If you own an eCommerce site or other site with heavy content, you know that all sorts of things are loaded.

Since there are all sorts of elements that play a part in site speed, it can be difficult to figure out where to start. Below, you will find a few methods you can use that will allow your site to make fewer HTTP requests.

What Are HTTP Requests?

In order to be able to properly reduce HTTP requests, you need to know exactly what they are. First off, HTTP requests are directly connected to page speed. That is why you need to minimize request size to speed your site up.

In order for you to understand what an HTTP request is, let’s take a look at exactly what happens when you visit a website in a browser.

1. You visit any site using a relevant browser.
2. An HTTP request occurs when your browser requests files to download.
3. The server that the website is on returns all the files that are needed to load the website.
4. Once all these files have been loaded, you are able to view and interact with the content.

All of the above happens very quickly. On fast sites, all of it happens within a second or 2. But on slower sites, load times take longer and that’s when you are waiting for 5 seconds or more for a page to load.

There are also a couple of ways to view this when it comes to files. There are file sizes, but also the number of files that play a big role.

Remember, the more files there are, the more HTTP requests. At the same time, the bigger the files, the longer the HTTP request takes.

So, in essence, you want to reduce the number of files on your site to only what you need. After that, you want to make sure all those files are as small as possible.

Reduce HTTP Requests in WordPress

There are several things you can do in order to minimize request size. Let’s go over a few of them together. Once you apply some of these techniques, you should start to see a faster page load time and overall site speed.

1. Combine CSS and JavaScript

Your WordPress website has multiple CSS and JavaScript files. One of the best ways to reduce HTTP requests is to combine them.

Don’t worry, there are ways to do this without having to do it manually. Remember, this is WordPress, and one of the best things about WordPress is that you have access to plugins.

You can combine external JavaScript using a WordPress plugin. There are a lot of caching plugins that have this feature. There are also other tools that allow you to combine CSS and JavaScript in order to speed up your site.

If you aren’t sure where to start, W3 Total Cache and LiteSpeed Cache are both great plugins to use.

2. Minify HTML, CSS, JavaScript

Since we are already talking about combining code and minimizing it, let’s talk for a second about modification. You can use plugins for this as well. The Fast Velocity plugin will help you easily minify HTML, CSS, and JavaScript so that your site makes fewer HTTP requests.

So what exactly is “minification?” It is the process of characters out of source codes that are not necessary. Good examples of these characters include white space characters and comments. These are initially added to aid the readability of the code. However, they are not required for it to execute properly.

3. Take Advantage of Lazy Load

Lazy Load is an option that is provided by all of the best WordPress image sizing and compression plugins out there. If you remember, images and how they are handled in WordPress contribute a lot to overall site SEO and speed.

You want to make sure images are taken care of properly. This will contribute greatly to fewer HTTP requests. One of the ways to do this is to enable the Lazy Load function within the plugin you are using.

Lazy loading is not a complex process. Basically, what you are telling the page to do when you enable it is to defer loading any images that are not needed immediately on the page.

This ensures that only items needed right away will be loaded on-screen. Don’t worry, the rest of the images will load, but they are deferred until the end. This speeds up your page load time tremendously.

4. Remove Images That Are Not Needed

We all love pages that give us pretty and informative images to look at. According to SWEOR, a staggering 40% of people will leave a page and website if the images take too long to load. For this reason, you want to make sure that any images you have on the page are absolutely necessary.

When it comes to fewer HTTP requests, this is also important. The less-is-more approach works well here.

5. Reduce Image File Sizes

As you can see, a lot of speeding up your WordPress website and reducing HTTP requests has to do with images. It can’t be understated how important proper image compression and optimization is for the overall health of your website.

It is important to know that uploading huge images to your website not only takes up allotted space but also slows your site down tremendously. You don’t need to upload images that are huge. You can use outside tools like Tiny PNG to compress them and size them down before unloading them.

Compression plugins like Smush will also do the trick.

6. Delete or Disable Unneeded Plugins

Just in case you aren’t aware of this, there are two issues that can plague you when it comes to plugins. There are cases where there are too many plugins running, and there are cases where unneeded plugins need to be deleted.

There is also the issue that high CPU plugins increase the number of HTTP requests. If you can find some ways to delete plugins that you don’t need and use plugins that don’t have high CPU usage, then you can ensure your website will make fewer HTTP requests.

7. Use a CDN to Help Make Fewer HTTP Requests

One more thing you can do to help your site make fewer HTTP requests is using a CDN. A content delivery network (CDN) works by delivering cached website content to users based on where the user is located geographically.

It isn’t complicated and it does wonders for site speed.

There are a lot of excellent CDNs available, so check some out and see which one may work best for your situation.

Easily Test Your Site For HTTP Requests

Testing your site to see how many HTTP requests are happening is not difficult. There are basically two ways to do it.

You can use external tools like Pingdom or GTmetrix. Both of these tools allow you to enter some site info and they will automatically do a full rundown for you.

Since you are working with WordPress, you can also use the Query Monitor plugin.

Query Monitor

Query Monitor can help you with database queries and debugging. It gives you a ton of feedback on things like PHP errors, hooks, and actions, block editor blocks, enqueued scripts and stylesheets, HTTP API calls, and much more.

Use this plugin to see how many HTTP requests are happening on your website. Try it before you perform optimization and then after to see what progress you have made.

Final Thoughts

Too many HTTP requests can really bog a site down and return poor page load times. Having some techniques in place to help with this issue is important.

Use the methods above and see if that helps with overall site speed.

Have you tried doing this manually? Do you prefer plugins instead?

The post How to Reduce the HTTP/S Requests Your WordPress Site Makes appeared first on GreenGeeks.

However, as your website grows, so does the clutter associated with it. Over time, accumulated plugins, images, scripts, and outdated content can turn your speedy site into a slow, conversion-killing one.

If you notice that your website’s loading time is continuously slowing down, it’s high time to crank the gears and boost that speed.

This guide is here to help you figure out what’s slowing down your WordPress website. More importantly, we’ll dig into the details of how to speed it up.

By the end of this blog, we’ll get your website up to speed and ready to race past the competition with WordPress speed optimization tricks up your sleeve!

Why Do You Need A Fast Website?

Website speed affects your user experience, how Google sees you, and potentially your conversion rates.

User Experience

A fast website makes visitors satisfied. When your pages load fast, people can easily find what they want without waiting. But if your site is slow, people might leave and look for answers somewhere else.

Search Engine Rankings

Search engines, with Google at the forefront, consider website speed a crucial ranking factor in their algorithms. The underlying principle is simple; they aim to deliver the best user experience to their users.

Therefore, faster websites are more likely to rank higher in search engine results.

Conversion Rates

Conversion rates are a measure of the percentage of website visitors who take desired actions. This includes making a purchase, signing up for a newsletter, or completing a form.

Studies show that even a small delay can make people leave. Even a one-second delay in page load time can result in decreased conversion rates as a slow website can create friction and lead to visitor abandonment before they complete the desired action. 

With this in mind, optimizing your WordPress speed is a smart move to make your site a pleasant place for visitors and to reach your online goals.

Getting Started Optimizing WordPress Performance

Now that you’re convinced to optimize your WordPress speed, where should you start?

Let’s begin by running diagnostics on your current site speed.

Conducting Speed Test

Speeding up your WordPress site begins with understanding its current performance metrics. This foundational step can be effectively executed through various speed testing tools available online.

You can utilize three prominent tools to gauge your site’s performance: Google PageSpeed Insights, GTMetrix, and WebPageTest.

Google PageSpeed Insights

Google PageSpeed Insights is a handy tool made by Google. It helps you find ways to make your site run faster and work better on mobile devices by giving you tips based on what the web experts suggest.

It also gives you a score to tell you how your website is doing. The scoring works as follows:

• A score of 90 and above means your site is fast.
• A score between 50 and 89 means it’s average.
• A score of 49 and below means it’s slow.

The score helps you know where you stand and what you need to work on to improve your WordPress speed.

GTMetrix

GTMetrix is another tool to use to understand how fast your website loads.

One of its key features is that it can be used right from your WordPress dashboard. Unlike many other tools, you don’t have to leave your site to check how well it’s doing.

As soon as you use GTMetrix, you’ll see important details like how quickly your pages are loading, the size of your pages, and how many requests are being made to load them.

For someone new to web development, these details might seem confusing at first. But GTMetrix helps by breaking it down into simpler terms.

It does this by showing two scores. One score comes from Google Page Speed and the other from YSlow. Each of these scores gives different tips on how to make your website faster.

WebPageTest

In the past, WebPagetest was a bit tricky to use, but thanks to a recent redesign, it has now become user-friendly. Both new and advanced users can now easily find value in this tool.

It shows different metrics, including new ones from Google’s Core Web Vitals initiative, which is a crucial factor for your WordPress optimization.

A key feature of WebPagetest is that you can run up to nine tests at the same time. This way, you get a more balanced view of how your site is doing, rather than relying on just one test.

Setting up a test is easy. You start with a Simple Configuration option where you can choose basic settings like testing for mobile or desktop visitors from different places and with different internet speeds.

But if you want more control, you can go to the Advanced Configuration area. Here, you can pick any test location from around the world, choose from 12 internet speeds or make your own, decide how many tests to run, choose which browser and device type to use, turn off JavaScript, and more.

What Slows Down Your WordPress Site?

By doing the speed tests above, you’ve already confirmed that you need to do some WordPress speed optimization.

But first, knowing what causes the slowdown and fixing it is a big step toward a better site speed.

Here are some usual suspects and how they affect your site:

1. Heavy Images

Pictures make your site interesting. However, large, heavy images can make your site slow. Optimizing images by making them smaller in size can help your site load faster.

2. Outdated Plugins

Plugins add more features to your site, but outdated or poorly made plugins can slow things down. Keeping plugins updated and avoiding bad ones can help keep your site running smoothly.

3. Poor Hosting

Your hosting provider is like your site’s home. If it’s not a good one, your site can load slowly.

4. Unoptimized Code

Clean code helps your site run smoothly. Using themes and plugins with clean code is key to optimizing WordPress.

5. Too Many Ads

Ads can make you money, but too many can slow down your site. It’s best to limit ads to optimize speed and revenue.

6. External Embedded Media

Using media from other places can slow down your site. It’s better to host videos and other media on your own site or use fast, reliable third-party services.

7. Too Many Redirects

Each redirect triggers an HTTP request-response cycle, extending the time it takes for a page to load. Minimizing redirects, especially chained redirects, can reduce milliseconds of your loading times.

8. Not Utilizing Caching

Caching is like having a shortcut to your frequently accessed data. Not utilizing caching mechanisms means your server has to work harder and take more time to deliver your site’s content to visitors.

9. Not Using a Content Delivery Network (CDN)

A Content Delivery Network (CDN) places your site’s data on servers around the globe, ensuring that your content is delivered swiftly to users no matter where they are located.

Not using a CDN can result in slower loading times for users located far from your server.

9 Best Optimization Techniques

Now, we’ve come to the ‘How’ part of this guide. Below, you’ll find actionable tips on how to truly boost your WordPress site speed.

Tip #1: Basic No-Coding Speed Optimization

Before we deep dive into the more complicated WordPress speed optimization techniques, let’s try some basic tweaks first.

Tip #1.1: Use a Caching Plugin

First on the list is installing a caching plugin. Caching is a mechanism that stores copies of your website’s pages in a ready-to-go state, so when a user visits your site, the pages load faster.

Two popular plugins that facilitate caching on your WordPress site are W3 Total Cache and WP Super Cache. Installing these plugins is also a straightforward process.

Simply navigate to your WordPress dashboard’s left side admin panel, click on ‘Plugins’, then ‘Add New’, search for either W3 Total Cache or WP Super Cache, and click ‘Install Now’ followed by ‘Activate’.

Once activated, these plugins come with a settings area where you can configure the caching to suit your site’s needs. The default settings are often sufficient, but you have the leeway to tweak settings to get the caching behavior that aligns with your site’s requirements.

Tip #1.2: Optimize Images for Speed

Now let’s move on to another potent yet simple strategy: optimizing images for speed.

Images are a crucial part of your site’s appeal, but they are also heavy files that can slow down your page loading times drastically.

Optimizing images involves reducing their file size without compromising their quality.

Tools like Smush or ShortPixel are excellent for this task. They compress your images, making them lighter and faster to load. Before uploading images to your WordPress site, it’s advisable to optimize them using these tools.

Once installed, they will automatically compress new images as you upload them. Additionally, they can also bulk-optimize the existing images on your site, which is a fantastic feature if you have a lot of images already uploaded.

Tip #2: Advanced Optimization Techniques

As your WordPress site grows, it needs more advanced optimization techniques to keep the loading time in check. The advanced tactics, though might sound technical, can significantly contribute to achieving a blazing-fast website.

Here’s a deep dive into some of the advanced optimization strategies that can help in enhancing your site’s performance:

Tip #2.1: Minify CSS, JS, and HTML

Minification is about simplifying the code on your website. It removes unnecessary characters like spaces and comments from the CSS, JavaScript, and HTML files.

This makes them lighter and quicker to load without changing their functionality.

Autoptimize is a popular plugin that can help with minification. Just install it from the WordPress plugin directory, activate it, and then go to its settings to configure it. The plugin will take care of the rest, minifying your site’s CSS, JS, and HTML files.

On a side note, Autoptimize also doubles as a great caching plugin, so you could kill two birds with one stone with this tool.

Tip #2.2: Enable GZIP Compression

GZIP compression is like putting your website into a zip file. It compresses your site’s files, making them smaller and faster to send to visitors.

You can enable GZIP compression using a plugin like W3 Total Cache or WP Super Cache.

While GZIP is effective, it’s not suitable for image files. Fortunately, there are other reliable image compression tools specifically for WordPress sites.

The effectiveness of GZIP with media files varies; it works well with some formats like MPEGs and WAVs, but with others like MP3s, it could actually make the file larger rather than smaller.

Tip #2.3: Optimize Core Web Vitals

Google’s Core Web Vitals is a set of metrics that measure how fast your pages load, become interactive, and how stable they are as they load.

Good scores on Core Web Vitals not only ensure a better user experience but also are favored by Google’s search algorithm, potentially leading to better search rankings.

Optimizing Core Web Vitals involves various steps like ensuring your site is mobile-friendly, keeping an eye on your site’s Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), First Input Delay (FID), and Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) scores, and working on feedback provided by tools like Google PageSpeed Insights.

Using Google’s Search Console can also reveal issues directly from the search engine involving Core Web Vitals.

Tip #2.4: Utilize Lazy Loading

Lazy loading is a technique used to defer the loading of non-critical resources (like images and videos) at page load time. It significantly reduces initial load times, as not all images and videos need to be loaded upfront.

Instead of loading everything at once when a page loads, lazy loading only loads the essential content immediately, like text and layout, while other resources are loaded as they are needed, such as when a user scrolls down the page to where these resources are located.

Installing a plugin like a3 Lazy Load makes implementing lazy loading easy. Once the plugin is installed and activated, it will automatically apply lazy loading to your site’s images and videos.

Tip #3: Plugin and Theme Management

Choosing the right plugins and theme, as well as properly maintaining them, is a crucial step toward achieving a fast WordPress site.

Here’s how you can fine-tune these aspects to keep your website as fast as they can be.

Tip #3.1: Delete Unused Plugins and Themes

Every plugin and theme on your WordPress site carries some code that the server needs to process.

Unused or outdated plugins/themes add unnecessary bloat, and this slows down the speed of WordPress. They also pose a security risk as they can be a gateway for hackers if they are not updated.

To delete a WordPress theme through the admin dashboard, you can follow the steps below:

1. Navigate to Appearance » Themes in your dashboard.
2. Click on the theme you want to remove.
3. In the theme details popup, click ‘Delete’ and confirm by clicking ‘OK’.

On the other hand, follow the steps below to delete a WordPress plugin via the admin dashboard:

Note: Once you uninstall a plugin, you can’t undo it, and all settings for that plugin will be lost. Be careful if the plugin is in use on your site.

1. Head to Plugins, then to Installed Plugins.
2. Deactivate the plugin you wish to remove (if it’s not already inactive).
3. After deactivation, click Delete on the plugin.
4. Confirm by clicking Yes, Delete These Files on the subsequent prompt.

Tip #3.2: Choose a Lightweight Theme

A lightweight theme has no unnecessary features, scripts, or flashy animations that could slow down your site. It’s designed with efficiency and speed in mind, often offering just the essential features with an option to extend functionality through plugins as needed.

When searching for a lightweight theme, it’s important to look for themes that prioritize speed and are regularly updated for performance improvements.

It’s also a good practice to read reviews and check ratings to gauge the theme’s performance and support.

Moreover, a good lightweight theme should be customizable to suit your brand’s aesthetics while maintaining its speed. Customizability in terms of layout, color, typography, and other design elements is crucial to ensure your site looks unique and professional.

Tip #3.3: Keep Your WordPress Site Updated

Updates often come with bug fixes and performance improvements. Developers continually work to optimize the code, reduce bugs, and enhance the speed and functionality of the themes, plugins, and WordPress core itself.

By updating, you ensure that you’re leveraging these improvements.

Moreover, updates often contain security patches to protect against newly discovered vulnerabilities.

An outdated WordPress site is a prime target for hackers and malicious bots. By keeping your site updated, you are minimizing the risk of security breaches and potential data loss.

Sometimes, updates might bring changes that could potentially break certain elements on your site, especially if there’s a compatibility issue with a particular plugin or theme.

Hence, it’s a good practice to test these updates on a staging environment before applying them to the live site.

Tip #4: Database and Media Library Management

The effort invested in managing your media library and database pays off in the form of a fast website. Here’s how you can tune them up for optimal performance.

Tip #4.1: Clean Up Your Media Library

Your Media Library is where all your site’s images, videos, and other media files are stored. Over time, it’s easy to accumulate a lot of unused media files that just sit there. This takes up server space and makes your site heavier.

Below are tips on how to declutter and organize your Media Library for better WordPress speed.

Delete Unused Media

Go through your Media Library and delete any media files that are no longer being used. Be cautious and make sure that the media is not being used anywhere on your site before deleting it.

Organize Media Files

Create folders and categorize your media files. This will not directly impact your site’s speed but will make managing your media much easier, which is beneficial in the long run.

Optimize Images

Before uploading images, optimize them for the web using tools like TinyPNG or ShortPixel. This reduces their file size without losing quality, which in turn, reduces your page load times.

To learn more on how to clean your media library, check out our blog on How to Clean the Media Library in WordPress.

Tip #4.2: Keep Your Site’s Database Clean

The database is the heart of your WordPress site where all your content, settings, and data are stored. Here’s how to keep your database in top shape:

Regular Cleanups

Over time, your database can get clogged with old revisions, trashed items, transient options, and outdated metadata. Regular cleanups to remove this unnecessary data will keep your database lean and fast.

Database Optimization

Use plugins like WP-Sweep to clean your database. It’s a simple, highly effective tool to keep your database streamlined. This plugin can delete old revisions, clean up auto-drafted posts, and remove spam comments, among other things.

Manual Optimization

If you’re comfortable with phpMyAdmin, you can optimize your database manually. However, this is for advanced users and a single mistake can break your site. Always back up your database before attempting manual optimization.

Periodic Backups

Regular backups of your database are crucial. They ensure that in the event of a mishap, you can restore your site to a working state. Use plugins like UpdraftPlus to schedule automatic backups.

Tip #5: Use A Content Delivery Network (CDN)

A Content Delivery Network (CDN) is a network of geographically distributed servers that work together to deliver internet content, such as text, graphics, and videos, as quickly, cheaply, reliably, and securely as possible.

The primary goal of a CDN is to improve web performance by reducing the distance between a website’s server and the visitor.

Here’s how it works:

Content Replication

A CDN stores copies of your website’s content in multiple locations around the world. These locations are known as “edge servers.” When you update content on your website, the CDN updates it across all edge servers.

Location-Based Content Delivery

When a user requests to view a page on your website, the CDN redirects the request to the nearest edge server. By delivering content from a location closer to the user, the CDN decreases the amount of time it takes for the content to travel, which in turn decreases the page load time.

Load Balancing

CDNs also distribute network traffic across several servers, minimizing the risk of server overload during high-traffic periods. This feature is known as load balancing.

Optimization and Security

Besides improving load times, CDNs can optimize content for different device types and screen sizes, and provide security features like DDoS protection.

Cache Control

CDNs also manage content caching, deciding which content to store, when to update it, and when to remove it from the cache based on predefined rules. This ensures that users always get the most recent content without overloading the origin server.

Setting Up a CDN

Consider the solutions below when setting up your CDN.

Cloudflare

Cloudflare offers a worldwide content delivery network (CDN) with distinct performance enhancement features. It caches static content, speeds up dynamic content, and simplifies the optimization of outbound content.

StackPath

StackPath has features such as unlimited file size and segmented file downloading. It is an excellent choice for sites with large files like software and game installers.

Google Cloud CDN

Google Cloud CDN includes free SSL certificates. It also allows users to utilize custom certificates for free.

Fastly 

Fastly supports encryption and uses secure tokens that restrict access to your media files.

Tip #6: Comment and Revision Management

Engaging with your audience through comments is a great way to boost interaction and gather feedback on your WordPress site.

However, a long list of comments on a single page can significantly slow down your page load times.

Similarly, while having revisions of your posts can be a lifesaver, over time, they can also slow down your site. Here’s how you can manage comments and revisions for better WordPress speed.

Tip #6.1: Paginate Comments

Pagination is a useful feature that allows you to divide your comments into separate pages instead of loading them all at once on a single page. By doing so, you reduce the amount of content that needs to be loaded initially and speed up loading.

To paginate comments in WordPress, navigate to the WordPress dashboard, then go to Settings > Discussion.

Look for the option that says “Break comments into pages,” and specify the number of comments you want to display per page.

Tip #6.2: Paginate Long Posts

Aside from comments, pagination can be used for long posts too.

Readers and search engines love long and highly informative posts. However, publishing long-form posts with too many images and videos can significantly decrease your website loading time.

Similar to the tip on paginating comments above, breaking up long WordPress posts into multiple pages can enhance readability. This makes it easier for your readers to understand your content.

To paginate your long-form WordPress posts, there are two options available:

Method 1: Without a Plugin

1. Use the Block Editor in your WordPress content editor to insert a ‘Page Break’ block where you want to split the post.
2. If you’re using the Classic Editor, type in the ‘Text’ view of the blog post, or use the shortcut Alt + Shift + P in the ‘Visual’ view to insert breaks.
3. Preview and publish your post, and pagination will appear at the bottom.

Method 2: Using a Plugin

1. Install and activate your chosen pagination plugin. Examples of these plugins are Pagination by BestWebSoft and WP-PageNavi.
2. Configure the plugin under Settings » Reading by selecting post types and deciding on whether to split posts by page count or word count per page.
3. Click Save Changes.
4. The plugin will paginate posts automatically, but manual page breaks are also possible while the plugin is active.

Both methods offer a simple way to divide content into digestible sections, improving user experience and potentially boosting your site’s performance.

Tip #6.3: Reduce Post Revisions

Every time you save a draft or update a post, WordPress stores a revision. While this feature can be a lifesaver when you need to revert to previous versions, it can bloat your database over time, causing slower load times.

To manage post revisions, consider using a plugin like WP Revision Control. It allows you to limit the number of revisions saved per post or delete old revisions.

Alternatively, you can limit revisions by editing a line of code to your wp-config.php file:

define( 'WP_POST_REVISIONS', 3 )

You can choose to change the number on the last part depending on the number of revisions you’d like to store. The line of code shown above limits the number of revisions per post to three. 

By reducing the number of post revisions, you keep your database lean, which contributes to better WordPress speed optimization.

Tip #7: Optimize Your Server and Hosting Infrastructure

The server technology and hosting environment significantly impact how swiftly your website pages load. Let’s look into the specifics of how you can tune your server and hosting infrastructure for optimum speed.

Tip #7.1: Upgrade PHP Version

PHP is the cornerstone of WordPress, and like any software, it evolves over time with newer versions offering better performance and features.

Upgrading to the latest PHP version can provide a substantial speed boost to your WordPress site. The newer versions come with performance optimizations, faster code execution, and lower memory usage.

Before upgrading, ensure your WordPress site, plugins, and themes are compatible with the new version.

To upgrade, you can check the cPanel of your hosting provider or contact their support to assist with the upgrade. This upgrade is a straightforward yet effective step toward the performance optimization WordPress sites need.

Tip #7.2: Move to a Dedicated Server

As your website grows in traffic and content, the server resources required to maintain a quick loading time also increase.

Various hosting infrastructures impact WordPress speed differently.

• Shared hosting is economical but might affect your site speed if other sites on the same server experience traffic surges.
• Virtual Private Servers (VPS) provide a middle ground with dedicated portions of server resources.
• Dedicated servers offer the best performance but come at a higher cost.
• Cloud hosting is scalable and pays-as-you-go, but the performance can be similar to VPS or better depending on configurations.
• Lastly, managed WordPress hosting is optimized for WordPress speed and security, relieving you from many management tasks. 

It’s beneficial to move when your site starts to slow down due to increased traffic or when you need more control over server configurations.

The steps to move to a new server can be technical for beginners, but many hosting providers offer migration services to make the process smoother.

Tip #8: Reduce Redirects

Redirects are essentially instructions that automatically take visitors from one page to another, usually used when a page’s URL has changed.

While they are useful, having too many redirects can cause a delay in page loading time, impacting your WordPress speed negatively. Each redirect triggers an HTTP request-response cycle, which can accumulate to a noticeable delay.

To minimize redirects, identify them using tools like Redirect Mapper or Screaming Frog. Once identified, eliminate unnecessary redirects, and update any outdated links on your site or in your marketing campaigns to point directly to the correct URL.

For unavoidable redirects, ensure they are server-side redirects (such as 301 permanent redirects) as they are faster than client-side redirects.

Additional Tips to Minimize Redirects

• Avoid linking to pages that are set to redirect, as this can cause multiple redirects and frustrate visitors.
• Check your site for outdated redirects, especially after changing hosting providers or making significant content updates.
• Review your plugins and remove any that are unnecessary to prevent unwanted redirects.

Tip #9: Disable Pingbacks and Trackbacks

Pingbacks and Trackbacks are methods used by WordPress to alert other blogs that your posts link to.

While they might seem like a good way to engage with other bloggers, they can also negatively affect your site’s performance. Each time another blog mentions you, it sends a request to your site, which in turn can slow down your WordPress performance, especially if you start getting many of these.

Disabling pingbacks and trackbacks can, therefore, improve your site’s speed. To disable them, navigate to the WordPress dashboard, go to Settings > Discussion, and uncheck the box next to “Allow link notifications from other blogs (pingbacks and trackbacks) on new posts”.

FAQs About WordPress Speed

Final Thoughts

Each step you take towards optimizing your site contributes to better user engagement, higher search engine rankings, and overall improved website performance.

The cascade of benefits stemming from a fast-loading site underscores the importance of speed optimization in the digital space.

Now, it’s your turn to put these strategies into action. Start by analyzing your site’s current speed, identifying areas for improvement, and progressively implementing the recommended optimizations.

And don’t just stop here; continue exploring, learning, and applying new strategies to maintain a fast website. Soon, you will enjoy the rewarding outcome of all your efforts.

The post How to Boost the Speed of WordPress – Ultimate Guide for 2024 appeared first on GreenGeeks.

Plugins are one of the main reasons WordPress is so fun to use. If you need to accomplish a process, chances are that there is a plugin that either does it or can help you do it.

But, you can have too much of a good thing.

Why Use a Plugin Load Filter?

If you have been working with WordPress for a while, then you understand that it is not a surprise that plugins can slow down a site. This is not ideal, as you always want your WordPress running fast. In order to optimize site speed, one of the things you can do is use a plugin load filter.

A tool like this allows you to have a little more control over how your plugins load. For example, you may not need a certain plugin to load on a certain page or post. Using some sort of filter plugin for WordPress gives you more control over how your plugins function on a site.

Using this tool will keep your website functionality in-tact, keep site speed up, and allow your site to optimize and run as smoothly as possible.

In this post, I am going to show you how to use a simple, yet powerful plugin that can be used to improve WordPress speed and optimize plugins more efficiently.

Let’s take a look at the plugin we are going to use today and see all that it has to offer.

Plugin Load Filter

Plugin Load Filter is a straightforward, easy to use, and easy to understand plugin that will allow you to filter and optimize the plugins on your site with ease. The interface is simple and very user friendly. 

With just a few clicks here and there, you can begin to deactivate unnecessary plugins for individual posts and pages that don’t need them. By filtering the activation of certain plugins in different spots, you will be able to increase your site speed significantly, giving your site users a much better on-site experience.

Not only can you optimize plugins using Plugin Load Filter, but you will also be able to distinguish the plugins for blog and Web applications.

As stated above, the plugin is simple to use and quick to set up. Of course, it won’t slow your site down, and it comes with some cool features including:

• Post Format Type Support
• Custom Post Type Support
• Supports Jetpack Modules
• WB Embed Content Card Support
• Simple Post Language Locale Switcher Support

Simple, easy to use, easy to set up, very powerful. Those are the key takeaways here and you will be hard-pressed to find a better plugin to improve WordPress speed on the fly.

Let’s get the plugin running and set up together and you can start filtering your plugins how you see fit.

Set Up Plugin Load Filter

Step 1: Install and Activate the Plugin

In order to start optimizing plugins and boosting your site speed, you first need to install and activate Plugin Load Filter. You can do this by hopping over to the Plugins page in the WordPress admin dashboard.

Simply use the available search field to search the plugin by name. Once you see it pop up, install and activate it right from there.

Step 2: Access the Main Settings Page

Now that the plugin is activated, you want to go ahead and access the main settings page for it. This is where you will be able to configure the plugin to your liking.

To get there, simply click on the “Plugin Load Filter” tab located on the left side menu area of the dashboard.

You can see that this is now an available tab option because you activated the plugin.

Step 3: Configure All Plugin Settings

At this point, you have arrived on the main settings page for the plugin. There are some items to configure in order to get the plugin going. You will see two main tabs at the top of the page: Filter Registration and Page Type Activation. Let’s go ahead and register filters first.

At the top of this tab, you will see all of the plugins you have running on your site. Next to that will be three selections. You can choose normal, admin type, or page type. The selections represent the following:

• Normal: Exclude plugin from Page Type filter.
• Admin Type: If you only use plugins for Admin pages.
• Page Type: If you want to activate or deactivate plugins for each Page Type and Single page.

Go ahead and go through all of the plugins on your list and make the selections you want.

Note: All the plugins are automatically selected “Normal.” You can make selections accordingly from there.

Now scroll down some and configure the rest of the settings under this tab. 

This includes items like excluding post type formats, adding admin links, and post language locale.

Page Type Activation

Page Type Activation will only be relevant if you register page filters. You will probably do this, so there will be data showing.

Step 4: Go to Any Post or Page

That’s it! You are now up and running successfully. You can go to any post or page to view items. What displays on this page will be based on your setup.

You can see here that the new plugin box is located on the bottom right of posts and pages.

What Else Slows My Website Down?

Congrats, by using Plugin Load Filter, you have taken a solid step in the direction of higher site speeds and load times. That being said, there are always other things that can be done to properly optimize a site and keep page load times high.

One of the things you want to consider is optimizing all the images in your media library correctly. There are tools for image sizing and compression optimization, as well as tools for image SEO optimization. Dig into both, as this will help speed your site up even more.

You can also do things like reduce plugins where you can, optimize the site homepage, use a CDN, consider your host, and clean up your framework and themes.

Remember, website optimization is an ongoing process, so make sure you stay on top of it for optimal speed output and SEO.

Final Thoughts

Optimizing the plugins on your website is just one of many steps you can take in the process of speeding up your site and making it more enjoyable for your site users.

The Plugin Load Filter tool allows you to easily optimize and filter your site plugins, putting you in full control of them and effectively speeding up your site.

I hope this article showed you how easy this particular process really is. This, along with other site optimizations you can perform will allow you to present the fastest site possible for your users.

What other techniques do you use to optimize your WordPress site for speed? Have you found that one works better than the other?

The post How to Boost WordPress Performance with Plugin Load Filter appeared first on GreenGeeks.

The best way to investigate the cause of memory-related problems is to check your website’s memory usage in real-time. But unless your site runs on a VPS or dedicated server, real-time stats probably aren’t available.

Some web hosts will provide you with a memory usage number in their control panel or account manager. But is that number accurate? When was the usage measured? When does it update?

Today, we’ll talk about a WordPress plugin called Server IP & Memory Usage Display. The cool thing about the plugin is it gives you memory usage numbers that are current at the moment you load the page.

So, if you’re experiencing website problems that may be memory-related, you can check usage while the problem is occurring. Or you can monitor memory usage over a period of time. Then use those numbers to determine whether the memory allocated to the site needs to be adjusted.

We’ll go over plugin installation, and talk about ways you may be able to adjust WordPress memory usage.

The plugin is very easy to install, so let’s get started.

Installing the Server IP & Memory Usage Display Plugin

Log in to your WordPress admin panel.

In the left column navigation, mouse over the “Plugins” link and click the “Add New” link.

In the “Search plugins…” box, enter, “Server IP & Memory Usage Display.”

When you find the plugin, click the “Install Now” button.

Now the plugin is installed, but it has to be activated before you can use it.

Click the “Activate” button.

That’s all there is to it. Now let’s see how the plugin works.

How to View Server Memory Usage Data

Once the plugin is installed and activated, it’s working. There’s nothing to set up or configure.

It will display memory and IP data at the bottom of every WordPress admin page.

Let’s take a look at that data.

Memory

In our demo here, the memory use looks like this:

Memory: 6 of 128 MB (5%)

Let’s break that down.

• It’s telling us that we were using 6 MB of memory when the page loaded.
• Then it’s showing us the memory limit for the website, 128 MB. That limit is usually imposed by your web host as part of your hosting plan limits.
• Finally, the percentage of use of your memory quota. In our example, WordPress was using 5% of the memory available for the hosting account.

WP LIMIT

This is the maximum amount of memory that WordPress can use. (Technically, it’s the maximum amount of memory the WordPress PHP functions can use.) In our case, it’s set to 40 MB:

WP LIMIT: 40 MB

That’s the default setting when you install WordPress. But it’s a WordPress configuration limit, not a server limit, so it’s possible to change it in the wp-config.php file.

Let’s try to raise that value to 64 MB and see what happens.

To increase the value, we have to make a change to the wp-config.php file. The file is located in the root directory of your WordPress installation. So if you installed WordPress into a directory named blog, for example, you’d look for /blog/wp-config.php.

I’m going to download and upload the file using FTP. But if you prefer, you can use something like the cPanel file manager if it’s available to you.

Connect to your site and find the wp-config.php file.

Download it and open it in your text editor. (If you’re using a web-based file manager, you can probably edit the file without downloading it.)

Add this line:

[ht_message mstyle=”info” title=”” show_icon=”” id=”” class=”” style=”” ]define( ‘WP_MEMORY_LIMIT’, ’64M’ );[/ht_message]

Save the file and upload it to the server.

Now, if I go back to my WordPress admin area and reload a page, we should see the change.

And there it is.

Note: In some cases, your hosting space may have less memory allocated to it than this setting specifies. (Meaning less than 40 MB.) Under those circumstances, WordPress could potentially use all of the memory available for your hosting space.

A value less than 40 MB would be an unusually low memory allocation for a modern hosting account. Still, if you ever need to adjust for a smaller memory quota, the WP_MEMORY_LIMIT value can be set lower than 40 MB.

IP

The last two values displayed by the plugin aren’t related to memory usage. The first is IP. The plugin uses PHP to get the server IP address and hostname and show them.

This information could be useful if you manage several WordPress installations on different servers.

PHP

The final value displayed, the PHP section shows the current PHP version the website is using. The section also shows some very basic operating system information.

The PHP version can be valuable information since WordPress has a minimum PHP version requirement. That won’t usually be an issue. But if you installed WordPress years ago and are having trouble updating, you may have to update PHP.

If the PHP version displayed here is lower than the WordPress recommendation, contact your host. They will be able to point you in the direction of a PHP version control or update it for you.

What Causes WordPress Memory Errors or Problems?

You might assume memory errors happen because the website is very busy serving a lot of visitors. That’s certainly one thing that can cause errors, but it’s not the most common cause.

More often than not, memory errors are caused by plugins and themes. Memory can be an issue if you use a large number of plugins. But it can also be an issue if you use one poorly coded plugin or theme.

Plugins are great. They’re what makes WordPress such a flexible platform. But not all plugins are written by professional developers. And if a plugin developer makes a mistake, and then you install the plugin, your website just inherited that mistake. The only way to troubleshoot suspected plugin problems is to disable plugins one by one to locate the tool causing the issue.

It’s important to remember that increasing the memory limits is not a good way to deal with a bad plugin. If you think a plugin is causing memory problems, delete it and try to find a better replacement.

If You Need More Memory for WordPress Admin Tasks

We talked about raising the memory limit for WordPress in general. That can fix a lot of crashing problems and “Allowed memory size of [number] bytes exhausted” errors.

But what if you only experience errors when performing administrative tasks in WordPress? By that, I mean things like updates or running tasks via plugins, etc. If that’s a problem you run in to, you can set a higher memory limit that applies only to the admin section of WordPress.

Since admin tasks are only done occasionally and for brief periods, you may want to let them use more memory.

Here’s how to do it.

Remember increasing the WP_MEMORY_LIMIT value in wp-config.php? We increase the admin memory limit the same way.

So open up wp-config.php and add this line:

[ht_message mstyle=”info” title=”” show_icon=”” id=”” class=”” style=”” ]define( ‘WP_MAX_MEMORY_LIMIT’, ‘128M’ );[/ht_message]

Adjusting the 128MB to your desired setting, of course.

So, if you were adding a higher admin limit to the wp-config.php file we edited earlier, it would look like this:

What that does is tell WordPress it can use 64 MB of memory for the public side, and 128 MB for admin tasks.

What Happens if You Uninstall the Server IP & Memory Usage Display Plugin

If you uninstall the plugin, the memory and server data will no longer be displayed. No other parts of WordPress are affected.

Keep an Eye on Memory Usage as a Preventative Measure

Even if you aren’t having a memory-related problem, it’s good to look at memory usage from time to time. If you do, you’ll notice when memory usage increases, and you’ll be better able to determine the cause. Did you see memory use jump after installing a new plugin? You can be pretty sure what the culprit is.

Watching memory usage can also alert you that it’s time to upgrade your hosting plan. Seeing a steady increase in memory use along with an increase in visitors is normal. As far as problems go, I think accommodating more visitors is a problem we’d all be happy to deal with.

Have you ever had to troubleshoot WordPress memory errors? What did you do about them? Has a poorly written plugin ever caused you any grief? Let me know in the comments.

The post How to Show the Server IP and Memory Usage in WordPress appeared first on GreenGeeks.

In this case, it may be worth removing the feature entirely. The more compact your website is, the better it will perform. Luckily, there is a plugin that can help us do this.

Today, I will demonstrate how to streamline WordPress for speed with the Tweakr plugin.

How Does Tweakr Help?

Tweakr is a simple, yet powerful plugin that can help you remove or disable unwanted features in WordPress. Thus, it can help make WordPress faster.

For example, one thing you don’t see most WordPress authors using are emojis. While they are fun to use while texting or talking to friends on social media websites, they are not appropriate for content creation in many cases. At least, if you’re trying to be professional.

Thus, there really isn’t a reason to keep them on your website. Tweakr understands this and allows you to disable emojis with the click of a mouse. It can also disable oEmbeds, RSS feeds, and more.

The smaller you make your website, the faster it will become.

Installing Tweakr

Tweakr is a great addition to any website that wants to disable features in WordPress to increase speed. It is best thought of as a bundle of smaller common tweaks. In it, you will be able to streamline your WordPress website for performance, and it’s easy to do.

Let’s start by clicking on Plugins and selecting the Add New option on the left-hand admin panel.

Search for Tweakr in the available search box.

Scroll down until you find the Tweakr plugin. Click on the “Install Now” button and activate the plugin for use.

Using Tweakr

Tweakr is extremely easy to use. There are no complicated settings to handle. Instead, everything is handled through toggle switches, which are all off by default. This means all you need to do is go through each setting and decide if you want to enable it or not.

On the left-hand admin panel, click on the Tweakr option to pull up the main settings page.

Everything related to the plugin can be adjusted here and it is broken up into 6 tabs. These include Tweaks, Content, Editing, Analytics, Privacy, and System.

Remember, you should only enable the settings that work best for your website, and you can make a change at any time.

Tweaks

The Tweaks tab is the first one and contains all of the hide/disable features the plugin offers. It is broken up into three sections, which include Frontend, Feeds, and HTTP Header. Go through each section and disable everything you do not need.

Content

The Content tab deals with your website’s permalink structure and XML Sitemap. The settings on this page can directly affect how search engines view your content, which means your rankings are on the line.

Editing

The Editing tab doesn’t have many settings. Here you will be able to change the visual appearance options your website can use.

Analytics

The Analytics tab only has two settings, but don’t let that fool you. One of those settings is to enable Google Analytics. Yes, that’s right, this plugin has Google Analytics baked into it. If you choose to enable it, you will need to enter your own tracking code. Alternatively, it also supports Matomo analytics.

Privacy

The Privacy tab consists of one option, which will hide the privacy policy page from search engine indexes. While these types of pages need to be visible for visitors due to legal reasons, they are not exactly content-rich. Hiding them may help your website’s SEO, but there is no definitive answer, according to Google.

System

The System tab has more advanced options. These include email, update, API, and monitoring settings. Unless you have a firm understanding, I would recommend not touching the settings located here.

Once you are done, click on the “Save Changes” button.

Congratulations, on streamlining your WordPress website.

WordPress Is Fully Customizable

Typically, when people think of the term “fully customizable,” they tend to think about what you can add to the platform. However, removing and disabling features is another side of customization.

This allows you to build a website that best suits your needs. And in the end, removing unused features can help streamline WordPress for better performance.

Which features did you disable with Tweakr? Do you think WordPress should have some of these options built-in?

The post How to Streamline WordPress for Speed and Function with Tweakr appeared first on GreenGeeks.

Performing this function will make your website a lot faster, and those results will be reflected in your website speed tests. There are a few different tools you can use to minify JavaScript and CSS. This, along with other techniques will improve the speed of your website.

In this tutorial, I am going to show you how to use a great plugin called Fast Velocity Minify to speed up your website and help improve overall website performance.

Why Minify Javascript and CSS?

The main reasoning behind minifying JavaScript and CSS is for site speed and overall performance. If you compare website speed tests from before and after, you will find that the sizes of your web pages and overall site speed have dramatically changed. Oftentimes, this and other website issues are overlooked.

Maybe even more important is the fact that Google has announced that faster loading speeds directly affect website ranking and overall SEO.

Faster loading times will not only help with overall SEO, but they will give your site users a better experience.

Fast Velocity Minify

In order to minify JavaScript and CSS in WordPress, we are going to use a smooth plugin called Fast Velocity Minify.

Basically, this plugin is a speed optimization plugin for developers and advanced users. You can use it to minify JavaScript in WordPress, as well as use the plugin options and functionality for so much more.

When you minify CSS in WordPress using the Fast Velocity Minify plugin, you set yourself up for better SEO ranking and overall speed and site performance.

How the Plugin Works

This plugin reduces HTTP requests by merging CSS & JavaScript files into groups of files while attempting to use the least amount as possible. It minifies WordPress CSS and JS files with PHP Minify. There are no extra requirements.

Fast Velocity Minify shines even further because it includes settings and options for developers and advanced users. However, the default plugin settings will work great for most WordPress sites, so you can easily install the plugin and use it even if you are a beginner.

Main Plugin Features

The FVM plugin offers a ton of features. Some of the main ones that stand out include:

• Merge JS and CSS files into groups to reduce the number of HTTP requests.
• Google Fonts merging, inlining and optimization.
• Handles scripts loaded both in the header & footer separately.
• Keeps the order of the scripts even if you exclude some files from minification.
• Supports localized scripts (https://codex.wordpress.org/Function_Reference/wp_localize_script).
• Minifies CSS and JS with PHP Minify only, no third-party software or libraries needed.
• Option to defer JavaScript and CSS files, either globally or PageSpeed Insights only.
• Creates static cache files in the uploads directory.
• Preserves your original files, by duplicating and copying those files to the uploads directory.
• View the status and detailed logs on the WordPress admin page.
• Option to Minify HTML, remove extra info from the header and other optimizations.
• Ability to turn off minification for JS, CSS or HTML (purge the cache to see it).

Now that you know a little more about minifying JavaScript and CSS, let’s take a look at how to easily use the Fast Velocity Minify plugin.

Install and Activate

First, install and activate the Fast Velocity Minify plugin on your website. You can do this by searching for it in the plugin repository of your WordPress admin dashboard.

Once the plugin has been installed and activated, click on Settings > Fast Velocity Minify. This will take you to the setup and configuration options for the plugin.

When you get to the correct area, you will see 6 tabs. They include:

• Status
• Settings
• Pro
• Developers
• Server Info
• Help

I am going to show you each tab area, but we are not going to configure the plugin for advanced users and developers. Instead, I will show you how to set up the basic settings that will properly minify JavaScript and CSS on your WordPress website.

Let’s take a look at the tabs.

Status

The “Status” tab will simply list all your processed files once you start using the plugin. It also allows you to purge cached files.

Settings

These are your basic configuration settings. Filling these out will get the plugin working and you can start minifying Javascript and CSS files in WordPress.

Pro

This tab will allow you to configure pro settings. Only use it if you know and understand what you are changing.

Developers

The “Developers” tab will present you with even more advanced options. Again, don’t use this unless you are a developer or you know what you are getting into.

Server Info

This tab provides you with all the server info so you can see that everything is working properly.

Help

The “Help” tab will allow you to reference other helpful links for the plugin.

Basic Configuration Settings

Click back to the “Settings” tab. You can fill out this portion however you want. This will get the plugin working properly and allow you to gain site speed and other functionality.

That being said, here are basic recommended settings that you can choose to get the plugin working. Click on the following options under the Basic Settings.

Use the screenshots for Reference.

Functionality & URL Options

For functionality, it might be ideal to preserve settings for the plugin after an uninstall. You might find yourself coming back to the plugin at a later date. Also, enabling “Fix Page Editors” works well if you have a team environment on the website. This way, you won’t have to worry about visual editors causing a problem with JavaScript and CSS merging.

In most cases, auto-detecting URLs should suffice. If you have issues with minifying JS and CSS, you may need to force certain URLs to work correctly. However, you probably won’t know which until you start experiencing issues.

HTML, Font, Google Font Options

Enabling the Cleanup Header option helps streamline minifying JS and CSS. But like above, you can change this option should you experience problems on the site.

In the Font Options, you can manage how FVM handles elements like emojis and Google Fonts. One of the best options is to “Disable Google Fonts merging.”

Speaking of Google Fonts, keeping the selection for “inline” helps with minifying the code. However, some sites may experience better performance through “async” depending on the layout.

Font Awesome & CSS Options

A good practice for performance is to inline Font Awesome CSS elements you might have on your website. This streamlines the effect of CSS. But like the option above, you may experience better performance through async.

In the CSS options, preserving the order, disabling the “Print,” and inlining CSS in the footer all contribute greatly to minifying. But if something on your site breaks after selection, you may want to consider disabling CSS processing and minifying files.

Page Speed Options

When it comes to PageSpeed testing, you can enable “defer of all JS files for PSI only.” You can also exclude JavaScript files into an ignore list for PageSpeed Insights.

This gives you a more accurate portrayal of your site’s performance without third-party JavaScript throwing errors.

That’s it! You can leave everything else unchecked, or fill it out how you see fit. Scroll to the bottom and click on the “Save Changes” button and you are off and running.

Final Thoughts

When you properly minify JavaScript and CSS on your WordPress website, you create a better user experience and faster page loading speeds. Furthermore, you put your site on the right track for better SEO and ranking in Google.

Now, you have a fantastic way to do this that requires no coding skills. Simply follow the steps above and you are good to go.

Have you found that minifying JavaScript and CSS has helped your site speed and SEO? What other plugins or techniques are you using to accomplish this?

The post How to Minify JavaScript and CSS with Fast Velocity Minify in WordPress appeared first on GreenGeeks.

For your website to work properly, it must make requests to the server. A Query Monitor will monitor these requests and notify you if something is wrong. This is an extremely useful tool for experienced web developers to take advantage of. Today, I will demonstrate how to install the Query Monitor plugin in WordPress and what it can do.

What is the Query Monitor Plugin Capable of

A Query Monitor is a debugging tool that helps you monitor and troubleshoot problems on the back end of your website and has a large number of tools. Here are some of the features the plugin includes:

• Hooks
• Scripts & Styles
• Languages
• HTTP Requests
• User Capability Checks
•  Redirects
• Environment Information

A more detailed description of what the plugin offers can be found on the Query Monitor plugin page. Keep in mind that if you are not entirely sure what some of these terms mean, then you might not find this plugin helpful. It is designed for more experienced web developers.

How to Install Query Monitor in WordPress

Today, I will demonstrate how to install the Query Monitor plugin in WordPress and what it can do. This plugin offers a lot of features and I will try to cover what all of the major ones do and where to find them. To fully utilize the plugin, you will need some knowledge of how a website works and what some terms mean. If you are new to WordPress and web development in general, then this plugin might not be of any use to you until you get more experience.

Installing and Locating the Query Monitor Plugin

Start by clicking on Plugins and selecting the Add New option on the left-hand admin panel.

Search for Query Monitor in the available search box. This will pull up additional plugins that you may find helpful.

Scroll down until you find the Query Monitor plugin and click the “Install Now” button and activate the plugin for use.

You should now see the Query Monitor menu at the top of the admin bar. If you do not, then you do not have the toolbar turned on. On the left-hand admin panel, click on Users and select the Your Profile option.

Make sure the “Show Toolbar when viewing site” checkbox is checked. and update the settings. Click on the Query Monitor menu item at the top of your screen.

I will now briefly go through the various tools the plugin offers and where to find them.

Queries

The main reason to use the Query Monitor plugin is to monitor your website’s queries. There is a lot of information available on your website’s queries. The plugin breaks queries into three menu items called Queries, Queries by Caller, and Queries by Component. The Queries options will show all of your website’s queries, but this list can get very large on larger websites. This is why there are two other options to use.

Queries by Caller will show you all your queries that are called and specifically who called them by custom code and where the code is located. Queries by Component will show you all of the queries that your plugins, themes, and WordPress core files are making.

Scripts and Styles

These two options will allow you to view the various Stylesheets and Javascript your themes and plugins are loading. Specifically, you can see where these are loaded and track where they are located.

Hooks & Actions

Here you will be able to monitor all of the Hooks that are being run on your website. You will also be able to see all of the actions that are triggered by these hooks.

Languages

The world is a big place and not everyone speaks the same language. This is a problem for websites that want to attract visitors from around the world. Thankfully WordPress has many plugins to help you build a multilingual website. This option of the plugin will help you track where and which language files are being requested and loaded into.

HTTP API Calls

This will display all third-party API calls being made on your website. For example, Jetpack showed up for me in this section.

Transient Updates

Transient updates are updates that have an expiration date. This means they are temporary and will disappear once that expiration date is reached. You can view all of your website’s transient updates here.

Capability Checks

This section will show you all your user role capabilities. More specifically if they have access to a certain core file, plugin, or theme.

Environment

This section will show you all of your website’s hosting environment information. The environment refers to things like PHP version, Database names, etc.

Keep Track of Your Website

There is a lot of information to keep track of as a web developer. It can be a bit overwhelming at times, but plugins like Query Monitor make it easy to track important information. This can help you discover issues before they become a bigger problem. It can also help you locate ways to increase your website’s performance. Of course, you do need to have knowledge of web development to make full use of this plugin.

What is your favorite part of the Query Monitor plugin? What are you closely monitoring in your website?

The post How to Install Query Monitor in WordPress appeared first on GreenGeeks.