With the average website user expecting your website to load in less than three seconds, it really is important to get your website running at its best. Even Google tells you that website speed is one of the biggest contributors to SEO improvements that people forget to do. To find out what speed your website currently is you can use Google’s Pagespeed Insights. This gives you a chance to get some tips off Google for improving the website. The most common problems can be fixed using these 5 simple but effective ways.
Make sure everything is up to date
Make sure everything is up to dateThis is the most commonly forgotten thing to do with your WordPress website. The reason you should ensure your website is up to date is that the makers of the software’s, plugins and such for your website make them work more effectively and therefore speed up how they work, which, in turn, speeds up your website. It’s really simple to do. Go on to your WordPress dashboard and in the top left corner under the dashboard, you will see updates. Click this. Highlight or select all the updates you want and click update. Give it a few minutes and Tada! All done.
Delete unused plugins
We all test and mess around with our plugins to see which one works best or is more user friendly. But sometimes we forget to deactivate or remove them. The reason for this is that plugins do use up memory on your website and space, which can mean they are running and not giving you any benefit. They can also conflict with other plugins. So again on your WordPress dashboard, scroll down to the plugins and just check which ones you are using. If any are not active then you should delete them.
Image optimisation
This is a big one. We forget that once you have created your website, the images are still being loaded as full-size images, but if they don’t need to be then you should resize them to save loading time. reSmush.it is free and still one of the best plugins for image optimisation. “This plugin includes a bulk operation to optimise all your pictures in 2 clicks! Change your image optimisation level to fit your needs! This service is used by more than 400,000 websites”.
Install a WordPress caching plugin
The reason for caching your website is because it reduces the load on your WordPress hosting servers. This is what makes your website run faster. A cache is basically a storage area that saves temporary data. WP Super Cache is a free plugin that can help with your caching needs.
Tidy up your WordPress database
Finally, the only one you need to do is through cPanel and phpMyAdmin, but don’t let that make you think it is more difficult. This is done through your host server. It might be daunting going into the very back office of your website but it is all there for you and is very simple. Once logged into phpMyAdmin, you will see your databases on the left. Click the one that resembles your website address. You will know you’ve chosen the right one as you will have 12 folders all starting with wp… Select all the folders and in the drop-down menu click optimize table. Then click go. All done.
The reason for updating your database is very similar to defragmenting your pc. It tidies it up, makes accessing certain files quicker and easier and removes unrequired files or duplicates.
Final Thoughts
As we always say if Google says you should be doing it, you do it. So making sure your website speed is the best it can be is a must for better user experience and your SEO. For further tips and strategies visit our blog page.
Do you have other tips or think we are wrong? Let us know in the comments.