9 Best WordPress Optimization Strategies for 2023
WordPress is the world’s most popular Content Management System that is used by over 400 million companies and individual business owners to build and host websites. According to a report, WordPress Websites publish more than 70 million posts every month. Hence, it becomes imperative for users to effectively optimize their websites for providing a better browsing experience to website visitors.
Table of Contents
This article will provide a comprehensive understanding of WordPress and its features. The article will also mention the best strategies for WordPress Optimization and to achieve the best possible performance.
Table of Contents
- Prerequisites
- What is WordPress?
- Key Features of WordPress
- 9 Best Strategies for WordPress Optimization
- Conclusion
Prerequisites
- Understanding of CMS.
What is WordPress?
WordPress is one of the most widely used Content Management Systems for building high-quality websites. It’s an Open-source Cloud-based Platform that lets users develop, host, and manage websites without the need for specific hardware. According to Web Technology Surveys, WordPress is home to nearly 40% of the world’s total websites.
Businesses of all sizes operating in different industries utilize the platform to publish content online on their websites. Users with no prior coding experience can use WordPress to manage websites with ease because of its clear and easy interface. Users also get access to several WordPress forums, where they can seek support from the community to address their problems.
WordPress is written in the PHP Scripting Language, and the uploaded data is stored primarily in MySQL. However, users can also choose other popular databases like SQLite. WordPress comes with many pre-built templates that can be used to create various websites, including blogs, e-commerce, galleries, membership sites, forums, events sites, e-learning, online stores, and many others. WordPress includes a plethora of customization tools for users to customize the look of their websites.
WordPress provides out-of-the-box support for a range of third-party plugins that can be used to enhance and expand the software’s capabilities. United States-based software firm WordPress was founded by Matt Mullenweg in 2000. However, the CMS platform was introduced later in 2003.
Key Features of WordPress
WordPress, being the most used Content Management System, offers multiple features that help users effectively manage their websites and publish content online. Below mentioned are a few noteworthy features of WordPress.
1) Easy Content Publishing
WordPress includes several drag-and-drop tools that make content creation simple for users. Users can access the software from any browser and operating system, allowing them to post content from numerous devices. WordPress allows users to save drafts and schedule posts to simplify the content publication process.
2) Search Engine Optimization
Effective Search Engine Optimization is crucial for all websites to rank higher in search results and increase online visibility. A significant advantage of WordPress is that it comes with out-of-the-box support for hundreds of third-party plugins like Yoast, SEMRush, and many others that can be used for better Search Engine Optimization.
3) Mobile Friendly
Websites built on WordPress are optimized for smartphones allowing visitors to access websites from their mobiles. WordPress also has a smartphone app for Android and iOS that allows users to post material online from anywhere in the world as long as they have a stable Internet connection. The mobile application greatly improves WordPress accessibility by allowing users to manage their websites anywhere.
4) Theme Customization
Every website should be customized according to its identity to provide a better browsing experience for visitors. WordPress has several features that enable users to modify both the Frontend and Backend of websites. The appearance and customization option in the WordPress sidebar can be used to access the theme customization feature. However, the extent of customization varies depending on the theme selected by users.
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9 Best Strategies for WordPress Optimization
WordPress Optimization is crucial for businesses of all scales to provide visitors with a swift and lag-free user experience. WordPress websites need to be optimized not only for a faster user experience but also for better SEO.
There are various methods that can be used for WordPress Optimization effectively. Below mentioned are a few techniques for WordPress Optimization:
- AMP Plugin – Google
- Content Delivery Network
- Image Size
- Theme Optimization
- WordPress Updates
- Reliable Web Hosting
- Lazy Loading
- Bad Links
- Faster Plugins
1) AMP Plugin – Google
More than half of the website traffic comes from mobile users. Therefore, if websites are not properly optimized for mobile devices, it can lower Search Engine Result Page (SERP) ranking. Google Accelerated Mobile Page plugin for WordPress is a powerful integration that drastically reduces the loading time of websites for visitors accessing the website from smartphones. It is an Open-source WordPress Optimization plugin that is available for free download.
2) Content Delivery Network
A Content Delivery Network, also known as a Content Distribution Network (CDN), is a network of proxy servers located at various locations across the globe. CDN systems drastically reduce the loading time of websites when accessed by visitors located at various locations in the world. As the location of web hosting servers plays a crucial role in the loading speed of websites, visitors located far from the servers may face long loading periods if users have not connected a CDN to their websites.
Unlike WordPress web pages, CDN servers store static files like Images, CSS, and JavaScript that are used to build websites. As the servers are located in various parts of the world, visitors from different locations can access websites quickly.
3) Image Size
Image size plays a crucial role in reducing the loading time of web pages. A larger size of images can result in an extended webpage loading time. Consequently, users need to upload smaller-sized images without compromising the quality of images to optimize their websites. There are various plugins available in the market that effectively optimize images uploaded on websites. One such plugin is EWWW Image Optimizer, developed by Exactly WWW. The powerful WordPress Optimization plugin helps users optimize images, improves bounce rate, and boosts Search Engine Optimization.
4) Theme Optimization
Choosing the right theme for websites is crucial to churn out the best performance. Themes with minimalist layouts are generally more responsive and offer better performance. Complex widgets and elements can be added later using several WordPress plugins. Apart from default WordPress themes, multiple premium themes are available on websites like StudioPress that are developed to offer excellent performance & ensure WordPress Optimization along with aesthetic looks.
5) WordPress Updates
Users must update their WordPress routinely to enjoy the best possible performance from their websites. WordPress regularly provides updates to users that increase the capabilities & reliability of the platform. Hence, it becomes vital for users to stay up to date with the software to effectively optimize their websites for providing a better browsing experience.
6) Reliable Web Hosting
Users should choose a reliable web hosting provider for their websites to make them available for visitors at all hours. WordPress websites will operate slowly until users upgrade their hosting to instil the needed WordPress Optimization. As a result, choosing a host that offers multiple services like Data Backup, SSH Access, Sufficient Disk Space, access to host multiple websites from one account, and several others is always advisable.
7) Lazy Loading
Lazy loading is a feature that helps websites load faster by only downloading the media files, which will be visible on the visitor’s screen. It is a highly effective WordPress Optimization technique for websites that contains a lot of media content. Media content gets automatically loaded as visitors scroll through the website. Users can effectively optimize their websites using Lazy Loading as they do not download all the media content at once.
Multiple third-party plugins are available in the market that allows users to Lazy Load media elements, including images, videos, thumbnails, and many more on their websites. Lazy Loading can also replace embedded YouTube and Vimeo videos with a clickable preview image.
8) Bad Links
Regular monitoring of Internal and External links on websites is crucial for better Search Engine Optimization. Many links get invalid or unavailable over time that adversely affects the SEO of online published content on websites. Rather than checking links manually, users can deploy various third-party WordPress Optimization plugins to do the job. One such plugin is Broken Link Checker, which can track all the Internal and External links on websites. The plugin automatically notifies users regarding any bad link through Email and Dashboard popups. It can also be used to check missing images and redirects.
9) Faster Plugins
Users need to check the performance of plugins to effectively optimize their websites. More plugins result in a non-responsive website interface that drastically degrades the user experience. Hence, users must check which plugin they need and delete extra plugins that the website does not require. In order to track the performance of different plugins, users need to run speed tests both before and after the installation of plugins and compare the results.
Conclusion
One of those fundamental things that greatly impact browsing satisfaction and experience is WordPress Optimization. It allows users to increase the performance of their websites exponentially. The aforementioned strategies are highly effective and reliable for WordPress Optimization. Users can follow the strategies to improve their Search Engine Optimization, Website Performance, and Responsiveness.
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