7 Common WordPress Website Speed Issues (And How to Fix Them)

Google Page Insights: Google Page Insights is a tool that provides website speed insights. Enter your website URL, and Google will give you a report detailing what areas need improvement.
Pingdom: Pingdom is another popular website speed testing tool. Like Google Page Insights, enter your URL, and Pingdom will provide you with a report detailing what areas need improvement.

GMetrix: GMetrix is another excellent tool for testing website speed. Enter your URL, and GMetrix will provide you with a report detailing what areas need improvement.

Google Analytics: Google Analytics is a tool that provides website owners with detailed insights about their website traffic. One of the things you can track in Google Analytics is your website loading time. Go to Behavior > Site Speed > Overview to see your website’s average loading time.

Google Search Console: Google Search Console is a tool that provides website owners with insights about their website’s performance in Google search. One of the things you can track in Google Search Console is your website’s average loading time. Go to Search Traffic > Site Speed to see your website’s average loading time.

7 Ways Speed Up Your WordPress Website

#1 Review Your WordPress Plugins

As a WordPress site owner, it’s essential to keep your plugins up to date and delete any unused plugins or WordPress themes. Keeping your plugins updated helps ensure that your site is secure, runs smoothly, and avoids a slow WordPress website. In addition, deleting unused plugins can help improve your WordPress performance by freeing up resources.

Plugins can also be no longer supported, which can cause problems with your WordPress speed. If you find a plugin that is no longer being updated or supported, first deactivate the plugin and check your website to ensure it is still functioning correctly. If all is well, you can continue to delete the WordPress plugin.

If you delete a plugin and find that your site is not working correctly, you can always reinstall it. However, it’s important to delete any unnecessary plugins to maintain your website performance.

When installing WordPress, several default WordPress themes are often installed unnecessarily. If you are not using a default WordPress theme, this can be removed.

#2 Use a WordPress Caching Plugin

If you’re looking to improve your WordPress Site’s performance, one of the best things you can do is install a caching plugin. Caching plugins work by creating a static version of your website’s pages and storing them on the server. When users visit your site, they are served the cached version of the page, which is generally much faster than loading the entire page from scratch.

In addition to caching pages, most caching plugins also can minify CSS files and JavaScript files. Minifying CSS files & Javascript reduces their size, which can also help to improve WordPress websites.

There are many different cache plugins available for WordPress websites, so be sure to research to find one that best suits your needs.

#3 Integrate Cloudflare

One of the best ways to improve the speed of your website is to integrate Cloudflare. Cloudflare is a content delivery network (CDN) that can help to improve website performance by caching content and delivering it to visitors from servers closer to their location. Their free service also includes further minifying of CSS files.

Additionally, Cloudflare can help to improve website security by protecting against DDoS attacks and other threats. While there are many existing WordPress caching plugins, integrating Cloudflare can improve your WordPress speed and performance to the next level.

#3 Optimise Images

Images are an essential part of any website. They help break up text and add visual interest, but they can also convey information more effectively than words alone. However, large image files can negatively affect your page speed, leading to frustration for users and lower SEO rankings.

One way to combat this issue is to use a WordPress plugin that optimises images for the web. These plugins typically compress image files without reducing quality, and they may also offer features like automatic resizing and conversion to the WebP format.

By using an image optimisation plugin, you can ensure that your website loads quickly and efficiently.

#4 Activate lazy loading

Lazy loading is a great way to improve your WordPress site’s performance. What lazy loading does is defer the loading of some aspects until they’re needed. Your pages can load faster, as only the essential elements are loaded initially. For example, if you have a long page with many images, you can lazy load the images so that they only load when the user scrolls down.

This can decrease the page load time significantly. You can use a lazy load plugin or script to lazy load elements on your website. There are many lazy load plugins available for WordPress.

Installing and configuring a lazy load plugin is very simple and only takes a few minutes. Once it’s set up, you should see a noticeable improvement in your site loading speed.

#5 Sign-up to an optimised WordPress Hosting company

If you’re looking to boost the speed of your WordPress site, one of the best things you can do is choose a web hosting provider that specialises in WordPress hosting. WordPress is a resource-heavy platform, so selecting a web hosting server is crucial to handle increased traffic and load times.

Cloudways and WPX Hosting are two great options for WordPress hosting, as they both offer high-performance servers that are optimised for WordPress sites.

In addition, they both offer a variety of features and tools to help you speed up your WordPress site. So if you’re looking for a fast and reliable WordPress host, be sure to check out Cloudways or WPX Hosting.

#6 Check for malware

If you find that your WordPress site is running slowly, it could be due to malware. Malware can negatively impact your site’s performance, including slowing down page loading times, redirecting visitors to malicious sites, and stealing sensitive information.

The good news is that there are many tools you can use to scan for and remove malware from your WordPress site.

One of the best and most popular options is Wordfence. Wordfence is a free plugin that offers a quick and easy way to scan your WordPress site for malware. It also provides real-time protection against new threats, making it an essential tool for keeping your WordPress site safe and fast.

#7 Review external scripts

While there can be many reasons for slow page loading times, one often overlooked culprit is third party scripts. These are scripts used to integrate third-party services onto a website, such as embedding videos, live chat widgets, or social media feeds.

While they may seem harmless enough, running too many of these scripts can bog down a website and make it slow to load. So if you’re noticing your website is running slowly, take a look at your third party integrations and see if any of them could be the cause.

By trimming down the number of external scripts you’re using, you can help to speed up your WordPress site.

Testing The Speed Of Your WordPress Website

Anyone who has ever tried to speed up a WordPress site knows it can be a trial and error process. We recommend making one change and then reviewing the website’s performance using Pingdom or GMetrix; if the speed has increased, great! If not, reverse the change and try the following setting.

Often, it can take a bit of time and effort to get your WordPress site running as fast as it can. However, the rewards are worth it. A faster WordPress site will improve your user experience, make your site more search engine friendly, and help you achieve your desired results.

So, if you’re looking for ways to speed up your WordPress site, don’t be discouraged – keep trying until you find the perfect solution for

Conclusion

So, if you’re looking for ways to improve your website ranking and reduce the bounce rate, optimising your website speed is an excellent place to start. Thankfully, we’ve given you seven tips that should help get you on your way.
But if you need more assistance or want someone else to take care of this for you, don’t hesitate to contact us. We have experts who can help make your WordPress website faster than ever before!