Strategies for boosting the performance of your WordPress site

Your WordPress site Is your site running slow? Discover 10 easy-to-implement strategies to boost your WordPress site's performance in 2024: hosting, theme, plugins, images, cache, CDN, and more! Improve speed, UX, and your SEO.

Here are the most effective strategies for boost the performance of your WordPress site.

We will detail them one by one:

1. Choose efficient web hosting: The basis of everything

Your web hosting is the foundation of your site's performance. Poor quality hosting can significantly limit your ability to boost the performance of your WordPress siteno matter what other optimizations you make.

WordPress Hosting Types and Performance

Shared hosting: Cheapest, but shared with many other sites. Can be slow and underperforming for sites with high traffic.
VPS (Virtual Private Server) Hosting: More powerful than shared hosting, offering more dedicated resources. A good price/performance compromise for many WordPress sites.
Dedicated hosting: The most powerful and most expensive. An entire server is dedicated to your site. Ideal for sites with very high traffic.
Managed WordPress hosting: Specially optimized for WordPress, often offers built-in performance features (cache, CDN, etc.) and specialized WordPress support. Often the best choice for boost the performance of your WordPress site without too much technical complexity.

Tips for choosing a high-performance web host

Look for web hosts with a reputation for speed and reliability.
Check reviews and testimonials from other users.
Choose accommodation located geographically close to your target audience.
Consider managed WordPress hosting for optimized performance and ease of use.

2. Optimize your WordPress theme: Lightweight and fast

The WordPress theme you choose has a major impact on your site's performance. A poorly coded, heavy, or feature-filled theme can significantly slow down your site. boost the performance of your WordPress site, opt for a light and optimized theme.

Features of a successful WordPress theme

Light and fast: Cleanly coded, with minimal unnecessary code.
Mobile-first : Designed to be fast and responsive on mobile devices.
Regular update: To ensure security and compatibility with the latest versions of WordPress.
Fewer unnecessary features: Avoid “all-in-one” themes that include features you won’t use.

Popular and high-performing theme options

Default WordPress themes (Twenty Twenty-Three, Twenty Twenty-Four, etc.): Simple, lightweight and well-coded.
GeneratePress: Extremely lightweight and customizable theme. Highly rated for performance.
Astra : Another popular and lightweight theme with many customization options.
OceanWP: Versatile and powerful theme, with options for online stores (WooCommerce).

Page Builders: Use sparingly

Page builders like Elementor, Beaver Builder, or Divi can make it easier to create complex layouts, but they can also add extra code and potentially slow down your site.
Use them judiciously, only when necessary for specific layouts, and avoid using them across your entire site if you want boost the performance of your WordPress site.

3. Optimize and manage WordPress plugins: Less is more

Plugins are essential for extending WordPress functionality, but they can also negatively impact performance if poorly managed. Too many plugins, poorly coded plugins, or outdated plugins can slow down your site and cause security issues.

Plugin management principles for performance

Delete unnecessary plugins: Deactivate and delete any plugins you no longer actively use. Audit your plugins regularly.
Choose powerful and well-coded plugins: Look for reputable plugins with good reviews and regular updates. Choose plugins that do what they're supposed to do effectively without adding unnecessary features.
Replace resource-hungry plugins : Some plugins (complex statistics, heavy sliders, etc.) can be resource-intensive. If possible, look for lighter alternatives or consider implementing some features manually if it makes sense.

Essential plugins for performance (and to be used with caution)

Cache plugins (more on this later) : Indispensable for boost the performance of your WordPress site.
Image optimization plugins (more on this later) : To reduce image size without visible loss of quality.
Security plugins: Security is important, but some overly intrusive security plugins can impact performance. Choose them carefully.

4. Image optimization: A major speed factor

Images often represent a significant portion of a web page's weight. Unoptimized images can significantly slow down your site's loading time. Optimizing images is a crucial step for boost the performance of your WordPress site.

Image optimization techniques

Image compression : Reduce image file size without any noticeable loss of quality. Use compression tools before uploading to WordPress (TinyPNG, Compressor.io, ImageOptim, etc.) or use automatic optimization plugins (ShortPixel, Imagify, Smush).
Choosing the right file format :
- JPEG : Ideal format for photos and complex images with lots of colors. Good quality/size compromise.
- PNG : Format suitable for images with transparency (logos, icons) or images requiring maximum quality (but files generally larger than JPEG).
- WebP: A modern image format developed by Google, offering excellent compression and quality. Increasingly supported by browsers. Use plugins to serve WebP images to compatible browsers.
- Avoid BMP and TIFF format: These formats are generally very heavy and not very suitable for the web.
Resize images to the appropriate size: Don't upload images larger than necessary for display on your site. Resize them before importing them into WordPress.
Lazy loading: Only load images when they become visible on the screen (when scrolling down the page). Significantly improves initial page load time. Lazy loading is often built into WordPress or can be enabled via plugins.

WordPress image optimization plugins

ShortPixel Image Optimizer : Very popular and efficient, offers lossy and lossless compression, WebP conversion.
Imagify : Similar to ShortPixel, offers different compression options, WebP conversion.
WP Smush.it: Free and easy-to-use plugin for image compression.

5. Caching: The Key to Speed

Caching is one of the most important techniques for boost the performance of your WordPress siteCaching allows you to store a static version of your web pages so they can be served faster to subsequent visitors. Without caching, WordPress must dynamically generate each page for each request, which consumes server resources and slows down loading times.

Cache types

Browser caching : The visitor's web browser stores static elements (images, CSS, JavaScript) for subsequent visits. Configurable via HTTP headers or plugins.
Server-side caching : The web server stores a static version of the pages and serves them directly to visitors without calling WordPress each time. This can be configured at the server level (by your hosting provider) or via WordPress plugins.
Object caching : Cache database queries to speed them up. More technical, often managed at the server level or via advanced plugins.
CDN (Content Delivery Network) caching : CDNs (see next point) also cache static content on their globally distributed servers.

Recommended WordPress Cache Plugins

WP Rocket : Very comprehensive and easy-to-use premium caching plugin. Many optimization features included. Highly recommended for boost the performance of your WordPress site effectively.
W3 Total Cache : Very powerful free plugin, but more complex to configure than WP Rocket. Offers many advanced caching options.
LiteSpeed Cache : High-performance free plugin optimized for LiteSpeed servers. If your host uses LiteSpeed, this is a great choice.
WP Fastest Cache : Free plugin, easier to use than W3 Total Cache, but with fewer advanced features.

6. Using a CDN (Content Delivery Network): Distributing your content worldwide

A CDN (Content Delivery Network) is a network of servers geographically distributed across the globe. When you use a CDN, your site's static content (images, CSS, JavaScript) is stored on these servers. When a visitor accesses your site, the CDN serves the static content from the server geographically closest to the visitor. This reduces latency and speeds up site loading for visitors around the world. A CDN is especially useful if your audience is international.

Performance benefits of a CDN

Faster loading times for international visitors.
Reduced load on your hosting server.
Better resistance to traffic peaks.

Popular CDNs for WordPress

Cloudflare: Free CDN (with more advanced paid options) is very popular and easy to set up. Also offers security and DDoS protection features.
Bunny CDN : Paid CDN known for its speed and affordability.
KeyCDN : Another high-performance, reliable paid CDN.
Amazon CloudFront, Fastly, etc. : More advanced and complex CDNs, often used by large companies and very high traffic sites.

Integrating a CDN with WordPress

Most caching plugins (WP Rocket, W3 Total Cache, LiteSpeed Cache) make it easy to integrate with CDNs. Cloudflare can often be configured directly through your hosting dashboard or through a specific plugin.

7. Optimize WordPress Database: Clean and Optimize

The WordPress database stores all of your site's content (posts, pages, comments, settings, etc.). Over time, the database can fill up with unnecessary data (post revisions, outdated transients, etc.), which can slow down queries and impact your site's overall performance. Optimizing your WordPress database is an important step for boost the performance of your WordPress site.

Database optimization actions

Delete article revisions: WordPress automatically saves previous versions of your posts (revisions). Deleting unnecessary revisions can reduce the size of the database.
Delete obsolete transients: Transients are temporary data used by WordPress and plugins. Outdated transients can accumulate and slow down the database.
Optimize database tables: Reorganize data in database tables to improve query efficiency.
Delete spam and unapproved comments.

WordPress Database Optimization Plugins

WP-Optimize : A very popular free plugin for cleaning and optimizing databases. Offers many optimization options.
Advanced Database Cleaner : More advanced free plugin for more precise database cleaning.
WP Rocket (includes database optimization options): If you are using WP Rocket, it already includes features to optimize the database.

Backup the database before any optimization

Before performing database optimization operations, it is crucial Make a full backup of your database. In case of a problem, you can restore your database to a previous state. Most optimization plugins offer a backup option.

8. Update PHP to the latest version: Improve performance and security

PHP is the programming language on which WordPress is based. Newer versions of PHP are generally faster and more performant than older versions. Updating PHP to the latest available version can significantly boost the performance of your WordPress site and improve its security.

Benefits of Updating PHP

Best performance : Newer versions of PHP are optimized for speed and efficiency.
Improved security: New versions fix security vulnerabilities in previous versions.
Compatibility with the latest versions of WordPress and plugins.

How to update PHP

The PHP update procedure depends on your hosting provider. Consult your hosting provider's documentation or contact their technical support to learn how to update PHP for your hosting account. Most hosting providers offer an option to choose the PHP version in their control panel (cPanel, Plesk, etc.).

Check compatibility

Before updating PHP, make sure your theme and plugins are compatible with the new version of PHP. Test your site after the update to ensure it works properly.

9. Minimize HTTP requests: Reduce the number of elements to load

Every element of your web page (images, CSS, JavaScript, etc.) requires an HTTP request to be downloaded from the server. Reducing the number of HTTP requests can boost the performance of your WordPress site by reducing overall loading time.

Techniques to minimize HTTP requests

Combining and minifying CSS and JavaScript files : Reduce the number of CSS and JavaScript files by combining them into a single file and removing unnecessary spaces and comments (minification). Optimization plugins (WP Rocket, Autoptimize, etc.) can automate this task.
Using CSS Sprites : Combine multiple small images (icons, buttons, etc.) into a single sprite image and use CSS to display only the necessary part. Reduces the number of image requests.
Avoid unnecessary HTTP redirects.
Limit the number of external scripts (web fonts, tracking services, etc.): Each external script adds an HTTP request. Avoid unnecessary scripts and host resources (like web fonts) locally if possible.

10. Continuous Monitoring and Speed Testing: Constantly measure and improve

Boost the performance of your WordPress site It's an ongoing process. It's important to regularly monitor your site speed and test the impact of any changes you make. Use speed testing tools to analyze your site's performance and identify areas for improvement.

Website speed testing tools

Google PageSpeed Insights: Free tool from Google that analyzes your site's speed and provides optimization recommendations. Important for SEO.
GTmetrix : Another popular and detailed speed testing tool, with in-depth graphs and analysis.
WebPageTest : Powerful and customizable tool for testing speed from different locations and browsers.
Pingdom Website Speed Test: Quick and easy tool for testing loading speed and time.

Measures to monitor

Complete page loading time (Load Time).
Time To First Byte (TTFB): Time taken by the server to respond to the first request. Indicates the server's performance.
Number of HTTP requests.
Total page size.
PageSpeed Insights and GTmetrix scores.

Regular testing and comparison

Test your site speed regularly (e.g., monthly) and after making major changes (theme changes, plugin additions, optimizations). Compare the results to measure the impact of your efforts and identify new optimization opportunities.

A fast WordPress site for guaranteed success

Boost the performance of your WordPress site is a worthwhile long-term investment. By implementing the strategies outlined in this article, you can significantly improve your site speed, provide better user experience, improve your referencing, increase your conversions, and potentially reduce your hosting costs. Remember that performance optimization is an ongoing process. Regularly monitor your site speed, test new techniques, and adapt your approach based on your site's needs and evolving web technologies. A fast WordPress site is a major asset to your online success!