Is WordPress slow? No, in general, WordPress isn’t slow. There are multiple reasons why you may have a slow WordPress website. As website owners, we all have one goal: Increase traffic and increase followers. A slow-speed website can negatively impact your traffic since 2-3 seconds is the recommended speed of loading a page and keeping customers or followers happy.
As I’ve mentioned, there are several reasons why your WordPress site slow complaints keep popping up. It could be due to a good-for-nothing trouble-causing plugin or might be due to several unoptimized images.
In this article, we will discuss some of the reasons why you have a slow website and provide assistance on how to fix it.
So, why is my WordPress site so slow?
Many factors contribute to slowing down your website, affecting you and your user’s experience. Some of these factors include:
- Displaying poorly optimized pages or images
- The use of unoptimized plugins
- Using heavy or slow themes
- Heavy use of external resources
- The use of an old, outdated Hypertext Preprocessor (PHP)
- A cluttered WordPress database
Identifying the specific problem and optimizing it is the only way to fix a WordPress site loading slow. In some cases, the problem is due to the hosting provider, so it is critical to figure it out before finding a solution.
Why is WordPress so slow? How to speed it up
Test and check your speed
It is essential to test and check the speed of your website before you rule out all problems. As mentioned earlier, having a website loading speed of 2-3 seconds means you are on the excellent side. There is a ridiculous amount of speed testing tools that you can use to check your speed on the internet, and here are two of the best options.
Pingdom
This easy-to-use tool helps you test your website quite efficiently and effectively. This tool enables you to check accurate load time and helps keep track of user experience and the likes. They also give you insights into improving your loading speed and grading your website depending on different factors.
If your website’s grades are low, a thorough optimization might be considered. You’re on the green side if you rank higher on the grades.
GTmetrix
This tool also helps you improve your website loading speed by revealing problems that may be why your website is slow, and you can check how fast the loading time on your website is. They also give you better insights on how to improve and help you discover different kinds of optimization opportunities.
Should I change my website hosting service provider?
The most common website slow issue leads to having an average web hosting service. Usually, you always get what you pay for with a website hosting, so if you have invested in a relatively slow provider on the market, you will solely get a loading speed that doesn’t live up to your taste and standards. If you paid for a slow hosting service provider, no speed optimization tools or tips could help you have a good loading speed.
If your goal is to increase the amount of traffic and followers and make a website meant for business or content creation, investing in a good hosting service will gradually have so much more effect on your loading speed than a cheaper host provider that does not provide proper loading speed. Since good hosting providers help you with better features, boost sales, and much more, you can quickly get back what you have invested.
A good web hosting service provider would be WP Engine. Even though it is a little more expensive, WP Engine is a hosting service provider that deals exclusively with WordPress, and the functionalities it provides can be considered top-notch.
Try installing the latest update for WordPress
Why is my WordPress site so slow? It could be because you’re running on an old site version. Updating your WordPress website is done manually, so you must check it periodically. However, if your site isn’t backed up, you are at risk of your website breaking.
This happens if you’re running on an incompatible plugin or theme. You can check the compatibility of your plugins and theme with the PHP compatibility checker, and any WordPress website can use this checker. Another thing to note before your update is to check if your current host provider supports the version of WordPress.
The right themes and plugins
The right way to add themes and plugins to your site is to undergo thorough research before you opt to use them. Themes and plugins have a great chance of hurting your loading speed, so using optimized ones can boost your loading speed.
Removing all unnecessary plugins and keeping only the useful ones for your site is the way to go about it since it boosts your speed by lowering the strain on your server. Unnecessary plugins can add a ridiculous amount of script to your website, so removing them is essential. If you’re using many plugins for your site, this could take a while, but it is necessary.
A deep clean of your WordPress Database
An efficient way to keep your WordPress website loading speed in check by having it run on the best and most favorable speed is to regularly or every few weeks perform a cleanup to remove the unrequired clutter from your WordPress Database.
Unwanted data collection includes unused data and content, spam comments, data from post drafts and revisions, and the likes.
Wrapping it up
Given that all websites are different, there can be no single solution to fixing the problem. An issue with a plugin or theme might not be the same issue another website deals with. There are plenty of reasons to note down before deciding on “why is my WordPress site so slow.”
From changing your website hosting service provider to having unnecessary themes and plugins removed that are hampering your speed, you should first run tests before you conclude. Deciding after you’ve done your research is vital.
