requests and improve speed.
To defer JavaScript, add this to functions.php
:
function defer_parsing_of_js($url) {
if (is_admin()) return $url;
if (FALSE === strpos($url, '.js')) return $url;
return "$url' defer onload=";
}
add_filter('clean_url', 'defer_parsing_of_js', 11, 1);
Over time, WordPress databases accumulate unnecessary data, such as old post revisions, spam comments, and transient options. Cleaning up your database improves performance.
Run this SQL query in phpMyAdmin to clean old revisions:
DELETE FROM wp_posts WHERE post_type = 'revision';
To optimize database tables, run:
OPTIMIZE TABLE wp_posts, wp_postmeta, wp_comments, wp_options;
The wp_options
table can get bloated with autoloaded data. To check and reduce it, run this query:
SELECT option_name, length(option_value) AS option_size FROM wp_options WHERE autoload = 'yes' ORDER BY option_size DESC LIMIT 20;
Delete unnecessary large options:
DELETE FROM wp_options WHERE option_name = 'unwanted_option';
Indexing the wp_options
table helps speed up queries for autoloaded options. Use this query to add an index:
ALTER TABLE wp_options ADD INDEX autoload_index (`autoload`);
If your site has many comments, indexing the wp_comments
table helps retrieve comments faster:
ALTER TABLE wp_comments ADD INDEX comment_approved_index (`comment_approved`);
By default, WordPress has a low memory limit, which can cause performance issues when handling large files or complex queries. Increasing the memory limit improves site speed.
wp-config.php
: Add the following line to increase memory:define('WP_MEMORY_LIMIT', '256M');
php.ini
(If You Have Access): Find the memory_limit line and update it:memory_limit = 256M
.htaccess
File: Add this line:php_value memory_limit 256M
Object caching stores database queries and reduces load times. Instead of retrieving data repeatedly, WordPress fetches stored cache data, making your site significantly faster.
wp-config.php
:define('WP_CACHE', true);
The WordPress Heartbeat API continuously sends requests between the browser and server, consuming CPU resources. If your site doesn’t rely on real-time updates, disabling it can save resources.
To disable it, add this snippet to functions.php
:
add_action('init', function() {
wp_deregister_script('heartbeat');
});
Alternatively, use a plugin like Heartbeat Control to limit or disable it.
Excessive PHP processes slow down a website. Optimizing PHP usage ensures a more responsive experience.
3000
.30
seconds to free up processes faster.A bad hosting provider can slow down even a well-optimized WordPress site. Choosing the right host ensures your website runs at peak performance.
These optimizations can significantly speed up your WordPress site, but they require time and technical knowledge. If you find this overwhelming or need expert assistance, we can optimize your site for maximum speed! Contact us today, and let’s make your WordPress site lightning-fast!
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