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Priya Rai
Priya Rai

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10 Proven Ways to Reduce WordPress Website Load Time

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Do you want to increase or improve WordPress's speed? WordPress, in particular, is currently one of the best and most popular platforms for launching new websites. WordPress is the most widely used blogging platform, with 70% of CMS users using it. The daily amount, on the other hand, continues to rise. However, there is one issue: a large number of users are providing feedback, and WordPress is slow. As a result, they're interested in learning how to make WordPress run faster. You're not aware that WordPress isn't as slow as you believe. It is significantly faster than any other CMS on the market. However, you must ensure that you are speeding up WordPress in the correct manner.

The fundamentals of increasing WordPress's speed

I'll go over some basic questions and answers, as well as ways to speed up WordPress. It will undoubtedly assist you in expanding your knowledge base and learning the fundamentals of increasing WordPress speed. Let's talk about how to properly speed up WordPress.

What are the benefits of having a fast-loading WordPress site?

Do you know that it takes only 7 seconds for a visitor to load a website, and in some cases even less? According to Amazon, if their websites take longer than one second to load, they lose 7% of their conversions. It even results in an 11% drop in page views and a 16% drop in customer satisfaction.
Can you imagine how much money a website owner could lose? Google, on the other hand, considers a slower website to be worthwhile. Similarly, try to stay out of a website's reach. Keeping this in mind, speeding up your WordPress websites is critical.

How to check the speed of your WordPress website?

So, could you tell me how I can test the speed of my WordPress site? Yes! Why should you double-check your websites if you think they load in a matter of seconds? Cookies are small text files that your browser, such as Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox, saves to speed up the loading of a website. New visitors from various locations or computers, on the other hand, will be unable to do so. As a result, you can use Pingdom to test the loading speed of WordPress websites. The first thing to remember is that it's a completely free and extremely useful tool for determining the speed of your WordPress websites.
Remember that Pingdom is a free service that allows you to test your website in different locations. It's worth noting that a website that loads in under two seconds is ideal, and if you can improve even slightly, you'll gain a more loyal customer. Milliseconds, in particular, can have a significant impact on the user experience of your WordPress sites, and you may not even be aware of it.

What slows down the WordPress website?

WordPress websites can be slowed for a variety of reasons. You will get statistics and reasons why your websites are slowing down when you review them. There will also be some technical considerations. However, the reasons listed below are the most common causes of WordPress website slowdown.
Website Hosting - If your hosting isn't set up properly, it can cause your websites to load slowly.
WordPress Customization – If your websites are not properly customized, they will undoubtedly slow down. You must also install cache plugins and other extensions. Continue reading; I'll explain later.
Unoptimized Page – A page with a lot of large images can slow down your website.
Unnecessary Plugins – Plugins can cause WordPress to slow down.
External scripts, such as ads and font loaders, can cause WordPress websites to slow down.

Quickly increase the speed of WordPress:

So, you've realized the significance of increasing WordPress's speed. I'll go over how to make WordPress faster in this article. Take the advice and put it into practice on your websites.
It will significantly improve WordPress speed and help you rank on Google, as well as change the user experience of your websites.
1. Updating your WordPress site is essential.
Your websites will load very quickly and will be tested in a variety of locations if you use two methods (install cache plugins and optimize images). Similarly, it will not take long to complete.
Now it's up to you to keep your WordPress site current. WordPress releases new versions regularly. As a result, it is critical to keep WordPress websites current. It will help you speed up WordPress, improve security, and optimize your site in general.
Similarly, updating all plugins regularly will ensure that WordPress runs faster.
2. Install a WordPress caching plugin
It is a simple method that does not require any changes to your website's code and is very effective. Your website page is, in fact, dynamic. As a result, it behaves differently than static. When you request a dynamic page, it constantly searches for all of the necessary information and files. As a result, the page takes longer to load.
If you use a caching plugin, you can reduce the time it takes for a page to load. It will undoubtedly improve the speed of your WordPress site. Caching plugins, in essence, make a copy of your website and pages. When you request a page, it immediately demonstrates that you are a serious person. With this in mind, you'll be able to handle a large number of visitors at once without having to wait for a response.
But, to speed up WordPress, which caching plugins should you use? For this reason, " WP Super Cache " is the best free solution. It is extremely well-designed and optimized, and you can certainly alter the loading time.
3. Optimize images for speed
Images are the lifeblood of any piece of content, and research shows that visual content can boost conversion rates. It aids in attracting visitors, with 80 percent of visitors preferring visual content to text.
Similarly, an image has the potential to destroy your website. In reality, a large image with no optimization is bad for any website. It may reduce the amount of time it takes to charge. So, when it comes to improving your branding and creating visually appealing content, you should use images, but you should also optimize them.
In general, a PNG image is excellent for web publishing, but with a lot of colors, a JPEG format is preferable. On the other hand, never use an image that hasn't been optimized. It will cause WordPress to slow down. Use any image editing software to optimize the size of your website image and keep it under 50KB. It will make your website appear lighter.
You can also use an image optimizer plugin, such as ShortPixel Image Optimizer, to automate the process.
4. Use excerpts on the home page and in the archives
In general, WordPress archives and home pages, categories, and tags display full content for each post. It will increase the weight of your website's main page, categories, and tags. It will make your websites take longer to load. Likewise, your visitors do not need to see all of your content all of the time. They will come and select the content that they require. These WordPress features are included by default. You must personalize it.
Go to Settings and choose a content summary to customize it. It will then display content excerpts all over the place. You will, however, find it in the theme options.
5. Split comments into pages
Are your websites receiving a lot of feedback? It's a good indicator of your website's popularity. There is no pressure to obtain it. However, when it comes to speeding up WordPress, it can be a hindrance. Because a page with a lot of comments can take a long time to load. On the other hand, spam can provide you with it. As a result, Akismet can be used to filter spam comments.
Similarly, to display fewer comments on the page, use comment excerpts from the settings. No comments will be removed. Clicking on the next or previous comments will take you to the previous or previous comments. Specifically, it will aid you in increasing WordPress speed and conversion.
6. Reduce External HTTP Requests
When loading Facebook posts, Twitter follows buttons, photos, style sheets, and scripts, many websites make external HTTP queries. Increasing the speed of your websites is not a good thing to do.
Your page speed will be slowed if your website attempts to load a large number of files all the time. External HTTP requests can now be reduced. WordPress's speed will undoubtedly improve.
7. Do not upload videos directly to WordPress
Video is a great example of visual content that will keep visitors interested. It will also assist you in increasing your conversion rate. You will be able to upload your videos to your WordPress sites, and an HTML5 player will be created automatically to display them.
However, the video's size is an issue. When you include a video in your post, the size of your pages will grow. However, it will require more bandwidth. Instead, you can use YouTube, Vimeo, DailyMotion, and other popular video-sharing sites. This will help you to make your pages smaller. It will undoubtedly assist you in increasing the speed of your WordPress pages.
8. Use a theme that is optimized for WordPress websites that load quickly.
To launch your WordPress websites, you'll need a theme. However, some themes are particularly appealing or distinctive. However, they are inefficiently coded and optimized. It may slow down the loading process.
Actually, you should use a theme that is well-coded and optimized for SEO. It will help you increase the speed of WordPress if you get a theme like that. Not to mention the fact that it is critical for SEO. It will also make things easier for you.
9. Use a faster slider plugin
A slider is one of the most effective ways to make your website more appealing to visitors by allowing you to display popular or intriguing material. However, a badly written slider can cause WordPress to slow down. Essentially, you must select one that you are capable of doing rapidly. If you're going to use a plugin to display the slider, make sure it's optimized for speed.
Meteor Slides is a free tool that is well-optimized and loads your websites in less than 2 seconds. You can, however, consult another source for your requirements. Using a faster slider plugin would undoubtedly improve WordPress performance.
10. Split Long Posts into Pages
Long posts are a must for authoritative writing. In the same way, it is required for Google ranking. Long posts, on the other hand, take longer to load. You can reduce the pace of the page. As a result, while dividing the post into two or three pages, you can utilize the "Next" button.
It will improve your website's bounce rate. Similarly, increasing the speed of a WordPress page will be beneficial.

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