logo WP Optimize
What is WordPress database optimisation?

What is WordPress database optimisation?

by | Apr 26, 2024 | WordPress performance

Speed and performance – these are the key principles on which websites are always judged. While what you put on your site matters too, it’s more subjective. Speed and performance are a little more universal.

WordPress is a powerful platform but if you neglect the database that underpins your WordPress site, that speed and performance can take a hit.

The importance of WordPress database optimisation

An optimised database enhances your website’s loading times as data can be retrieved much faster. The faster pages load, the better the user experience and the more likely your site is to rank higher.

A streamlined database also uses fewer server resources, which could save serious costs in a shared hosting environment​. So, it’s a win-win, but it’s also something that might seem intimidating on the surface. Thankfully, it can be simplified using a third-party plugin. 

Before we start spring cleaning though, let’s explore some more common culprits of database bloat, besides stuffing your site with too many plugins.

Common culprits of database bloat

Every action you and your users take is stored in your database. This includes all post revisions and comments, including spam. Inevitably, that’s going to include a lot of unnecessary and unwanted data that could seriously clutter up your database. 

Common causes of database bloat include:

Post revisions

WordPress records every revision and draft you make to every post. Over time, these can add up to a significant number, especially on sites with frequent updates. By default, WordPress also autosaves posts every 60 seconds with a chronological record of all edits. More often than not, this is hidden data you wouldn’t want anyone to see anyway.

Spam comments

Comments marked as spam will remain in your database unless you manually remove them. This is even true if you have an effective anti-spam plugin installed. If you’ve been the victim of a prolific spammer, these comments will not only slow your site down but could pose a serious security risk.

Trash

Just because you’ve deleted a post, page or comment, that doesn’t mean it’s automatically gone forever. All site content is retained in your trash folder for 30 days by default, during which time they continue to occupy space.

Expired transients

These are temporary data caches used by developers to speed up operations in the short term. WordPress doesn’t remove them automatically, even when they’re no longer required, leading to additional bloat.

Unused tables

By default, WordPress data is stored in 12 core tables (options, posts, users, etc.) each storing a specific type of data. If a plugin you’re using creates its own table and you later delete that plugin, the table and all the data within it will remain. If you’re always experimenting with different plugins, this could become a major bloat issue.

Orphaned metadata

When you delete a plugin or theme, it may also leave behind metadata, further cluttering the database​.

Why Pre-Optimisation Backups Are Crucial

While it’s unlikely you’ll erase any important information, it’s not impossible. That’s why, before optimising your WordPress database, it’s essential to perform a backup of your site. Think of it as a safety net, allowing you to restore your website to its original state should anything go wrong during the optimisation process.

There are many user-friendly backup and restoration tools and plugins available for WordPress. This ensures that even those with minimal technical expertise can secure their data efficiently. Indeed, many plugins even create regularly scheduled automatic backups. So, you don’t even need to think about it!

If you’re feeling nervous about it, you might also want to consider testing the optimisation plugin on a staging or development site first. This will allow you to identify any issues before applying changes to your live site.

Optimising your WordPress database

It’s possible to manually optimise your database, and some power users may prefer the flexibility this option offers. However, WordPress comes with a built-in database optimisation tool. It can still be quite complicated for some users though. For most users, we’d always recommend using a WordPress database optimisation plugin. These plugins will not only leave you with a compressed and clear WordPress database but will also backup and restore files.

Whichever method you choose, however, WordPress database optimisation is more than a preventative measure. It’s an essential proactive strategy for all WordPress users. By addressing database bloat, you can maximise the potential of your online presence. 

After optimizing your database, it’s crucial to carry out routine maintenance tasks on your WordPress site to sustain its performance over time.

FAQs

Will WordPress database optimisation cause irreparable data loss?

It’s unlikely you’ll lose any important data during database optimisation. However, you should always perform a full site backup beforehand to be safe.

What is MySQL?

It’s the most popular open source database in the world, used by WordPress, Facebook, Netflix, Airbnb and thousands more.

Why is my WordPress site so slow?

There are several reasons why your site may be underperforming. You might have too many plugins, a limited hosting plan or you may be suffering with database bloat. The latter can be resolved through database optimisation.

How do I access my WordPress database?

This will depend on your host. In most cases, however, as WordPress is open source, you should be able to access your database via an admin tool.

Do I need to edit my WordPress database?

You don’t need to interact with the database to publish or edit your site but if it’s suffering from poor performance, you might need to give it a clean up. 

Why should I optimise my WordPress database?

Primarily, it will enhance site speed, performance and stability. This may in turn improve the user experience and help your site rank higher in search.

What are the benefits of manual WordPress database optimisation over using a plugin?

Manual optimisation lets you fine-tune aspects of your database. As you’re fine-tuning the data yourself, you naturally have more control over what is being deleted, refined or tweaked.

What is lazy loading and how does it improve user experience?

What is lazy loading and how does it improve user experience?

by | Feb 22, 2024 | WordPress performance

If there is one aspect of a website that most website owners ignore, it’s the page load time. You spend a lot of time and money getting the perfect design for your website and adding different types of content to keep the visitors engaged. But what if that’s not enough to convert your visitors into users?

Studies show that for every additional second your website takes to load, the chance of converting a visitor into a customer decreases. According to Portent, the chance of conversion is 40% at one second of loading, while it drops to 34% at the next, and 29% at three seconds. You might be wondering, “What’s the solution, then?”

And that’s where the concept of Lazy Loading comes in. It’s a faster way to load your website without sacrificing the quality of your content.

In this article, we’ll explore Lazy Loading, why to use it, and how it stacks up against other methods. Let’s get into it!

Table of contents

What is Lazy Loading?

Lazy loading is a way to save time by only loading parts of a website that you need right away. Instead of loading everything at once, which can be slow and use a lot of resources, this method loads content bit by bit

Images or videos that don’t load right away often have placeholder elements until they’re needed. For instance, Lazy Loading doesn’t load all images at once. It only loads the ones you can see on your screen. The rest won’t load until you scroll down

Instead of waiting for everything to load, you can see what’s already on the screen right away.

Expert Tip: Check how well lazy loading works on various browsers and devices. This is to make sure there aren’t any compatibility issues.

The importance of Lazy Loading

We already know Lazy Loading can help you increase conversion. But that’s not the only benefit it has. Here are some other reasons you should implement Lazy Loading on your website.

Optimize performance

Lazy loading cuts down on data transfers when someone visits your website. This is key for people using mobile devices with slow internet and small data plans.

Reduce bandwidth and server load

Lazy loading saves data and reduces server work. This cuts costs for website owners and users by stopping content from loading when it’s not needed.

Improve SEO

Search engines like Google prioritize fast-loading websites so much that it’s an official ranking factor. Using the Lazy Loading technique, you can boost your page loading speed, reduce the bounce rate, and lead your website to a higher ranking.

What is Eager Loading?

Eager loading is the exact opposite of Lazy Loading. It initially loads all the required resources at once, including media files, scripts, and styles. This means that all the necessary page elements are immediately available. So there’s no additional loading when users scroll or interact.

Eager loading was the conventional method used in the past, and many websites still use it today.

Although it is easy to implement, eager loading has become less relevant due to several factors, including:

Increased web page size

Modern websites use more rich media and interactive parts. This means the average web page is much larger than before. Thus, eager loading can result in longer initial page load times. Especially for users with slower internet connections.

Negative impact on performance

Longer page load times can hurt important website performance measures, such as First Contentful Paint (FCP) and Largest Contentful Paint (LCP). These are key for SEO and user experience. 

Rise of mobile users

With the massive use of mobile browsing, getting things to load super fast right from the start has become crucial.

Eager Loading vs. Lazy Loading

Here is a quick comparison of Eager Loading and Lazy Loading:

Features Eager Loading Lazy Loading
Loads all resources up front Slower Faster
Loads resources on-demand as needed Faster Slower
Initial load time Slower Faster
Resource usage Higher Lower
Performance impact Can negatively impact performance Core Web Vital metrics like FCP and LCP Improves performance metrics
User experience Might cause delays at the start Smooth initial experience, but there might be delays later
Mobile Optimization May impact mobile performance Improves mobile performance
Network request Makes more initial network requests Minimize initial network requests
Benefits Easy to implement, consistent experience, prevents potential delays Efficient resource utilization, faster initial load time, better user experience on slower connections
Drawbacks Slower initial load time, higher bandwidth usage Requires additional coding, potential delays when content is needed
Relevance Less relevant for modern websites More relevant for modern websites
Suitable for Websites with a small number of static resources, a consistent user base Websites with a large number of resources, a diverse user base

Lazy loading and eager loading are two different methods of resource loading with their own set of pros and cons. However, from today’s tech perspective, Lazy Loading is considered the preferred technique for most modern websites due to its efficiency, performance benefits, and better user experience.

How Lazy Loading Works

Now that you know why Lazy Loading ensures better results between the two, let’s take a look at how it achieves this.

User navigation and interaction: Lazy loading depends on how users use the webpage. It often starts when users scroll or move their mouse. As they scroll, the browser guesses that new content is needed in the area they can see. It then starts loading those resources. Lazy loading can also start with other actions, like clicking a button or hovering over an item.

Technical implementation for images: Lazy Loading works differently for different kinds of content. For images, which are very common, you usually start by showing a low-quality placeholder or a simple loading icon. When the user scrolls near the real image, the clear, high-quality one loads. This way, users don’t wait for images they can’t see yet.

Application different web resources: Lazy loading is a flexible method that can be used for various elements, not just images. It works equally well for videos, iframes, and even elements that require a lot of scripts. Loading these elements only when needed means you can greatly enhance the loading speed of your page and efficiently manage your resources. This is especially crucial for heavy resources such as high-definition videos.

Implementing Lazy Loading

In this part, we’re going to show you the different ways to implement Lazy Loading on your website.

Method 1 – Manually implementing Lazy Loading

The manual way of implementing Lazy Loading is not for everyone. It’s complex, and you should at least have an intermediate coding knowledge. 

To do this, you will mostly use HTML and JavaScript. Before you begin, make sure you have access to the theme files of your WordPress site and feel confident to edit HTML and JavaScript. 

Here is a detailed guide to help you through the process:

Step 1: Backup your site

Always backup your WordPress site before making any changes to the theme files to avoid losing data if you make an error.

Step 2: Edit the theme’s functions.php file

  • Access your WordPress site’s files (using an FTP client or File Manager in your hosting control panel).
  • Navigate to /wp-content/themes/your-theme/ and find the functions.php file.
  • Open functions.php for editing.

Step 3: Add the Lazy Loading script

In functions.php, add a function to enqueue a JavaScript file for Lazy Loading. Here’s a basic example:

function add_lazy_loading_script() {

 wp_enqueue_script(‘lazy-load’, get_template_directory_uri() . ‘/js/lazy-load.js’, array(‘jquery’), null, true);

}

add_action(‘wp_enqueue_scripts’, ‘add_lazy_loading_script’);

This code assumes that you have a JavaScript file named lazy-load.js in a js folder within your theme directory.

Step 4: Create the JavaScript file

  • Create a new file named lazy-load.js in the js folder of your theme directory.
  • Add JavaScript to handle the Lazy Loading. Here’s a basic example using IntersectionObserver:

document.addEventListener(“DOMContentLoaded”, function() {

 let lazyImages = [].slice.call(document.querySelectorAll(“img.lazy”));

 if (“IntersectionObserver” in window) {

 let lazyImageObserver = new IntersectionObserver(function(entries, observer) {

 entries.forEach(function(entry) {

 if (entry.isIntersecting) {

 let lazyImage = entry.target;

 lazyImage.src = lazyImage.dataset.src;

 lazyImage.classList.remove(“lazy”);

 lazyImageObserver.unobserve(lazyImage);

 }

 });

 });

 lazyImages.forEach(function(lazyImage) {

 lazyImageObserver.observe(lazyImage);

 });

 }

});

Step 5: Update your image tags in WordPress

Modify your image tags to support Lazy Loading. In your PHP templates or directly in your posts/pages, change your image tags as follows:

<img class=”lazy” src=”placeholder-image.jpg” data-src=”original-image.jpg” alt=”image description”>

Replace placeholder-image.jpg with a low-resolution image or a loading graphic, and original-image.jpg with the actual image URL.

Expert Tip: Use responsive placeholders for lazy-loaded images to ensure that the layout remains stable.

Step 6: Test your changes

  • If you have a caching plugin installed, make sure to clear your site’s cache. 
  • Then, go to your website and scroll down to the section where an image is supposed to be lazy-loaded. 
  • Take a moment to see if the images load smoothly as you scroll.

Notes

  • Make sure to always test in a development environment first, before doing it on your live website.
  • Consider creating a child theme while doing this. Updates to the theme might overwrite your changes.
  • For other content types like videos or iframes, a similar approach can be used where the src attribute is replaced with a data-src attribute and loaded via JavaScript when in the viewport.

This technique is a simple way to incorporate Lazy Loading. If you have more intricate websites or specific requirements, you may want to explore a stronger solution or a plugin.

Method 2 – Using a WordPress plugin to implement Lazy Loading

This is the easiest of the two methods, as you can use a WordPress plugin to enable Lazy Loading safely. Multiple plugins allow you to do this, but we will use WP-Optimize in this example. WP-Optimize is a powerful WordPress plugin that helps you boost your website’s speed and improve user experience. 

It offers a simple and easy method to set your images, iframes, and videos to lazy load. Its built-in Lazy Load feature automatically delays web resources loading until they’re visible, resulting in significantly faster page load times. This is, however, a premium feature of WP-Optimize.

To enable the feature:

  • Open the WP-Optimize > Images tab from your WordPress Admin Dashboard
  • Open the Lazy Load Images sub-tab
  • From here, you can enable Lazy Loading for both Images and Videos/Iframes

wp-optimize-lazy-loading-screenshot

If you need to disable Lazy Loading for certain images, background images, videos, or iframes, just enable it from here. You can also choose to skip certain image classes.

Before and after

We tested a sample website’s speed before and after implementing Lazy Load. The website was already pretty fast, with a First Contentful Paint (FCP) load time of 1.5 seconds, according to GTMetrix.

gt-metrix-score-before-and-after-using wp-optimize

After enabling Lazy Loading, the FCP became 344 ms, which is way faster than what we had before. The results can vary depending on how much content you have on your page, but in most cases your FCP score will improve.

gt-metrix-score-after-using-wp-optimize-lazy-loading

Ready to speed up your page load time?

So, this is it! We talked about what Lazy Loading is, and the important role of Lazy Loading for modern sites. By waiting to load things until you need them, it makes pages load faster, saves internet data, and makes browsing smoother, especially on phones with limited data. 

We’ve also given some useful advice on how to use Lazy Loading in WordPress. We cover everything from doing it yourself with code to using a plugin like WP-Optimize.

Try adding Lazy Loading to your website and tell us how it affects your performance. Got questions? Feel free to ask in the comments.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Lazy Loading good or bad?

Lazy Loading is generally considered a good practice as it has several benefits. It helps improve webpage load times and enhances the user experience by loading content only when its needed.

What is Lazy Loading in UI?

Lazy Loading in UI refers to the practice of loading visual elements such as images and videos only when they are in (or are near) the user’s viewport.

Does Lazy Loading affect SEO?

When implemented correctly, Lazy Loading can have a positive impact on SEO by improving page load times and enhancing the user experience, both of which are important ranking factors.

Should you lazy load all images?

While it is beneficial to lazy load images that are off-screen, it is not necessary for images that are immediately visible on page load. Loading these images immediately can prevent any delay in their display.

What are the problems with lazy loading?

Some problems with Lazy Loading include content loading delays as users scroll, potential issues with search engine indexing if it’s not implemented correctly, and reliance on JavaScript, which may not be supported by all browsers.

What is minification and how can it improve site speed

What is minification and how can it improve site speed

by | Feb 22, 2024 | WordPress performance

Every millisecond matters when it comes to keeping your visitors’ attention.

According to a study by Portent, a website that takes 1 second to load has a conversion rate three times higher than a site taking 5 seconds to load. The difference between engaging a visitor and losing them to a competitor often relies on the speed of your website.

So, what can you do to improve your website performance?

Enter,  minification. 

In this article, we’ll discuss minification and its overall benefits. And we’ll provide you with a step-by-step guide to implementing it using the appropriate tools.

Let’s dive in!

What is minification?

Minification is a technique used in web development to make source code files smaller without messing up how they work. This means getting rid of extra things like white spaces, line breaks, comments andblock delimiters

Here’s an example of JavaScript code before and after minification:

Before minification:

// This function returns a random number between 1 and 6

function dieToss() {

  return Math.floor(Math.random() * 6) + 1;

}

 

// This function returns a promise that resolves if a 6 is tossed

function tossASix() {

  return new Promise(function (fulfill, reject) {

    var number = dieToss();

    if (number === 6) {

      fulfill(number);

    } else {

      reject(number);

    }

  });

}

 

// Log the toss result and try again if not 6

function logAndTossAgain(toss) {

  console.log(“Tossed a ” + toss + “, need to try again.”);

  return tossASix();

}

 

// Log success or failure

function logSuccess(toss) {

  console.log(“Yay, managed to toss a ” + toss + “.”);

}

 

function logFailure(toss) {

  console.log(“Tossed a ” + toss + “. Too bad, couldn’t roll a six”);

}

 

// Use promise to try three times to toss a 6

tossASix()

  .then(null, logAndTossAgain) // Roll first time

  .then(null, logAndTossAgain) // Roll second time

  .then(logSuccess, logFailure); // Roll third and last time

 

After minification:

function dieToss(){return Math.floor(6*Math.random())+1}function tossASix(){return new Promise(function(a,b){var c=dieToss();6===c?a(c):b(c)})}function logAndTossAgain(a){return console.log(“Tossed a “+a+”, need to try again.”),tossASix()}function logSuccess(a){console.log(“Yay, managed to toss a “+a+”.”)}function logFailure(a){console.log(“Tossed a “+a+”. Too bad, couldn’t roll a six”)}tossASix().then(null,logAndTossAgain).then(null,logAndTossAgain).then(logSuccess,logFailure);

In the minified version, all comments, extra spaces, and line breaks are removed. Also, the minifying code is compressed into a single line to reduce file size.

Benefits of minifying HTML, CSS, and JavaScript code

Minifying CSS, JS, and HTML code improves website loading speed whilst reducing file size and bandwidth usage, leading to an enhanced user experience and search engine rankings. Let’s look at each one in turn.  

Improve website loading speed

Minification optimizes your website’s code. By cutting down unnecessary characters, the files become smaller to transfer over the internet. This results in faster downloads and rendering of web pages.

Reduce file sizes and bandwidth usage

Minified code files are always smaller in size. They take less storage space on servers and consume lower bandwidth during transmission. This is helpful for users with limited data plans or slower internet connections.

Enhanced user experience and engagement

Websites that load quicker are more likely to retain visitors’ attention and encourage them to interact with the content. A fast and responsive site can lead to increased user satisfaction, longer visits, and more interactions (not to mention, conversions).

Impacts on SEO and search engine rankings

Page speed load times have been a ranking factor in Google for a while now. All other things being equal, a faster site will rank higher in Search than its nearest competitor, usually resulting in greater visibility and higher visitor numbers..

How to minify code

There are several ways to minify code. You can use online tools or a content delivery network (CDN) with a built-in minification feature. Using a WordPress minification plugin can simplify the process even further.

Minification tools and CDN

Minification tools

UglifyJS is a powerful tool for minifying JavaScript. It can greatly reduce the size of your JavaScript files by removing unnecessary characters and optimizing the code. 

CSSNano is a CSS minification tool that focuses on optimizing stylesheets. It eliminates redundant code, whitespace, and other non-essential elements from your CSS files.

If you’re looking to reduce the size of your HTML files, HTMLMinifier is one way to go. It ensures  your HTML files are delivered in a more compact and efficient form.

CDN

When it comes to code minification, CDNs offer several advantages:

Automatic minification: CDNs have special tools to automatically minify JavaScript, CSS, and HTML scripts when sending them to users. 

Edge caching: CDNs use edge caching to store minified versions of your code closer to end-users. So users can retrieve content from a nearby server instead of the origin server. This reduces latency and speeds up loading times.

GZIP compression: CDNs use GZIP compression to reduce the size of transferred files further. This compression technique helps optimise bandwidth usage and accelerates content delivery.

Using a WordPress plugin for minification

Plugins can provide a more user-friendly experience for non-technical users. With simple settings and options, you can enable or disable minification across your site or for specific files. 

Additionally, CDNs often charge based on bandwidth usage whereas a one-time purchase or a free WordPress plugin can provide ongoing minification without any extra charges.

Finding a WordPress minification plugin 

Search ‘minify’ or ‘minification’ in the WordPress plugin directory. Look for plugins that are five-star rated that are also tested with the latest version of WordPress.

How to minify with WP-Optimize 

In this next section, we’ll walk you through how to minify with WP-Optimize. First, you’ll need to install and activate WP-Optimize on your WordPress website. Once you have installed and activated, navigate to the WP-Optimize > Minify area. To start code minification, simply toggle on the ‘Enable Minify’ feature on your WordPress website.

The default settings will automatically minify HTML, CSS, and JavaScript files on your WordPress website with no further tinkering required (though you can make further changes if you wish).
In the JavaScript tab, you can enable and disable the minification and merging of JavaScript files. Within the Exclude JavaScript from processing area, you can add specific files to exclude from minification. You can also load particular JavaScript files asynchronously under the Defer section. Click the Save settings button to save the changes.
Under the CSS tab, you can exclude and load specific CSS files asynchronously, similar to JavaScript.
WP-Optimize also offers a font minification feature. From here, you can enable the minification of Google Fonts and Font Awesome CSS files. Go to the Fonts section to see the available options.

Conclusion 

Minification is used to make source code files smaller without messing up how they work. It helps improve website loading speed and it reduces file size and bandwidth usage, leading to an enhanced user experience that could improve search engine rankings. You can minify using stand-alone tools, a CDN with built-in minification or via a WordPress performance plugin like WP-Optimize. 

For more tips on how to speed up your WordPress site read our guide

Frequently asked questions

Here are some questions about minification that people often search for online.

Will minification cause any issues on my website?

Minification should not cause any issues if done correctly. It only removes unnecessary elements and keeps the functionality intact. If you’re minifying your WordPress website using WP-Optimize, you can always reach out to us for help. 

How much faster will my website be after minification?

The speed improvement varies. It tends to depend on the initial size and complexity of the code. It will generate improvements though, particularly when combined with other optimization and performance enhancements like image compression and caching. 

Does minification affect SEO?

Yes, minification impacts SEO as search engines prefer faster-loading websites. It can improve your site’s ranking and user experience, which are crucial factors in SEO.

Is it necessary to minify all of my code?

While it’s not mandatory, t’s better to minify all code (HTML, CSS, and JavaScript) for optimal performance. Focus on minifying files that are large or loaded on every page.

What are some popular minification tools and plugins?

Popular tools include UglifyJS for JavaScript, CSSNano for CSS, and HTMLMinifier for HTML. WordPress plugins like WP-Optimize also offer minification features.

Should I always keep my minified code files separate?

It’s a good practice to keep the original and minified files separate. This makes debugging and maintenance easier. Serve minified files to users and keep the originals for development purposes.

Are there any downsides to minification?

The main downside is that minified code becomes less readable for humans which can make debugging more challenging. Try to keep copies of unminified JavaScript and CSS files for development and troubleshooting purposes.

Google Core Web Vitals for WordPress: How to test and improve them

by | Nov 29, 2023 | WordPress performance

Remember the time when we used to have Flash-powered multimedia on our websites? If you’re starting to feel nostalgic, let me remind you of the time it took to load those pages. Those websites were sluggish, harder to interact with, and often not responsive for smaller devices. 

The World Wide Web has evolved over the years, and the days of clunky websites are long gone.

The modern web is a place where the importance of user experience is paramount. That is why Google launched a set of metrics to evaluate if your website is offering the experience the users deserve and love. Google calls this set of metrics the “Core Web Vitals”.

In this article, we will explore what Google Core Web Vitals are all about and how you can test and optimise your WordPress website for them. Let’s get started!

Table of contents

Understanding Google Core Web Vitals

Users today expect smoother websites that load quickly, are easy to navigate, and let them easily find the information that they need. This led to a significant rise in user-centric website development.

There were websites like Pingdom and GTMetrix that helped people get an idea of how quickly their web pages were loading. However, there wasn’t a consolidated list of metrics to measure how a user-centric website should be. At least until Google launched the Core Web Vitals.

Core Web Vitals is a set of metrics that measure the user experience of a website. These metrics are meant to evaluate the loading performance, interactivity, and visual stability of a web page.

Let’s have a quick look at all three Core Web Vitals and learn why it is important to optimise your website for them.

Largest Contentful Paint (LCP)

The Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) is a metric that focuses on the user’s experience by measuring the perceived load speed. It indicates the moment during the page load when the main content is most likely loaded and becomes visible to the user. In essence, it measures the time it takes for the largest element, such as an image or a block of text, to appear on the page.

A quick LCP load time is crucial in making sure that the page meets the visitor’s needs or intentions promptly. It indicates how long it takes for the page to become useful to the user.

According to Google, a good user experience is achieved when the LCP appears within 2.5 seconds of the page starting to load. We will share strategies about how to improve largest contentful paint in the latter part of our blog.

First Input Delay (FID)

First Input Delay (FID) is a metric that measures the responsiveness of a webpage when a user initiates an interaction. This interaction can be in the form of clicking a link, tapping on a button, or utilizing a custom control that is powered by JavaScript.

Essentially, FID calculates the time it takes for the browser to acknowledge and respond to the user’s action.

A good FID score is essential for measuring the interactivity of your website. A lower FID means that your site is more responsive, resulting in a better user experience. To ensure a positive user interaction, Google suggests aiming for an FID of under 100 milliseconds.

Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS)

Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) is a metric used to evaluate the stability of a webpage’s content during the loading process. It measures how much a webpage moves as visible elements change position between frames.

A lower CLS score makes the user experience smoother. It keeps the page stable and prevents content from interrupting reading or interaction. To maintain good visual stability, Google recommends a CLS score below 0.1.

Why are Core Web Vitals important?

Google’s introduction of Core Web Vitals was a major step in emphasizing user experience in website development. However, it is not the only reason for website owners to optimise for Core Web Vitals. 

Since May 2021, Core Web Vitals has been a ranking factor for Google. Optimizing your website for Core Web Vitals increases its visibility in Google’s search results.

Here are some more reasons why Core Web Vitals are so important and why you should optimise your WordPress site for them:

Conversion rates: 

Website performance and conversion rates are closely linked. When a website performs well in Core Web Vitals, it also enhances the user experience, leading to increased conversion rates. For instance, a page that loads fast can capture and retain user attention. Meanwhile, a stable layout ensures smooth interactions, creating a conversion-friendly environment.

Competitive edge: 

Optimising for Core Web Vitals gives your website a competitive edge, or at least helps you to keep up with your competitors who are already doing it. 

Bounce rates: 

Websites with low-performance metrics often have higher bounce rates. Users tend to leave sites that load slowly or are difficult to use. Improving the Core Web Vitals score lowers bounce rates and improves user experience.

Mobile experience: 

Many people now use their mobile devices to access the internet. Core Web Vitals are essential for providing a good mobile user experience. Google is moving towards mobile-first indexing, which makes it even more important.

Trust and credibility: 

A fast, engaging, and dependable website can make a brand seem more reliable. This can help build trust and credibility with your users.

How to test Core Web Vitals on WordPress

Testing your website’s Core Web Vitals score is easy. There are steps and tools available to help you measure and analyse Core Web Vitals on your WordPress site.

1. PageSpeed Insights

The first one on the list is PageSpeed Insights, Google’s very own tool to measure the Core Web Vitals performance of a website.

Start by typing in your website’s URL and get a comprehensive analysis of its LCP, FID, and CLS scores, plus other performance metrics. It’s a very easy way to quickly test your website’s Core Web Vitals!

page-speed-insights-screenshot

The data in the report is divided into mobile and desktop, which helps you see how your website is performing on different devices. This segregation gives you a clear picture of your site’s performance across platforms.

Moreover, the report includes suggestions to enhance your scores. It provides actionable recommendations like eliminating render-blocking resources, optimizing images, and more. These suggestions are aimed at helping you improve your website’s performance and make it more efficient.

page-speed-insights-screenshot2

2. Lighthouse

Lighthouse is an open-source tool that helps you enhance the quality of your web pages. It can audit core web vitals performance, accessibility, progressive web apps, SEO, and more.

google-lighthouse-screenshot

You have multiple options to run Lighthouse. You can use it in Chrome DevTools, execute it from the command line, or even utilize it as a Node module. 

3. Web Vitals Chrome Extension

Web Vitals is a useful extension for the Google Chrome browser. It gives you instant access to Core Web Vitals data in the top bar of your browser. It is a great tool for checking and monitoring your WordPress site as you make adjustments.

web-vitals-chrome-extension-screenshot

Search Console Core Web Vitals Report

Google Search Console’s Core Web Vitals report is another great tool. It helps you track website’s performance from your Google Search Console dashboard.

google-web-vitals-report-screenshot

The report sorts URLs into categories of improvement and good status, making it easier for you to focus on optimizations.

4. GTmetrix

GTmetrix has upgraded its analysis engine to incorporate Core Web Vitals data.

gtmetrox-report-screenshot

This tool helps users assess metrics and get practical recommendations to improve them.

5. Third-party performance monitoring tools

Pingdom, New Relic, and Datadog are other tools that can help you understand how well your website is performing. These tools are useful for monitoring your website’s performance and tracking its historical data.

How to improve Core Web Vitals on WordPress

Core Web Vitals covers all the aspects of your website experience. To improve Core Web Vitals on WordPress (or any website), it’s important to address all the main areas of your site.

But if you have no idea where to start, fret not. We have compiled a comprehensive list of strategies to improve your Core Web Vitals scores.

Strategies to improve Core Web Vitals

1. High-performance hosting: 

The hosting environment is important for making your WordPress site perform better. A good hosting provider can make the server response time faster. This is important for improving the FID and LCP metrics.

Look for hosting providers that offer optimised server configurations for WordPress. They should also provide SSD storage, offer the latest PHP versions, and have data centres near your target audience. Managed WordPress hosting providers typically provide an environment that is tailored to enhance WordPress performance.

2. Optimised theme selection: 

Choosing the right theme is essential for maximizing your website’s performance. Select lightweight and optimised themes. Code them efficiently. Choose themes that have fewer resources. Avoid themes that slow down page rendering. This will result in improved Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) and First Input Delay (FID).

Expert Tip: Improve Core Web Vitals by choosing responsive themes that adapt to various screen sizes and ensure optimal user experience on all devices.

We suggest using a theme that works well on mobile devices. Google’s Core Web Vitals focus on how well a website performs on mobile. A mobile-responsive theme adjusts its layout to fit different screen sizes. This ensures a smooth user experience on all devices. Furthermore, it is better to look for themes that follow the latest web standards and get regular updates.

3. Image optimization: 

Optimizing images on your WordPress site can greatly improve its load time and enhance the LCP metric. Serve images in next-gen formats like WebP to reduce file sizes compared to traditional formats like JPEG and PNG.

Another way to make things work better is to use lazy loading. This means that images that are not on the screen are loaded later. t helps pages load faster and improves both LCP and FID.

4. Image encoding: 

To make your website load faster, you should efficiently encode images and optimise the delivery of images. You can do this by compressing and encoding images using online tools. If you don’t want to take that hassle, you can just automate the process using WP-Optimize and start serving the images in next-gen formats such as WebP.

5. CSS and JavaScript optimization: 

Managing CSS and JavaScript files effectively is crucial to ensure smooth website performance. These files are vital for appearance and functionality but can slow down performance if not optimised. 

Expert Tip: Remove unused plugins and scripts to keep your site lean and fast.

Remove unused CSS and minify JavaScript codes to further optimise your WordPress website. You should also remove unused plugins or scripts to maintain a lean and fast site.

6. Server-Side optimizations: 

To improve your WordPress site’s server performance and configuration, you should update PHP, optimise the database, use server caching, and utilize a CDN.

Doing these will reduce server response time and improve the load times of your website. Which in turn will help you achieve better scores in Core Web Vitals.

7. CDN implementation: 

Content Delivery Network (CDN) can speed up the delivery of static assets like images, CSS, and JavaScript files to your users. This leads to improved Core Web Vitals metrics like Largest Contentful Paint (LCP). 

CDNs store your static assets on a network of servers located all over the world. When a user visits your site, the CDN sends these assets from the nearest server, which can greatly speed up their loading time. By reducing network latency, CDNs can be especially helpful for users who are far away from your original server.

8. Database optimisation: 

A well-optimised database is crucial for a fast and responsive WordPress site. To optimise your database, regularly clean up your database. Remove outdated and unnecessary data like old revisions, trashed comments, and transient options. This helps to keep your database streamlined and efficient. 

Additionally, make sure that your database is properly indexed. Indexing plays a key role in speeding up data retrieval, especially for WordPress sites with large databases. 

9. Caching plugin implementation: 

Implementing caching is a crucial strategy to enhance the performance of your WordPress site. One effective approach is to use a performance-focused caching plugin like WP-Optimize.

Plugins with caching features generate and store static versions of your web pages. When a user visits a page, the caching plugin serves the static version. This reduces the server’s workload and greatly improves page load times.

Improving LCP (Largest Contentful Paint) on WordPress

1. Element and resource optimisation:

Eliminate or optimise elements that are too large and resources to reduce initial server response time. Oversized elements, such as images or text blocks, can slow down your site. 

Expert tip: Simplify your homepage design. Minimalism not only gives your website a clean look but also improves loading speed and LCP metrics.

Similary, CSS and JavaScript files block rendering and delay the display of your page until they are fully loaded. You can enhance the speed and efficiency of your website by eliminating or optimizing them.

2. Minification of scripts and styles: 

Minifying JavaScript and CSS files is another great way to improve LCP scores. The minification process makes scripts and styles smaller. It does this by removing unnecessary characters, comments, and whitespace. This helps improve loading times because the file sizes are smaller. Users with limited internet connectivity or mobile devices benefit from this.

Improving FID (First Input Delay) on WordPress

1. JavaScript optimisation: 

It is essential to optimise the execution of JavaScript if you want to enhance the efficiency of your website. This is crucial as it is frequently the primary cause of delays in the browser’s response to user actions.

To solve this problem, divide long tasks into smaller tasks that can be done at different times. Furthermore, removing unnecessary JavaScript from the critical path will improve the FID score.

2. JavaScript deferral: 

Delay running unnecessary scripts until after the page is visible or when they are needed to speed up JavaScript loading. This way, you can minimize the amount of JavaScript that needs to be processed during the page load, and thus improve the FID score.

You can achieve this by using the defer attribute on script elements or by utilizing WP-Optimize to defer JavaScript files easily.

Improving CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift) on WordPress

1. Dimension specification: 

Ensuring a proper layout minimizes any unexpected shifts. This also ensures a better CLS score. 

It is important to provide dimension specifications for images, videos, and other media elements. Specify the width and height attributes to give the browser the information it needs to reserve space on the page. This helps create a smoother and more consistent user experience.

2. Dynamic Ad space allocation: 

Designating specific sizes for dynamic ads on your webpage is another crucial strategy to improve CLS. This way, the ads blend seamlessly with the content. This creates a consistent visual experience. It also prevents disruptions to the layout.

Expert Tip: Don’t place dynamic ads near the top of your web pages as it can cause layout shifts and disrupt the user experience.

Without a designated size, ads may load in various dimensions. This may lead to inconsistencies in design and difficulty for users. This will decrease the CLS score. A specific ad size also enables optimised ad placement and responsive design for different screen sizes.

Monitoring and continuous optimisation

Use tools like Google PageSpeed Insights, GTMetrix, or Pingdom to monitor your Core Web Vitals. Keep track of the effectiveness of your optimizations by continuing to monitor them. This will help make sure your WordPress site stays optimised for Core Web Vitals over time. It’s important to adapt to any new changes or issues that may arise to maintain optimal performance.

Improve Core Web Vitals with WP-Optimize

Optimizing a WordPress website for Core Web Vitals can be complex. Some also require you to know how to code. But what if you can do that in a couple of simple clicks? 

That’s what WP-Optimize offers. The WP-Optimize plugin offers a variety of free and premium features to improve Core Web Vitals on your WordPress site.

Let’s take a look at the top 3 features that WP-Optimize has to offer:

1. Database cleaning: 

WP-Optimize helps tidy up your database, giving your website a boost in speed. It eliminates auto-draft posts, outdated post revisions, deleted posts, spam comments, and unnecessary transient options. This ensures a cleaner and more efficient database for your website. What’s more impressive, with WP-Optimize Premium you can simply set a schedule for it to carry out automatic clean-ups.

2. Image optimization: 

WP-Optimize Premium’s advanced image optimization technology employs state-of-the-art compression methods. It effectively reduces the file size of PNG, JPG, WebP, GIF, BMP, and TIF images. It offers features like bulk compression, compression of large files, automatic compression, and the option to restore the original image. So, you can effortlessly optimise your visuals for better performance and faster loading times.

3. Caching: 

WP-Optimize offers a powerful caching feature to improve website loading speed. It preloads your posts and pages as static files, which significantly reduces the processing load on your web server. This allows you to load the website much faster for returning visitors.

Summary

The importance of Core Web Vitals in determining user experience and SEO rankings cannot be emphasized enough. They provide valuable insights into the loading speed, interactivity, and visual stability of web pages. 

For WordPress site owners, optimizing for Core Web Vitals requires a comprehensive approach. Only through continuous testing, monitoring, and optimizing can you enhance your site’s Core Web Vitals score. But before that, the first step is to just start the process.

So, take the first step towards optimizing your WordPress site for Core Web Vitals today. Utilize the powerful features of WP-Optimize or WP-Optimize Premium if you’re serious about your website. And pave the way for a superior user experience and increased visibility on Google.

Frequently asked questions (FAQs)

Let’s share answers to some common questions we often get about optimizing WordPress Core Web Vitals.

What are Core Web Vitals?

Core Web Vitals refer to a set of metrics developed by Google to evaluate the user experience of a website. These metrics measure aspects such as loading speed, interactivity, and visual stability.

How can I test Core Web Vitals on my WordPress site?

To test Core Web Vitals on your WordPress site, you can make use of tools like Google’s PageSpeed Insights, the Chrome User Experience Report, or the Web Vitals Chrome Extension. These tools will provide you with valuable insights into your website’s Core Web Vitals performance.

How does WP-Optimize contribute to improving Core Web Vitals?

WP-Optimize can be a valuable tool to enhance your website’s Core Web Vitals scores. It helps by cleaning up your database, optimizing images, and implementing caching techniques. These optimizations can significantly improve your website’s performance, leading to better Core Web Vitals scores.

What is LCP?

The Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) metric calculates the duration it takes for the largest content component on a webpage to load and appear completely.

WordPress maintenance tasks to perform regularly

by | Oct 11, 2023 | WordPress performance

Have you ever noticed your website not performing as it used to when you first launched it? Do you know that there’s a high chance that your website is vulnerable to security threats that you are not even aware of? Both of these scenarios can be scary for you as a website owner, administrator, or developer. But fret not, you can easily prevent these from happening if you perform WordPress maintenance tasks regularly.

WordPress is a powerful platform, powering millions of websites across the world. However, like any other website platform, it also requires regular maintenance to keep your website running smoothly, just like day one.

In this blog, we will share WordPress maintenance tasks that you should perform on a regular basis to achieve optimum performance and security. So without further ado, let’s get to it.

Table of Contents

Understanding WordPress maintenance

WordPress maintenance involves several tasks that enhance a WordPress site’s performance, security, and user-friendliness.

It includes simple tasks like updating your WordPress plugins and themes to more advanced tasks like optimizing your database. While updating plugins and themes makes your site more secure, optimizing the database makes it faster.

A well-maintained WordPress site will perform better on search engines and lead to more success than a website that is never maintained. If you are ready to perform WordPress maintenance tasks on your website, we’re here to help you out. Let’s start by sharing the preparations that you need to take before you get started.

Preparation before performing maintenance tasks

Not every WordPress maintenance task is the same, so you can’t set a single schedule for all of them. Moreover, the effects of the tasks on your website can also differ, ranging from minimal to high. That is why it is good to have a backup of your website before you go on to perform the maintenance tasks.

Create a maintenance schedule

As we already shared, no two maintenance tasks are the same. So you need to maintain a schedule to manage the maintenance. Most people perform low-priority maintenance tasks once a month, and more critical tasks like checking the security log on a bi-weekly or weekly basis.

Backup your website before making any changes

Another important thing to do before you start critical maintenance tasks is to back up your WordPress site. Tasks like optimizing your database, or deleting a file that has been compromised can cause devastating errors, and even break your whole website.

Backing up your WordPress site with a backup plugin like UpdraftPlus saves you from these kinds of unwanted situations. We recommend backing up your site before you start any maintenance task, because you know how the old saying goes:

The best backup is the one you never did!

Now that you are all prepared and ready to get your website roaring again, let’s share how to maintain your WordPress website in 10 simple steps.

10 essential WordPress maintenance tasks

Here comes the list of WordPress maintenance tasks you are here for. Keep in mind that the list is not ordered based on priority.

1. Update WordPress core, plugins and themes

Hackers are always on the move to find loopholes in WordPress plugins and themes to get their way into your website. To prevent that from happening, you need to keep your plugins and themes updated. These updates often include critical security patches, bug fixes, and features that not only reduce the risk of getting hacked but also enhance the performance of your website.

Make sure to also update the WordPress version (Also known as WordPress core update) to get more crucial security patches, fixes, and of course, new features.

You can also automate updates with Easy Updates Manager. This nifty tool lets you schedule updates and makes sure that all the updates are compatible with your current WordPress version.

2. Backup your website regularly

Backups are important not only before scheduled maintenance. You need to do it more often than any other maintenance task. You should regularly backup your site in case your website crashes or your website faces an unfortunate hacking attempt. The good news is that you can backup your WordPress site here for free with UpdraftPlus.

If you don’t have the time to back up your website every day, or at least a week, you can schedule backups to run automatically and keep your data stored in your preferred storage location.

3. Optimize your database

You store a lot of files on your WordPress site. Every plugin and theme that you install creates hundreds of files, some of which are only used once. And then, there is residual data.
Over time, these unnecessary files can clutter your database and slow down your website. That’s why your WordPress website care is not complete without database optimization, which can help your database run smoothly and significantly boost the speed of your WordPress site.

You can optimize the database manually through phpMyAdmin. But, if the manual process proves to be too complex for you, using a WordPress performance plugin like WP-Optimize can make the task a lot easier.

On top of database optimization, WP-Optimize can further improve website speed with its caching features.

4. Review and strengthen security measures

Website security should be one of the top priorities for any website owner. Regularly reviewing the security log can help you stay on top of any breaches or issues.

However, since there are no manual ways in WordPress to check security logs or to create a real-time security net for your website, using a WordPress security plugin like All-In-One-Security can help keep your website secure from any malicious attacks.

It also has a comprehensive reporting feature for you to check the logs while you carry out WordPress maintenance.

5. Check and fix broken links

There’s no doubt that broken links hinder user experience, but it also negatively impacts your website’s SEO. So it’s important to check for broken links as part of your WordPress maintenance tasks.

Tools like Screaming Frog and SEMrush can help you find a list of broken links on your website. Using an internal link plugin can help minimize the risk of broken links. This is because links built by the tool are automated, if a page is unpublished any links to it will disappear too.

6. Optimize images and media files

Large media files can slow down your website, increasing the page load time and thus negatively impacting SEO.

Like database optimization, compressing and optimizing images on your WordPress site can greatly improve page speed. Using lossy/lossless compression techniques can convert large images into compressed files that take up much less space.

7. Monitor site performance

If you have never run a performance test after launching your website, you belong to the majority of people. And it’s not a healthy habit to have!

Monitoring your WordPress site performance is one of the crucial tasks to perform during WordPress Maintenance. It gives you a clear idea of how your website is performing against the core web vital criteria set by Google.

Google PageSpeed Insights is the most popular tool to run performance tests on your website. However, don’t just limit yourself to the homepage. Instead, make sure to test all the important pages on your website.

8. Regularly test all forms

Forms are an important part of our websites. Think of all the ways you use forms on your website. From registration forms and contact forms to newsletter subscription forms. They are everywhere!

It is highly important that they work correctly. So make sure to test the forms during maintenance and ensure they are functioning and delivering submissions as expected.

To protect your forms from automated bots or scripts we recommend adding a verification method to your forms. This helps to verify the user is human without interrupting their browsing experience.

9. Conduct SEO audits

The modern web depends on search engines. How your website is ranking on the search engines pretty much defines how successful your website is. That is why no Website maintenance checklist is complete without SEO Audits, which give you a clear picture of how your website is performing.

Regular SEO audits can also help you find areas to improve on-page SEO, meta tags and more. You can perform the audits with most SEO tools, including SEMrush and Ahrefs.

10. Change passwords

In 2022, over 24 billion passwords were exposed by hackers. This is a frightening statistic and one that should encourage you to change passwords regularly as part of your WordPress maintenance.

Most of the breached passwords are reportedly weak or reused. Thus, you should always look to use strong passwords, and never the same password everywhere.

For an extra layer of security you should consider adding two-factor authentication to your WordPress site.

Summary

Regular WordPress maintenance is a must to have a quick, secure website with a great user experience. Whether you manage these tasks personally or with the help of a performance plugin like WP-Optimize, it is important to have a regular schedule to keep your site at peak performance.

You can download the free version of WP-Optimize here but for more advanced optimization options we recommend installing WP-Optimize Premium to benefit from all of the features.

So when are you carrying out your first WordPress maintenance task? Let us know in the comments!

Frequently asked questions

Now, let’s take a look at some common questions that people ask about WP maintenance and their answers.

WordPress maintenance refers to the tasks that make sure your website is quick, healthy, and functioning as expected.
Yes, it is necessary to perform maintenance tasks on your WordPress website to keep it fast, secure, and user-friendly.
You should perform most WordPress maintenance tasks at least once a month. However, some tasks should be carried out at least once a week.
Scheduled maintenance in WordPress refers to a specific time of the day, week or month when a website runs maintenance operations.
WordPress maintenance is completely free if you do it yourself. Performance plugins like WP-Optimize can help speed up optimization tasks, saving you a lot of time.