Ideal outcome
Your users experience faster page load times and your server resources are more efficiently used while your website still looks exactly the same to the end-user
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SOP-058
How to Optimize WordPress to Speed Up your Website
Optimize your current WordPress setup and content for faster page load times
Type
SOPs · PDF
Execution time
1-2 hours
Last updated
16 June 2025
Who does this
The person responsible for website management or a web developer
Length
21 pages
Why it matters
As page load time goes from one second to five seconds, the probability of bounce increases by 90%. Without requiring a server upgrade, you can optimize your WordPress website so that it loads faster, therefore, retaining more of your users
Before you start
This exact process only applies to WordPress sites
Key steps 40 steps
What is inside 55 headings
1 Environment set up
2 Checking your website performance
3 Method 1 - Using an external tool: 2
- On your browser head over to Pingdom.
- Insert the page that you would like to test on the URL field → Select the location that is closer to where your target audience is → Click “Start Test”.
4 Method 2 - Using a local tool (Chrome) updated for Lighthouse 7
- Open Chrome in incognito mode. Press Ctrl + Shift + N (Windows) or ⌘ + Shift + N (Mac) to open a new incognito window.
- Load the page you want to test.
- Right-click anywhere on the page and select "Inspect" or press Ctrl + Shift + I / ⌘ + Option + I.
- Next, click the “»” menu in the top DevTools bar to reveal hidden tabs and select "Lighthouse".
- Click “Analyze Page Load” to start the audit.
- Then, interpret the results.
- Finally, save the report by clicking on the 3 dots menu (top right of the report) to save a .json or .html version of your Lighthouse report for sharing or records.
5 Evaluating your website performance 2
- Open your Pingdom results page by referring back to the URL you’ve saved previously.
- Compare your performance against your competitors and some major websites:
6 Further auditing your website performance reports 6
- Locating your largest content:
- Ask yourself and your team:
- If you conclude that you can remove them, go ahead and ask your developer to do it or edit your page and remove them.
- Locating tools and scripts that you might not be using anymore:
- Locating bad response codes:
- Make a list of those requests and ask your developer:
7 Decrease your homepage size by showing less blog posts upfront 2
- On your browser, log in to your WordPress Admin Panel.
- On the sidebar click “Settings” → “Reading”.
8 Auditing your WordPress plugins 5
- On your browser, log in to your WordPress Admin Panel.
- On the sidebar, click “Plugins”.
- Filter “Active” by clicking on the link at the top.
- Once you have selected all the plugins that you are not using anymore, head over to the top, click the dropdown “Bulk Actions” → Select “Deactivate” → Click “Apply”.
- After you have deactivated the plugins that you are not using anymore, scroll down the “Active” list and look for outdated plugins. These will be marked by a beige background with a prompt to update to the most recent version. Click “Update Now”.
9 Install the WordPress W3 Total cache plugin 10
- On your browser, log in to your WordPress Admin Panel.
- On the sidebar, click “Plugins” → “Add New”.
- On the search bar on top, type “W3 Total Cache”.
- On the search bar on top, type “W3 Total Cache” → Click “Install Now” → “Activate”.
- On the sidebar, click “Performance” → “Dashboard”.
- Click “Compatibility check” on top.
- On the list, look for incompatibilities of your server settings with the “enhanced page and browser cache”.
- On the sidebar, click “General Settings”.
- Select the following settings:
- Click “Save Settings and Purge Caches”.
10 Installing the Shortpixel Image optimizer plugin 10
- On your browser, log in to your WordPress Admin Panel.
- On the sidebar, click “Plugins” → “Add New”.
- On the search bar on top, type “ShortPixel”.
- Click “Install Now” → “Activate”.
- On the sidebar, hover “Settings” → Click “ShortPixel”.
- You will be prompted to add an API key or request one. If you don’t have one yet, enter your email address, tick the box to accept the TOS and the PP and click “Request Key”.
- You should see a “Your API key is valid” message and be redirected to the Plugin Settings page.
- Select the compression setting that you would rather see on your website.
- Click “Save and Go to Bulk Process”.
- Click “Start Optimizing”.
11 Re-test your pages
The document 21 pages
The file is locked
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