We all know site speed is a major factor in how well it performs for users and search engines, and with the number of WordPress sites growing exponentially year on year, using robust plugins that enhance site speed is a must for any designer or website manager that wants it to do well.
Did you know that it’s estimated that WordPress powers nearly 30% of the web and has approx. 60% market share of all popular content management systems. That’s a staggering amount of WP builds when you think in 2014 there were over 1 billion websites out there. WordPress has come a long way since its humble beginnings back in 2003 and with over 50,000 plugins out there to choose from, it’s hard to know which ones are right for the site build in question. That said, we do have a set of core plugins we know and use regularly to give our sites a speed boost:
WP Rocket
WP Rocket offers a range of features including static file compression, page caching and the ability to serve website visitors images on request, so they only load as users scroll down the page. It is simple to use and developer friendly, always a plus for us!
This plugin has 3 pricing bands available to support all users from one website owner to unlimited sites.
EWWW Image Optimizer
The clue’s in the name – this plugin automatically optimises images as you upload them, and cause also retrospectively optimise images previously added. Lossless compression is used as standard, but optional lossy compression is available for PNG and JPG images to maximise compression.
One of the features we like best about this plugin is the Bulk Scanner option – this includes the theme, media library and pre-configured folders. This is a real time saver for us, especially as it will skip previously optimised files.
Smush
Smush focuses on image compression to improve speed and quality and will in turn strip any hidden, large information from images to reduce their file size. Large image files slow down site speed, so it is essential to keep them as optimised as possible, especially for sites that use a lot of imagery.
Smush is comptable with a wide ranhge of media library plguins including WPML, WP All Import and WP Media Folder. It will also compress any image into any directory including every WP theme package.
Fast Velocity Minify
This plugin merges Javascript and CSS files into groups, thus minifying them using PHP Minify. This in turn reduces the number of HTTP requests made when the website loads.
In addition, Fast Velocity Minify has a longer list of functions designed to boost speed, such as merging and optimising Google Fonts, support for multisite installation and storing cache files in the uploads directory.
Do you have your own set of trusted plugins, or are you looking for more recommendations? Search online on the WordPress Plugin store to find your own new favourites!
