WordPress · Speed
My WordPress speed optimisation covers the cache, images, database, plugins and server, so that your pages load faster. A slow website still looks fine, but fewer visitors fill in the form. The usual causes are photos straight from the camera, no cache, a database full of data left behind by plugins and a slow server. I measure the same pages before and after, using Core Web Vitals rather than a single test score.
Scope of work
Six areas, in this order. The first three usually bring the biggest improvement, and the last two decide whether the effect lasts longer than a month.
I set up page caching, preloading and deferred loading of scripts to suit the website’s architecture. In a shop, the basket, the account pages and the checkout stay out of the cache, because a cache that shows someone another customer’s basket is worse than no cache at all.
Photos are usually the largest part of a page’s weight. I compress them, convert them to WebP, generate the right sizes for phones and add their dimensions to the code, so the layout does not jump while the page loads. That jump is what makes people tap the wrong button.
Plugins leave data behind, even after they are uninstalled: post revisions, expired temporary data, orphaned metadata and email logs. I have seen tables grow to several gigabytes and make a shop’s checkout return an error when an order was placed. The clean-up removes that data, and indexes go in where queries read the whole table.
A slow admin panel usually comes from external requests on the dashboard and from plugins that load their scripts on every page, even where they are not used. I limit each resource to the pages where it is needed and switch off what nobody has used for years.
Every plugin has a cost in database queries and kilobytes of code. I check what each one costs, which ones a few lines in the theme could replace and which are not used at all. That is usually the quickest way to make the website lighter.
I measure the server response time and check the limits: the PHP version, memory, the number of parallel processes and server-side caching. Sometimes the cheapest way to a faster website is a different hosting plan rather than another plugin, and I tell you so.
Process
Optimisation without measurement is guesswork. That is why the first and the last steps are the same, and only what happens between them changes.
I start by measuring specific pages: the home page, a category and a product or service page. Each gets a record of its Core Web Vitals, page weight, server response time and number of database queries. Without that, there is no way to show later what the optimisation changed.
After every change I go through the website, including its forms, basket, search and mobile version. Combining and delaying scripts too aggressively can break a slider or the payment gateway, so I switch each of those options on separately and check the result.
I run the same tests as at the start and put the results side by side. You also get a list of what I did not do and why, because some of it needs changes to the theme, a different plugin or a stronger server, and each of those is a separate decision.
Starting the optimisation
Access to the hosting makes the biggest difference. Without it, optimisation stays at the level of plugins, which is usually half of the possible gain.
Premium plugins without an active licence keep working, but they get no updates. You buy the licence in your own name, directly from the vendor, so it stays yours whoever looks after the website.
Other services
If the website has been slow for years and nobody knows why, an audit is often the cheaper place to start. When the server is the bottleneck, a move to another host is the better option.
A review of the technical state, performance, security and SEO, with a list of fixes ordered by priority and estimated cost.
Updates, backups, uptime monitoring and hours of work for ongoing changes. Three plans from €100 net per month.
Moving a website or shop to new hosting without data loss, on a migration date that suits you.
A slow online shop is a topic of its own, which I describe on the WooCommerce maintenance page. You will find the other services on the WordPress page. All prices are net, excluding VAT. The offer is for businesses only.
FAQ
What clients ask when I show them the first measurement.
I do not give a figure before the measurement, because the starting point varies enormously between websites. A website with unoptimised images and no cache usually gains the most after the first two steps. One that someone has already configured carefully gains less, and that gain takes more work. After the first measurement I tell you how much is realistic and whether it is worth doing at all.
A plugin without an active licence keeps working, but it no longer gets updates, which means no bug fixes and no compatibility with new versions of WordPress. If the optimisation is meant to last, it is worth having the licence in your name. You buy it directly from the vendor, on your own account, so it stays yours whoever looks after the website.
Core Web Vitals are the basis. They measure the time until the largest element appears, the delay before the page reacts to a click and shifts in the layout. I add the page weight, the number of requests and the server response time. The tests run in repeatable conditions, with the same connection profile, the same region and several runs, because a single score from a testing tool can vary by more than ten points without any change to the website.
Speed is one of the signals Google uses, but not the main one. If the website takes several seconds to load, the improvement does help, both in the search results and in how many visitors wait for the page to load at all. When the problem is missing content or a weak link profile, optimisation alone will not make up for it. In that case an SEO audit is the better place to start, so that the money is not spent in the wrong place.
That depends on the website’s architecture and the server it runs on. I configure caching differently when the server handles it than on ordinary shared hosting. The names are in the quote, together with a note on whether any of them needs a paid licence. As a rule, the fewer plugins left after the optimisation, the better.
It makes sense when your visitors are spread geographically or the website serves a lot of images and video. For a local business with visitors from one region, the gain is often small, and a CDN adds another layer to search when something goes wrong. I decide after the measurement: if the bottleneck is the server response time, a CDN will not fix it.
Yes, as a separate service, WordPress migration, with a test on the new server before I switch the domain. Sometimes it is the cheapest way to a faster website: if the server takes a second to respond, no cache configuration will make up for it. I tell you when that is the case and show you the measurement. You can buy hosting from me or from any provider you choose, and either way the account is in your name.
Yes. I work remotely with companies in the UK and the EU, among them a chain of tattoo and piercing studios in the UK and education organisations in Belgium. You deal with me directly, in English. All the work runs through the WordPress admin panel, the hosting control panel and FTP or SSH, and at the end you get the before and after results side by side. You can reach me by email, WhatsApp, phone and video call, Monday to Friday, 9:00–17:00 Central European Time (8:00–16:00 UK time).
