The importance of website loading speed for the retention and conversion of visitors need not be mentioned. If you open a website for more than 5 seconds, you will basically not hesitate to close and leave. The website opening and loading speed can determine the success of the website. Google has a free website speed detection tool //developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/insights/ You can see the scores of your website on the computer and mobile terminals.
My website scored low on mobile devices,
I'm ashamed that there is still much room for improvement. Then the tool will point out the problems and propose suggestions for improvement
In order to make my website better, I give some conclusions based on my own practice and online tutorials.
host
Good shared hosts, such as Bluehost or SiteGround, have their own measures to improve the performance of WordPress websites. I use the bluehost host all the year round, and it costs only a few hundred yuan a year. This kind of money is worth spending, not saving. In China, Alibaba Cloud and Huawei Cloud are also good hosts.
theme
When choosing a WordPress website theme, be sure to choose the most suitable WordPress website theme. After each installation of a new theme, be sure to check the opening and display effects on the computer side and mobile phone side, because Google Browser will also remember your preferences. You can use traceless browsing or ask your friend's device to check it. Some beautiful themes are not suitable for your website, so they will slow down the overall speed of the WordPress website. Generally speaking, choosing a simple theme is much better than choosing a theme with complex layout, gorgeous animation and many unnecessary functions.
plug-in unit
Although different plug-ins can achieve different functions and bring great convenience to those who do not understand the code, too many plug-ins or too long internal code of a plug-in will increase the page loading time and reduce the website speed. Plug ins should be used in combination with their own planning and needs, focusing on ease of use and user experience. Observe the effect of each plug-in installed, and delete the plug-ins that are not enabled.
Please refer to this article for WordPress prerequisite plug-ins //zhuanlan.zhihu.com/p/34314017 。 All of my website plug-ins are installed according to this guide with some plug-ins I need.
cache
When users visit the WordPress website, the server will retrieve information from the database and PHP files, and then integrate and present the information to network visitors. This process is relatively long, but if you use the cache plug-in, you can skip this process directly. Caching can double or quadruple the running speed of websites. For cache plug-ins, WP Super Cache is the best one in my opinion. It is also free.
picture
Images are basically indispensable elements of the website. If images are uploaded without optimization, it will slow down the running speed of the WordPress website. I recommend an image compression tool that I have never changed, //tinypng.com/ When the image is compressed, the panda on this website will raise his hands.
Video, audio
Uploading video and audio to the website can really make the website more rich and attractive, but do not upload audio and video files directly to WordPress! Because this is the same principle as uncompressed pictures, and larger media files will also increase backup files, which will also affect website backup. The simplest and feasible way is to embed links. For example, my videos can be uploaded to YouTube first, and then the YouTube video link can be embedded into the website. The same is true for audio. There are always many free video and audio platforms on the network.
Enable Content Distribution Network (CDN)
This term means that because the host server is in different places, the network bandwidth transmission is inconsistent or delayed, so visitors from different geographical locations have different feelings about the speed of the website. This is because different virtual host servers have different impacts on website speed. Enabling CDN acceleration can shorten the loading time. The most recommended tool in the market is Cloudflare CDN.
firewall
This can be said to be a security aspect, because the more secure the website, the less garbage and the smoother the loading. Wordence Security, a DNS level firewall plug-in, can effectively prevent malicious attacks.
Set Delay Load
If your WordPress website has a wealth of pictures and videos, it is good to delay loading. In short, when visitors visit the website, let them see important or easy to load first, and other content will slowly appear later, so that visitors will not leave because of impatience. You can use the WP Rocket Lazy Load plug-in to delay loading. If WPRocket is not used, two plug-ins are required: Autooptimize and Async JavaScript.
to update
As an open source project, WordPress itself is frequently updated. Each update will not only provide some new functions, but also fix some security vulnerabilities and bugs. WordPress Theme And WordPress plug-ins also need to be updated regularly. As a WordPress webmaster, you should update the WordPress site, theme, and plug-ins to the latest version.
Well, that's all. In fact, just doing this is not enough to make your website speed the best. These problems are just some basics. If you do these basics well, your website will not be too bad.
