The speed of the website is one of those things that many website owners tend to overlook or take for granted until such time when they actually encounter issues with the website’s search engine ranking or user experience.
Recently, I had the chance to improve the speed of a WordPress website (siddeehayat.com) , whose original Page Speed score was around 60. After making some improvements to some of the website’s major areas, the website’s Page Speed score improved to 95, and the website is now faster.
In this article, I will walk you through the exact steps I took to improve the website’s speed so you may also apply the same techniques to your WordPress website.
Why Page Speed Is Important
It is already stated in Google’s guidelines that website speed is an important ranking factor for search engines. A website with faster speed will definitely offer a better user experience, and users will tend to stay longer on your website if it loads quickly.
Page Speed Insights also evaluates the website’s core web vitals, such as
Largest Contentful Paint (LCP)—how long it takes for the main content to load
Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) – how much the layout shifts around
Total Blocking Time (TBT) – how much JavaScript is blocking the page
Improving your website’s core web vitals will greatly improve your website’s SEO and user experience.
Step 1: Optimizing Images
Images are one of the main reasons why many websites load slowly.
The first step I took to improve the website’s page speed was to convert all images into WebP format, as it greatly reduces the overall file size of the images with good quality.
I also made sure that all the images are under 100 KB and enabled lazy loading, so images are only loaded when they are actually visible on the screen.
Making these changes greatly improved the website’s page load speed.
Step 2: Tuning LiteSpeed Cache for Speed
The other major improvement came from proper tuning of LiteSpeed Cache. Many people install caching plugins and leave them as is, rather than tuning them for proper optimization. Here, I enabled some of the major optimization options available with LiteSpeed Cache, such as:
- CSS Minification
- JavaScript Minification
- Deferred JavaScript Loading
- Remove Unused CSS
- Browser Caching
Proper utilization of caching plugins is a major improvement for any website and helps improve Page Speed significantly.
Step 3: Cutting Down on Unnecessary Plugins
Having too many plugins installed on your website is also a major contributor to slowing it down. Rather than installing many plugins for small functionalities, it is always recommended to keep your website as light as possible and use custom CSS for such purposes. Reducing the number of plugins is a major improvement for your website and helps improve Page Speed by reducing:
- HTTP Requests
- JavaScript Execution
- Server Load
Having fewer plugins installed on your website is always recommended and helps improve your website’s Page Speed significantly.
Step 4: Eliminating Render-Blocking Resources
Having too many render-blocking resources, such as CSS and JavaScript files, is also a major contributor to slowing down your website’s Page Speed. By using techniques such as Deferred JavaScript Loading, you can reduce the number of render-blocking resources on your website significantly. Page Speed Insights and other similar tools will show you the number of render-blocking resources and where you need to make improvements. Understanding such issues is also important if you want to improve your website’s visibility and search results.
Step 5: Font Optimization and Layout Stability
Having too many font styles can negatively affect performance. Using proper font loading techniques and setting fixed dimensions for your website’s containers are also important for improving page speed and reducing the likelihood of CLS issues.
Results
After applying all these optimizations, the PageSpeed score improved significantly.
Before Optimization
Mobile Score: 60
The website has a slow loading experience, and there are multiple render-blocking resources.
After Optimization
Mobile Score: 95
The website has quicker loading times.
The improvements were apparent not only in the tests but also in the actual user experience.
Final Thoughts
Improving website performance isnt about making major changes. Instead, it’s about fine-tuning small areas, such as images, caching, scripts, and stability. When it comes to WordPress, improving website performance is key to improving user experience and search engine rankings.
Top comments (1)
Nice improvement! Image optimization and proper LiteSpeed tuning can really transform a site's performance. I’ve also found that combining this with a CDN and reducing third-party scripts can push PageSpeed scores even higher. Thanks for sharing the steps.