2 must-have WordPress plugins for improved performance
We’re gonna make this one quick, so hang in there!
When it comes to performance on WordPress sites, the backend tuning options are pretty much endless. However, even for non-tech savvy people, there are a few things you can do to tremendously increase performance on your site by caching files. To do this, you’re gonna need two types of caches:
- A page cache
- An object cache
Page caching
In short, a page cache helps serve the contents of your pages by saving a cached version of them. This way, the server can more efficiently serve requests as it doesn’t have to compile the whole page on each request. Google’s Core Web Vitals loves this stuff.
We recommend one of the following plugins:
- WP Rocket (best all-around solution)
- LiteSpeed Cache (works for all web servers, but extra beneficial for those running LiteSpeed or OpenLiteSpeed)
- Breeze (for Cloudways customers using Varnish Cache)
There are several other options, but these are the ones we use ourselves.
Object caching
By caching objects such as WordPress transients – data that expires – you lessen the load on your database connection by caching those often accessed objects in memory. This includes certain system settings, temporary plugin data, and more.
We recommend one of the following plugins:
- Redis Object Cache (requires Redis)
- Speed Optimizer (for SiteGround customers using Memcached)
Most commercial WordPress hosts already have object caching available and ready to go. If not, please consult with them – or install it yourself if possible.
Conclusion
Combining the power of both page caching and object caching will help efficiently speed up your WordPress site on multiple levels.
Additionally, consider using server-side caching like LiteSpeed, Varnish Cache or Nginx FastCGI Cache and routing your traffic through a CDN like Cloudflare. This will speed up your site even further.
You should also consider optimising Cloudflare for your WordPress admin area.