We have a current updated version of this page here: Optimize WordPress
As we all know WordPress can use too much load. Basically, any PHP script can depending on how it is running. After years of running our own blogs and helping people run theirs, we have found some solid ways to help WordPress run smoothly. First to check what load your Word press is using you need to contact your host and ask. They can get a daily average usually as far back as a month.
If you are using more than 3% of a shared CPU you can be at risk and your pages will probably start to lag.
To use less load or if you just want your WordPress to run fast and smooth here are some solid tips to help:
Things to do:
- Make smaller images. Using thumbs and better compression will go a long way to lower your load use.
- Make smaller pages, if your page is a long story or has a lot of content split it up into two or three posts. Part 1 – part 2 part 3 etc…
- Have fewer posts show per page, I usually run 5 per page and keep the posts compressed and fairly small.
Things to add:
- The best plugins to help load control for WordPress are focused ones, here is a list of the top ones: Super Cache This will create static pages for each php page which will not require the whole script to be used to see one page. This is also good in case you have a MYSQL error, your pages will still work as normal. Another similar option is W3 Super Cache which claims to be a little better.
- Load images only as the user scrolls down to them with Lazy Load, there is newer versions that do this as well.
- Optimize your WordPress blog.
- Add hotlink protection in your Control Panel.
- Akismet, this will block spam and junk but will increase your load levels.
- Limit Login Attempts, this is important to black hackers and attackers
Things to remove:
- Google XML sitemap generator and, I like this script but it takes lots of load to run and in most cases, Google will spider your whole site anyway,
- Global translator plug-in, this takes a lot of load to run. It basically rebuilds your old site when requested.
- Anything that can be run from another server, like for example an image for Skype, Feed-burner, Twitter, or Facebook, most of these can be hot-linked from the site itself. It’s better to share the load with other sites when possible.
- Misc. plug-ins, if any plug-ins can go then get rid of them. Even if the plug-in is not activated it’s still taking up room in the internal files of WordPress and can cause a little extra drag.
- Tags, I know you like these but really they can actually hurt your SEO and definitely require more load. You better off just removing them and working on a smart keyword-driven SEO campaign.
All of these plug-ins can be installed from the WordPress control panel. Just log in and click WordPress plug-ins to add.