How can I improve the performance of my WordPress website?

Optimising your WordPress website for speed is essential for enhancing user experience, improving search engine rankings, and reducing bounce rates. Here are effective strategies to help you speed up a slow WordPress site:

1. Use the Latest Supported PHP Version

Running a modern PHP version provides significant performance and security improvements. Newer PHP versions execute code faster and use fewer resources

You can change your PHP version in cPanel by following this guide: How do I set the PHP version, extensions, and options in cPanel?

2. Enable OPcache

OPcache improves PHP performance by storing precompiled PHP scripts in memory, reducing the need for PHP to recompile files on every request.

OPcache can be enabled in cPanel. Follow this guide for step-by-step instructions: How do I set the PHP version, extensions, and options in cPanel?

3. Enable LiteSpeed Cache

Caching is one of the most effective ways to speed up WordPress. On our servers, we recommend LiteSpeed Cache, which integrates directly with the LiteSpeed web server and offers advanced page caching, object caching, and optimisation features.

LiteSpeed Cache can be enabled in cPanel. Please follow the steps in this article: How can I install the LiteSpeed Cache plugin for WordPress?

4. Use a Lightweight Theme

Choose a theme designed for speed and simplicity. Themes with excessive animations, sliders, and bundled features can slow down your website considerably.

5. Limit the Use of Plugins

Plugins add functionality, but too many can negatively impact performance. Remove any plugins that are unused or duplicate functionality provided by others.

6. Optimise Images

Images are often the largest files on a website. Compress images using plugins such as Smush or Imagify without noticeably reducing quality. Where possible, use modern formats like WebP. If you are using LiteSpeed Cache, image optimisation can be handled directly by the plugin.

7. Minify CSS, JavaScript, and HTML

Minification removes unnecessary characters and whitespace from files, reducing their size and improving load times. LiteSpeed Cache can automatically handle minification. Alternatively, plugins like Autoptimize can also be used.

8. Use a Content Delivery Network (CDN)

A CDN serves your website content from locations closer to your visitors, reducing latency and improving load times globally. We generally recommend using Cloudflare.

9. Optimise Your Database

Over time, WordPress databases collect unnecessary data such as post revisions and transient records. Plugins like WP-Optimize can safely clean up your database.

10. Keep WordPress, Themes, and Plugins Updated

Regular updates often include performance improvements and security fixes. Keeping everything up to date helps ensure your website runs efficiently.

• Check Plugins:

Poorly coded plugins can consume excessive resources. Use the Query Monitor plugin to identify performance bottlenecks and replace problematic plugins where possible.

• Check Resource Usage:

View your resource usage in cPanel under Metrics -> Resource Usage to identify any scripts or processes consuming excessive resources.

• Consider Upgrading:

If you find that your resource limits are being reached, consider upgrading to a Business hosting package, which offers more resources to handle your website's demands.

If you have further questions or need assistance, feel free to reach out to our support team.

Updated on: 16/12/2025