How to Speed Up Your WordPress Website (Simple Guide)

In this video, you'll learn how to speed up your WordPress website in 3 simple steps.
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Google has used site speed as a ranking signal for desktop searches since 2010. And as of 2018, page speed became a ranking factor for mobile searches.
Even though speed improvements will only affect a small percentage of slow websites, faster page load times lead to better user experience and ultimately, more revenue.
So, there are a number of reasons why your website might load slowly. But the most common reasons that I've seen are due to slow connectivity, caching, page size, and sometimes more technical reasons like render blocking JS.
And the 3 steps in this video should help you get better performance from your site. But keep in mind that the things we did for this site won't necessarily translate perfectly to your site.
This is because there are tons of things to consider when it comes to WordPress site speed like your theme's code, specific plugins you might be using, server configuration, image file sizes and more.
Before you do anything, run your site through some site speed checking tools, like Google's PageSpeed Insights, Pingdom, GTMetrix or our own Site Audit tool.
This will help you see what you need to improve.
The first thing we did was to switch DNS providers to Cloudflare's free DNS service.
And you'll learn how this works and why this is important in the video.
The next thing we did was purchase and install the WP Rocket plugin.
WP Rocket is an all-in-one site speed optimization plugin for WordPress. The plugin handles common page speed optimizations like caching, preloading, compression, and lazy loads images to name a few.
You'll learn what you need to do after installing WPRocket on your site.
And finally, we optimized our images.
The simple solution is to compress your images using lossy or lossless compression. And there are some great plugins that'll do this for you like ShortPixel and Imagify.
And these 3-steps gave us a huge improvement, as shown in the speed checking tools we used.
If you're still unhappy with your site speed after making these optimizations, then you'll likely need more custom work done for you. So you may want to consider removing plugins and scripts, switching themes, or hiring a developer to make the appropriate fixes.
#speedupyourwordpresswebsite #pagespeed #technicalseo
Timestamps:
0:00 Intro
0:58 Common reasons that impact website's load time
1:50 Run a test through page-speed testing tools
3:01 Switch to a fast DNS provider
5:23 Start with caching files
6:05 Optimize CSS files
7:41 Set up JS files loading
8:50 Optimize the media files
9:10 Set up preloading priority
9:49 Use CDN
11:09 Optimize your images
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[@SharonKyle00]

I am not a developer. I set up my own Wordpress site and have posted to it daily for more than a dozen years. I rely on KZbin to teach me how to do things like improve page speed, domain authority, etc. Your explanations are, by far, better than any I've seen in 12 years!! thank you

[@AhrefsCom]

That's awesome to hear! Thank you.

[@stan-woods]

After MONTHS of searching for ANY type of solution, I finally found you. You have NO idea how much this helped. From 18 seconds to 3! Thank You a lot!

[@AhrefsCom]

You're welcome!

[@chetanambi]

@Stan Which of the steps helped you? Did WP Rocket helped you?

[@samirsamir7779]

this is what we call a "high quality content" , thank you

[@AhrefsCom]

You're welcome!

[@candiskull1]

First up, thanks for this beautifully done tutorial. You're so professional. I followed all your steps yet can't get nowhere near 90%.

[@DenisMcCaul]

He only had 7 plugins, (most wp sites have 20+), no analytics, a blog post so no page builder DOM elements etc. These page speed tutorial videos always use very basic pages or posts to optimizer so they are guaranteed top transformational before after results. You never see them take on a real life complex homepage or long service page.

[@10Web]

This was a super great video. Really simple and so clear. Beginners will appreciate it. Thank you, you've done a great job with the editing as well. Looking forward to more tutorials like this.

[@AhrefsCom]

Glad it was helpful!

[@BudionoSukses]

nice sharing, Sam Oh..

[@AhrefsCom]

👍

[@houseandhomesittersltd467]

Awesome tutorial. What a gift you have in explaining complex issues in such a simple manner! Thank you 🙏🏼

[@AhrefsCom]

Glad it was helpful!

[@CaerelsJan]

The part about the DNS server was superwell explained! Very happy to have seen that performance ranking of DNS providers. Apparently the same website also shows how fast the DNS providers respond in different locations.

[@AhrefsCom]

Glad it was helpful!

[@ExploringLife]

Excellent presentation... Precise and straight, good voice and sentences, no extras mktg words, extraordinary explanation with few words... Good content for non_tech users... Thanks a lot

[@AhrefsCom]

You're welcome!

[@SpanishINAtlanta6785179715]

What a great simple easy to understand tutorial!!! Muchas gracias dude! Video editing and visual elements while explaining the concepts were on point. Small businesses like mine can't afford to hire expensive help so learning some of the basics is essential. I appreciate your work!

[@AhrefsCom]

You're very welcome!

[@kiyagaalecksclay5025]

His visual and simple explanations they left me with no option, to like and immediately click the subscribe button, the guy is genius and i was thinking that if he gets the course i believe it can be much easier to learn it.

[@nurulislam-xw1di]

I used your 2 plugins that you recommended. It is wow. My website is very fast than ever. Thank you very much.

[@AhrefsCom]

You're welcome!

[@georgesjeandenis]

Excellent guide! Thank you very much for this information. I usually dread optimizing websites for speed but you just made my work 10 times easier.

[@AhrefsCom]

You're welcome!

[@lastofuspartii8946]

Such good animations and explanations. You deserve more views

[@AhrefsCom]

Thanks!

[@Caothugamingtaixiu]

wow, great

[@AhrefsCom]

👍

[@roughson]

Such an honest and simple tut. Thanks Sam !

[@AhrefsCom]

You're welcome!

[@shes_Shira]

I had issues with website speed, and now I tried WP rocket. The change is astounding! Thank you so much for your video.

[@AhrefsCom]

Glad it helped!🙌 -Helen

[@TonyPearl]

Fantastic tutorial - thank you so much! I took your advice for one of my sites that was running SO slowly, and it helped quite a bit. It's still not quite where it needs to be, but at least it's better for now. Thanks again!

[@AhrefsCom]

You're welcome!

[@onlineeducation6821]

Juhjinp no ok jk our ioooo I'm 👍🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏👍🙏🔥 in this is no idea of Oki kiya I will be ok hi j in ki ki kko I ok I ki po hi to👍🙏🙏🎉❤️😭🔥👍🙏🎉🔥❤️😭😎😀😂

[@digitalartwithvladislavray1522]

I clicked because of the thumbnail. Awesome thumbnail by the way :)

[@AhrefsCom]

Thanks!

[@frk.m5547]

Me too 😄

[@jenatunnesajeny4310]

Gone straight from 42 to 98 for mobile in page speed insight! Thanks a lot!

[@AhrefsCom]

Sounds great! Happy for you :) -Helen

[@livingbreed]

Thumbnail Of The Year 🏅🎖🏅

[@AhrefsCom]

👍

[@scotts8926]

It's always depressing to watch a tutorial like this and realize you're already doing all of the things they recommend, and still have lousy site speed.

[@AhrefsCom]

Then you might want to check out our advanced guide on page speed: ahrefs.com/blog/advanced-pagespeed-guide/ - SQ

[@siddharththakur5978]

All of them are the same. Doesn't solve the problem and only hungry for views.

[@nextinstitute7824]

@@siddharththakur5978 I don't agree! He is so thorough. I suddenly understand the underlying reasoning of these tweeks and that works fine for me! As I can now give the proper briefing to my tech people. It's personal, I guess.

[@siddharththakur5978]

@@nextinstitute7824 you are right. He is good with explanation because the things he said are very basic. I already knew them. But even after applying these, i didn't see a significant increase in speed.

[@smaqd]

Wow, excellent delivery! You just became one of my fav KZbinrs by the 7 min mark. And your voice is relaxing dude, although not as much as Morgan Freeman. But your content rocks like a Classic Rock Band!

[@AhrefsCom]

Thank you!

[@momnaislam7677]

Great information you have shared....I like your each and every video. Keep sharing good stuff Sam!

[@AhrefsCom]

Thank you!

[@AnilArya51]

Can you show how to set things up on wp cache plugin as it's free and also it great explanation I did some settings it shows a better results now .

[@sahilkaushal2628]

Awesome video man! BTW can you guys do a video on more of the designing features of a website? More like how the homepage should look like and things to keep in mind while designing a website. How to make your website more interesting for users and stuff.

[@AhrefsCom]

We'll consider it 🙂 - SQ

[@Imel520f]

yes please I would like to see the video too..

[@ildarkhakimov3075]

really impressed with your youtube channel, you guys are consistently producing super high quality content and Sam is great at speaking too

[@AhrefsCom]

Glad you enjoy it! :) -Helen

[@abeytusshar]

My portal's speed went from 64 to 91 only by following the cloudflare step. Love you Man !

[@AhrefsCom]

👍

[@MyJCows]

Found the video helpful, thank you. One thing, you say to enable CDN and specify CNAME, but WP Rocket's instructions say not to do that if the CDN is Cloudflare, just left both unchecked/blank?

[@triphustler]

Same thinking!!

[@adityaarsharmapersonal]

Laughs In Litespeed 🔥😎.

[@420alt]

This helped improve my site speed and was very easy to follow. Thank you!

[@AhrefsCom]

Glad it helped!

[@ffams]

Super clear and concise - thank you!

[@AhrefsCom]

You're welcome!

[@alexlefkowitz]

SiteGround hosting comes with a plugin (SG Optimizer) that has all of the same features as WP Rocket. Should I use it or still get WP Rocket?

[@oqba]

First of all try to optimize your website speed without plugins because on the majority of cases they cause problems.

[@CraigMullins1]

Site ground recommends only using there plugin. They can play well together jsut make sure to read all the FAQ's.... Otherwise sitegrounds supercacher won't work

[@AhrefsCom]

Did SiteGround's plugin help with your site speed? - SQ

[@CraigMullins1]

Ahrefs yea it’s been getting a lot better lately. They have been actively developing it. Only works on siteground tho

[@alexlefkowitz]

@@AhrefsCom Yes and no. After enabling the SG equivalent options you mentioned desktop score went from 16 to 78 (google page speed insights) But Mobile went from 7 to a "?".... I didn't even know it was possible to score a question mark lol

[@dariolichtensteiger9450]

10:10 I knew the world is flat!!!

[@moussasall9624]

underrated comment

[@daniellapcosta]

ahahahah great

[@sh3lzpillay23]

Gotta say ur a great tutorial KZbinr..love ur teaching methods, love that u use examples to expand our knowledge and u freakin explain!! Awesome 😎👍. Thanx so much for making us non-techies feel techy lol🤩

[@AhrefsCom]

Thank you!

[@elCastilloContable]

Excelent explanation. I got rid of many doubts regarding this topic. Worth the time!

[@AhrefsCom]

Great to hear!

[@nicolapigozzo]

Does Webp images work on iphone and mac? As far as i know they don't. Any suggestion?

[@CaerelsJan]

Yes, fallback implementation

[@nicolapigozzo]

@@CaerelsJan how does it work?

[@CaerelsJan]

@@nicolapigozzo like this:

[@dhruvvy]

What about multiple requests that shows up in page speed results?

[@nurjoyislam]

This video is going to help a lot of WordPress users. Though I am already following all the guides described in the video. But, I liked the presentation very much as always.

[@AhrefsCom]

Thank you!

[@chasefly]

This definitely helped boost my pagespeed scores! Thanks for giving such concrete steps that are hard to find anywhere else.

[@AhrefsCom]

Happy to help! 🙌 -Helen

[@haydene3802]

How can someone test the javascript minimizing feature before pushing it live? It was the part around 7:40

[@LetsCreateYourWEBSITE]

well the best thing to set up a stage/test website before you push such major changes to live site. You can check stage site manually and for advance trouble shoot use a browser plugin to detect the JS errors.

[@GM-xk1nw]

Humans: Nothing new, everyone knows these things. Bots: OMG great video, this is inspiring you have changed my life.

[@AhrefsCom]

It may not be new to you, but it could be new to someone else 🙂 - SQ

[@healthbeautytipswithfarwak6477]

@@AhrefsCom Exactly.

[@AhmedMusleh]

Amazing! Thank you so much for the invaluable tips

[@AhrefsCom]

You're welcome!

[@EnglishSquared]

You are highly organized and explain tech in an intuitive way. Thanks!

[@AhrefsCom]

You're welcome!

[@imamdarmady5363]

when we minify the css, the website will look messy. how to fix it?

[@antonyrajtonyjaa5486]

Uncheck and save changes. Mostly it will revert to normal.

[@JamesWelbes]

I was having all sorts of insane cache issues. Turned out it was cloudflare causing it. I had to disable it, sites wouldn't even load

[@AFA111]

Cloudflare is worst, my site speed went from 77 to 52 real quick. I'd not recommend anyone to go with Cloudflare.

[@notmyname6452]

Had the same experience. Tried everything and my site was still better off without it, thought I was crazy...

[@Learnerpreneur]

Another actionable video. Thank you so much!

[@AhrefsCom]

You're welcome!

[@aminekoko]

Amazing tutorial thank you, keep em coming

[@AhrefsCom]

Thanks, will do!

[@turnittoglue]

if like me you know nothing about Cloud flare and all that it isn't as simple as what is made out here. Since changing my nameservers my Email no longer works - so be sure to know what you are doing... Maybe mentioning that would have been helpful rather than making it look like a quick and easy fix.

[@dougtriplett]

Did you move your MX settings too?

[@dougtriplett]

Also if you did, make sure that there is an A record for the mail sub domain. This A record can’t be proxies. Cloud flare will do this proxy by default, so turn it off.

[@turnittoglue]

@@dougtriplett No, I didn't. However, I have just reverted back now and stopped using Cloudflare.

[@danielseman8]

Very clear and concise. Thank you!

[@AhrefsCom]

Glad it was helpful!

[@PhillyMDj]

Best informational video's out there!

[@AhrefsCom]

Glad it was helpful!

[@irinagordon2652]

Thank you, this was a great tutorial and exactly what I was looking for!

[@AhrefsCom]

Glad it was helpful :) -Helen

[@WilliamMontenegroFerrari]

Excellent advices! Thanks a lot guys! :)

[@AhrefsCom]

You're welcome!

[@rmorenoman100]

So useful, as always! Good Job 😜

[@AhrefsCom]

Glad to hear that!

[@wesleybates9111]

I enjoyed watching this video, it really explains everything in detail, the video is very interesting and effective. Thank you and good luck with the upcoming updates.

[@AhrefsCom]

Glad it was helpful!

[@andyz_w3584]

fantastic !!! i'm not a techie but totally understood, really easy to follow up with every steps.

[@AhrefsCom]

Glad it was helpful!

[@namitadhakad9088]

Really easy to understand and very helpful video. Thanks!!!

[@AhrefsCom]

Glad it was helpful!

[@mitchelgroff9253]

Thanks for all the detailed information you have provided in this video. I really like your way of explaining each and every point, Keep sharing such great videos in the future also.

[@AhrefsCom]

Glad it was helpful!

[@Mulong42]

That is very simple and clear explanations of how site speed performance work. Great job ahref ;)

[@AhrefsCom]

Thank you :) -Helen

[@albena_abigail_karaivanova]

Than you for this simple, but very helpful video! I understood some new and interesting facts!

[@AhrefsCom]

Glad it was helpful!

[@sajibmallick7080]

Awesome tips for speed optimization, specially for non developers.

[@AhrefsCom]

Happy to help!

[@thepathofguraba9315]

Awsome Man ! Super detailed + Everything you need to know ! Definitely you earned a Subscribe ❤️

[@AhrefsCom]

Thank you!

[@stanhatz6738]

A great presentation for website owners that are not web developers.

[@AhrefsCom]

Thanks!

[@1worldatlas]

Dude, great content! Thank you! Also, that thumbnail is amazing! I want to print it and hang it on the wall! Hahaha seriously... rockin!

[@AhrefsCom]

Thank you!

[@MarioMangonearchitect]

thanks, your suggestions improved my website's speed

[@AhrefsCom]

Awesome!

[@Xhivam]

Awesome information gained today. You made my day.

[@AhrefsCom]

Glad you liked it!

[@takenow2550]

Great Helpful content. Thanks sam

[@AhrefsCom]

Glad it was helpful!

[@extremefeatshub]

Thanks mate, The site speed on moble increased from 33 to near 87. Great Tutorial :)

[@AhrefsCom]

Glad it helped!

[@YeseerahALawal]

Thankkk you soooo much.. I've been on this since morning, had issues with the cloudflare nameserver change- reached out for support, then the second step was not smooth until I found a way around uploading the large zipped file, third step is yet to be done, and 4th is done... Ah, I'm so glad to see my site load this quick!.. crossed off my to-do hamdan.

[@AhrefsCom]

Great to hear that! -Helen

[@NazmulTechTips]

As always the best video on the Internet ❤❤

[@AhrefsCom]

Thank you!

[@NorlynCodes]

Just the best. Thank you!

[@AhrefsCom]

You're welcome!

[@adstutorials5767]

Valuable tutorial... Thanks so much!!

[@AhrefsCom]

You're welcome!

[@wpglob-wordpresstutorials]

Hi. Your advice is priceless. I really benefit from this kind of tutorial. Thank you very much.

[@AhrefsCom]

Glad it was helpful!

[@georgem579]

fantastic video, never realised all this was available

[@AhrefsCom]

Glad it was helpful!

[@digitalagencyprodigitaly6459]

Great Content. Amazing tutorial. I would definitely use your tips to speed up my wordpress.

[@AhrefsCom]

You're welcome!

[@chandikalakshan468]

Valuable video with a excellent presentation.

[@AhrefsCom]

Thank you!

[@mNouman]

I have been optimising numerous websites and that’s exactly what I do !! Although a few more tricks can be done like using sub domain CDNs etc

[@AhrefsCom]

👍

[@bz7568]

Hi Nouman! How can I contact you to optimise mine?

[@Ezekiel333]

Great video! I immediately switched my DNS to cloudflare and installed WP Rocket.

[@AhrefsCom]

Glad it helped! -Helen

[@WIThEMaN2]

Great vid! Very informative, this is awesome

[@AhrefsCom]

Glad you liked it!

[@houssamelbriki7134]

Great and helpful tutorial. Thank you so much

[@AhrefsCom]

You're welcome!

thanks, sam. Very helpful.

[@AhrefsCom]

Glad it was helpful!

[@rafimuhammadd]

I love this tutorial, great video

[@AhrefsCom]

Thank you!

[@matthummel1279]

Between the plugin and updating my php on cpanel, my mobile score went from 17 to 86. Thanks so much for this video!

[@AhrefsCom]

Awesome! Glad it helped! -Helen

[@dhruv407]

GREAT video!! Thanks for sharing!!

[@AhrefsCom]

You're welcome!

[@BrightKreations]

Really very informative to improve my wordpress skills ..thanks for sharing brother👍

[@AhrefsCom]

Glad it was helpful!

[@cowkart1709]

Ohh man, Kickass video,, Thank you so much

[@AhrefsCom]

Glad you liked it!

[@cuteandfunnypets6527]

Informative Tutorial. Thank you, Sir.

[@AhrefsCom]

You are welcome!

[@marielarodriguezmaggi850]

thanks! i like the way how you explain all

[@AhrefsCom]

You're welcome!

[@KristianPage]

Thanks mate, very helpful.

[@AhrefsCom]

Glad to hear it! Thanks :) -Helen

[@spiderduniagroup]

Really this is perfect way to speed up the wordpress website.

[@AhrefsCom]

Thanks!

[@nobabcox]

Thank you so much. It's really amazing and So much Informative.

[@AhrefsCom]

Glad it was helpful! :) -Helen

[@mdabdullatifsagor2260]

Thank you for making this tutorial.

[@AhrefsCom]

You're very welcome! -Helen

[@pickupbrain]

Thanks for the content. My site speed is great but as soon as I add adsense, it drops significantly. Is there any workaround?

[@hawkwut]

wow, man this is very well done ♥️

[@AhrefsCom]

Thank you! Helen

[@SophiaRuslan]

Thanks a lot. My site score of 74 jump up to 98. Easy tutorial to understand & follow. 👍🏻

[@AhrefsCom]

Keep it up! -Helen

[@SothearithKONGMrMuyKhmer]

Thank you! This is really helpful! 😘

[@AhrefsCom]

Glad to hear that 🎉 -Helen

[@walterruiz8527]

You are the real mvp bro.. awesome video!

[@AhrefsCom]

Thanks!

[@bloggingtipsforyou4958]

Nice video with some great speed optimization tips.

[@AhrefsCom]

Thanks!

[@balrajbhatia6472]

This helped a lot. Thank you.

[@AhrefsCom]

You're welcome!

[@statura3887]

Interesting and relevant video, thank you!

[@AhrefsCom]

Glad it was helpful!

[@tenminutetokyo2643]

Well the graphics and sound effects are way cool.

[@AhrefsCom]

👍