7 Ways to Optimize WordPress for Site Speed & SEO

Article Note: We have published a new article on WordPress Speed Optimization. You can read the new article for most recent and updated information.

In this article, I will discuss the 7 ways to optimize a WordPress website to improve speed and SEO. These 7 ways can make your website much more improved, faster, search engine friendly and also much more advanced. I always try to follow all these 7 techniques and it always gives me better results. In this particular website, we are also using 6 out of these 7 techniques and getting great results.

1. Using a well-optimized theme:

The theme always is the most vital section for optimizing your website. There are thousands of free themes as well as premium themes available for WordPress. But whatever theme you choose, it should be fast loading and SEO optimized. In most cases, in the time of choosing a theme, we only concentrate on the look and feel of the theme. But along with the design, we also need to check how well the theme is designed and coded. Best design with minimum coding and an SEO optimized fast loading theme is always recommended.

2. Using a caching plugin:

There are lots of caching plugins available for WordPress. But the below two are the best for its features and usefulness.

W3 Total Cache: This is well known as the most feature-rich cache plugin. This gives the option for browser caching, page caching, object caching and database caching. The support for CDN and its inbuilt compression engine always gives it more weight to choose.

WP Super Cache: This particular cache plugin is very easy to use along with some advanced features. If you are technically not so good, this plugin is for you. It is also preferred for its fastest capacity engine that produces static HTML files. It also provides support for CDN. And that is why we are also using it on our website.

3. Optimizing all images:

We sometimes may overlook the main reason behind the slowdown of our website and simultaneously the fall down on search engine ranking. But believe me, in most cases, the oversized images are the main reason for a slow website. It is always recommended to optimize all your images to reduce its size before uploading on your website. This can hugely help you to make your website faster in the long run. Also, you can use any image optimization plugin like WP Smush or EWWW Image Optimizer to optimize your already uploaded images automatically.

4. Compressing the HTML, CSS, and JavaScript files:

Another factor how you can improve the website speed and the SEO is by simply using any compression plugin which can reduce the size of any HTML, CSS and JavaScript file by combining and compressing them. If you are already using W3 Total Cache, then it has an inbuilt minify engine that you can use. If not, then you can try either Autoptimize or Better WordPress Minify plugin. Both these plugins are very good and can work for you. But remember, sometimes compression does not work as expected and the result may end with a broken website. So, thorough testing and implementation are required.

5. Using a Content Delivery Network (CDN):

Next thing you can use is a CDN. Using a CDN can reduce the load on your server and can help to increase the website loading speed. It can also reduce the usage of your hosting bandwidth. You can use KeyCDN on your website which we are also currently using on our website. Also, the other two recommended CDN is Max CDN and Cloud Flare. You can also use the service provided by the Jetpack Photon. Although this is not a traditional CDN, it can only cache all images of your website and serve them from their CDN server, but this can surely help in the speed improvement of your website.

6. Using an SEO plugin:

To improve the onsite SEO of your website you should rely on the best plugins. As per our choice you should choose between the Yoast SEO plugin and the All in One SEO Pack. These two plugins are really excellent. We are using Yoast SEO on our website currently. In the case of offsite SEO, if you are not an expert on it, it is always recommended to consult with a well-reviewed WordPress SEO company to help with implementation.

7. Using a good WordPress optimized hosting:

Last but not least, the using of a good WordPress optimized hosting is always recommended. Good hosting can handle your website and its traffic seamlessly and keep you always in a comfort zone. Our recommended WordPress hosting are WP Engine (this is best for WordPress but a bit costly for general users), Inmotion Hosting (this hosting comes with many great features but at a very cheap price) or Media Temple (this is a combination of excellent features and affordable pricing; we are using this hosting on our website).

Conclusion:

I have shared up my experience and knowledge about how you can improve and optimize WordPress for improving its speed & SEO. I am sure all the above information, plugins, and recommendations will surely help you to improve your website to the next level. Hope you all will be benefited with my sharing. If you like to share up your thoughts with me feel free to use the comment box below. Till then take care and goodbye.