WordPress Speed Optimization Guide

How to Speed Up Your WordPress Website

A fast website improves user experience and SEO rankings. This guide covers proven techniques to optimize your WordPress site's performance on Faciotech hosting.

Why Speed Matters

• 53% of visitors leave if a page takes more than 3 seconds to load
• Page speed is a Google ranking factor
• Faster sites have higher conversion rates

1. Choose a Fast Theme

Your theme significantly impacts speed:

• Use lightweight themes (GeneratePress, Astra, Kadence)
• Avoid themes with excessive features you won't use
• Check theme speed scores before purchasing

2. Install a Caching Plugin

Caching serves pre-built pages instead of generating them each time:

Recommended plugins:

• LiteSpeed Cache - Best for Faciotech's LiteSpeed servers (free)
• WP Super Cache - Simple and effective (free)
• W3 Total Cache - More options, steeper learning curve (free)

LiteSpeed Cache settings for Faciotech:

1. Install and activate LiteSpeed Cache
2. Go to LiteSpeed Cache → Cache
3. Enable Enable Cache
4. Enable Cache Logged-in Users (if appropriate)
5. Go to Page Optimization and enable CSS/JS minification

3. Optimize Images

Images are often the largest files on a page:

• Compress images - Use ShortPixel, Imagify, or Smush
• Use WebP format - 25-35% smaller than JPEG
• Resize before uploading - Don't upload 4000px images for 800px displays
• Enable lazy loading - Load images as user scrolls (built into WordPress 5.5+)

4. Minimize Plugins

• Remove unused/deactivated plugins
• Replace multiple plugins with one multi-purpose plugin
• Avoid plugins that load scripts on every page
• Test site speed after installing new plugins

5. Optimize Database

Clean up database bloat:

1. Install WP-Optimize
2. Clean post revisions, drafts, and trash
3. Remove spam and trash comments
4. Optimize database tables
5. Schedule automatic cleanups

6. Use a CDN

A Content Delivery Network serves files from servers closer to visitors:

• Cloudflare (free tier available) - Easy setup, includes security
• Enable in WordPress with Cloudflare plugin or LiteSpeed Cache CDN settings

7. Optimize Code

Minify CSS and JavaScript

Remove unnecessary characters from code. Most caching plugins include this.

Defer JavaScript

Load JavaScript after the page renders. Enable in LiteSpeed Cache → Page Optimization.

Remove Unused CSS

Tools like PurgeCSS remove CSS not used on your pages.

8. Enable GZIP Compression

Compresses files before sending to browsers. Usually enabled by default on Faciotech hosting.

Verify in cPanel → Software → Optimize Website.

9. Update Everything

Keep updated for performance improvements:

• WordPress core
• Themes
• Plugins
• PHP version (cPanel → MultiPHP Manager)

Testing Your Speed

Measure your improvements with these tools:

• Google PageSpeed Insights
• GTmetrix
• Pingdom

Target Metrics

• Page load time: Under 3 seconds
• Total page size: Under 2MB
• HTTP requests: Under 50
• Core Web Vitals: All green

Need Help?

Our team can help optimize your WordPress site. Contact support for assistance.