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Have you ever wondered why your WordPress website suddenly becomes sluggish? And what does a truly fast website look like? Website speed is one of the crucial factors in improving your website’s ranking and attracting visitors. However, in reality, most websites do not perform as expected. So what’s the issue?
In this article, we will explore some common mistakes that WordPress developers make, which can hinder your website’s chances of achieving higher rankings on search engines, and how you can address them.
Here are 6 top speed optimization mistakes in WordPress that you often encounter and should avoid:
1. Not Minifying CSS and JavaScript Files in WordPress
Optimizing code for a website involves removing all unwanted code from HTML, CSS, and JS, including lines, comments, and whitespace. By doing so, your website is more likely to improve its loading time.
How to address it?
A recent study analyzing 150,000 websites reported that only 32% of the total websites had minimized JS and CSS files to enhance performance. To achieve this, you can search for themes or plugins available to help you rank higher in search results and improve website performance.
There are various plugins in WordPress that help minimize CSS, JavaScript files, and even optimize HTML files, such as Autoptimize (free) or WP Rocket (provided for free by AZDIGI).
2. Not Optimizing Images in WordPress
This is one of the common issues faced by many website administrators when it comes to optimization because images can be a major cause of slow website speed if there are many on the site.
Often, when users upload images they have taken themselves, they overlook a fundamental mistake, which is not resizing the images before uploading them to the website. Typically, images captured by smartphones or digital cameras have large file sizes, but they need to be resized to fit the screen resolution on the website. Otherwise, large-sized images cannot be fully displayed.
Therefore, it is ideal to always reduce image sizes to a maximum of 1000px for width and avoid using larger images.
Additionally, images on the website should also be optimized in terms of file size by compressing them using lossless standards to significantly reduce the image size without compromising the quality noticeable to the naked eye.
Lastly, the website should have the feature of loading images using the LazyLoad technique, which means images are loaded as the page is scrolled, avoiding loading all images on a single page when visitors may not view them all.
Some WordPress plugins that support image optimization are:
- EWWW Image Optimizer – Reduces image file size.
- Lazy Load – Loads images using the LazyLoad technique.
- WP Smush Pro – A premium plugin provided for free by AZDIGI, which features image size reduction, image compression, and lazy loading.
3. Not Caching in WordPress
On current WordPress websites, it is recommended to utilize caching technology to make the website faster for users.
Caching is a technique that stores the content of a website at a specific moment as an HTML file in memory. When users access the website, instead of processing it from scratch, the cached file can be retrieved, resulting in faster access for visitors.
Some well-performing caching plugins you can choose to use are:
- WP Fastest Cache: This is a free and user-friendly caching plugin with the simplest configuration. It is suitable for news websites and blogs.
- W3 Total Cache: This free caching plugin has more complex configuration options, suitable for advanced users, and provides good support for various types of websites, from simple to e-commerce sites.
- WP Rocket: Currently, the best premium caching plugin with simple configuration and efficient performance. It offers additional features such as CSS and JavaScript file optimization and support for cache file preloading to ensure the fastest access.
Plugin WordPress Rocket
4. Using Quality Web Hosting Services
One of the factors directly affecting website speed is choosing a low-quality web hosting service. With the emergence of numerous web hosting providers both domestically and internationally, users have many choices based on price, usage needs, and technological factors and service support.
To evaluate the quality of a web hosting service, administrators can consider factors such as integrated technologies like LiteSpeed Web Server, SSD, and NVMe. These are powerful and up-to-date hardware technologies that greatly enhance website speed and provide a superior user experience.
For e-commerce websites with high traffic and demanding load capacity, administrators should opt for services with even more powerful technologies, such as Intel Xeon Gold or Platinum processors integrated into the hosting service. Additionally, the service package should be specifically designed with leading technologies for business websites.
Currently, in Vietnam, AZDIGI is the only provider that integrates Intel Xeon Platinum chips into its Turbo Business Hosting service, along with other top-notch technologies worldwide.
Aside from technological factors, customer support services are also crucial for evaluating the quality of a hosting service. To make an informed decision, web administrators can refer to technology review forums for authentic and worthy experiences when choosing a service for their websites.
5. Using Outdated PHP Versions in WordPress
PHP is used as the server-side scripting language for all WordPress websites. It is a constantly evolving language with many upgraded PHP versions. The more efficient your PHP version is, the higher the chances of your website operating at a faster speed.
Therefore, it is important to regularly update to the latest PHP versions, as they often address the shortcomings of older versions and provide significant speed improvements for your website.
6. Not Regularly Testing the Speed of WordPress Websites
Administrators often make the mistake of not regularly testing the speed of their websites. To address this, it is essential to perform regular and repetitive speed tests at various intervals, such as:
- When installing new themes or plugins on the website.
- When implementing advanced features or making code changes.
This will help you understand which factors are impacting the speed of your website and find ways to resolve them.
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