BLUECARBONS Sage

TL;DR: How to Speed Up Your WordPress Website
Help URL: Platform: https://help.bluecarbons.com

Goal: Improve load time, Core Web Vitals, and conversions with quick, high-impact actions.

What to measure first

Run PageSpeed Insights and Lighthouse on key templates (home, blog post, product, checkout) and record LCP, INP, and CLS as baselines.

Use a secondary test (e.g., GTmetrix) for filmstrip and waterfall to spot render-blocking assets and slow third-parties.

Set target thresholds: LCP ≤ 2.5s, INP ≤ 200ms, CLS ≤ 0.1 on mobile.

High-impact checklist

• Enable caching and compression
• Install a caching solution to serve static HTML to anonymous users.
• Turn on GZIP or Brotli compression and browser caching headers.
• Exclude dynamic pages (cart, checkout, account, search) from full-page cache.

Optimize images and lazy load

• Convert images to WebP/AVIF and compress to ~75% quality or visually lossless.
• Resize to actual rendered dimensions; serve responsive srcset sizes.
• Enable lazy loading for images, iframes, and video embeds; add placeholders to avoid CLS.

Minify/defer CSS and JS

• Minify CSS/JS/HTML; test in staging first.
• Inline critical CSS for above-the-fold; defer non-critical CSS.
• Defer or async non-critical JS; delay third-party scripts until user interaction when appropriate.
• Remove unused CSS/JS where feasible to cut payload.

Trim theme and plugins

• Switch to a lightweight, performance-first theme; avoid heavy sliders and animations.
• Audit plugins: remove duplicates, unused features, and slow add-ons.
• Replace bulky components with lean alternatives or native WordPress features.

Add a CDN

• Serve static assets (images, CSS, JS, fonts) from edge locations.
• Enable image optimization and resizing at the edge to reduce origin load.
• Validate caching headers and cache hit ratio after integration.

Database hygiene

• Clean post revisions, autoloaded options, expired transients, spam/trashed items.
• Optimize tables and schedule recurring cleanup tasks.
• Monitor autoload bloat in wp_options and reduce where possible.

Host and PHP upgrades

• Use modern PHP (8.x), HTTP/2 or HTTP/3, and server-level page/object caching.
• Add object cache (Redis/Memcached) for dynamic views and logged-in users.
• Ensure adequate CPU/RAM and NVMe SSD storage for consistent TTFB.

Advanced tuning (Core Web Vitals)

• Preload key resources: hero image, primary font, critical CSS; preconnect to critical domains.
• Font strategy: limit families/weights, subset, self-host if possible, use font-display: swap.
• Template/query efficiency: cache fragments, paginate long loops, fix N+1 queries using a profiler.

Recommended order of operations

• Enable caching and compression
• Optimize images and lazy load
• Minify/defer assets
• Trim plugins and switch to a lightweight theme

Add CDN

• Database clean-up
• Host/PHP upgrades

Safe rollout playbook

• Always use a staging site, and take a full backup before changes.
• Roll out changes in small batches; re-test Lighthouse/PSI after each batch.
• Clear all layers of cache (plugin/server/CDN/browser) after deployments.
• Monitor real-user metrics (CrUX, GA4, or RUM) for at least a week post-change.

Troubleshooting tips

• Layout breaks after minify/defer: disable JS combine first; exclude jQuery, payment, and inline-critical scripts from optimization.
• CLS spikes: set explicit width/height for media, reserve space for ads/embeds, preload hero assets.
• LCP slow on mobile only: compress hero image, reduce above-the-fold JS/CSS, verify TTFB and server cache status.
• INP/interaction delays: cut long tasks (>50ms), delay non-critical JS, reduce third-party trackers and widgets.