| **Requirements** |
| Valid WPML License |
| Access to WordPress website backend |
This guide's steps assume you are installing and configuring the plugin from scratch. If the plugin is already installed on your website, the steps or results may vary.
### How do I set it up on a WordPress website? #### 1. Install & Activate the plugin Name: Spam protection, Honeypot, Anti-Spam by CleanTalk Author: CleanTalk Inc [](https://bookstack.webmarketersdev.ca/uploads/images/gallery/2025-08/image.png) #### 2. Generate & Add the Access Key ##### First, click the "Get Access Key" button. [](https://bookstack.webmarketersdev.ca/uploads/images/gallery/2025-08/xHfimage.png) Second, you should get this popup. ##### Click the link. It will then navigate to the CleanTalk dashboard if you're logged in. If you are not logged in, please do so using theThis will turn off all comment functionality and prevent visitors from seeing spam. It also reduces the risk of database bloat from comments, and keeps the admin interface clean.
[](https://bookstack.webmarketersdev.ca/uploads/images/gallery/2025-08/6CUimage.png) ##### Scroll to "Contact Data Encoding" and turn off "Encode contact data"We turn off contact data encoding because it's not usually something that clients and users want to see. It's a very effective feature, but adds a visual blur on contact data, which many people seem to dislike. For this reason, we turn it off.
[](https://bookstack.webmarketersdev.ca/uploads/images/gallery/2025-08/8n0image.png) ##### Scroll to "SpamFireWall features" and make sure that "SpamFireWall" is offAlthough this can be a useful feature, it creates friction and has previously created conflicts for clients running ad campaigns. The last thing we want to do is show a firewall & spam filter to real people clicking a valuable ad link.
[](https://bookstack.webmarketersdev.ca/uploads/images/gallery/2025-08/T3Nimage.png) ##### Click "Save Changes" [](https://bookstack.webmarketersdev.ca/uploads/images/gallery/2025-08/MF9image.png) # Speed Optimizer ### What is Speed Optimizer? The "Speed Optimizer" WordPress plugin by SiteGround is a free, all-in-one performance tool designed to dramatically improve website speed and user experience. It offers powerful caching, frontend and media optimizations, and real-time speed testing to boost SEO rankings and Core Web Vitals. With a user-friendly interface, it enables even non-technical users to apply advanced optimizations like minifying code and compressing images in just a few clicks.We only use this for websites hosted on SiteGround, since it's required for the cache purge feature.
#### Install & Activate the plugin Name: Speed Optimizer Author: SiteGround [](https://bookstack.webmarketersdev.ca/uploads/images/gallery/2025-08/NbBimage.png) ### What can you optimize? Just about everything! If you can see it on a website, you can optimize it. That includes CSS, JavaScript, HTML, images, videos, and even the WordPress environment. Using this tool can speed up a website significantly, saving your users seconds on each page load. ##### **Here's how we configure the plugin:** #### **1. Caching** Dynamic Caching: Enabled Automatic Purge: Enabled [](https://bookstack.webmarketersdev.ca/uploads/images/gallery/2025-08/iolimage.png) #### **2. Environment** HTTPS Enforce: Enabled Fix Insecure Content: Enabled [](https://bookstack.webmarketersdev.ca/uploads/images/gallery/2025-08/lOeimage.png) #### **3. Frontend Optimization** ##### CSS Minify CSS Files: Enabled Combine CSS Files: Enabled Preload Combined CSS: Enabled [](https://bookstack.webmarketersdev.ca/uploads/images/gallery/2025-08/qYGimage.png) ##### JavaScript Minify JavaScript Files: Enabled Combine JavaScript Files: Enabled Defer Render-blocking JavaScript: Enabled [](https://bookstack.webmarketersdev.ca/uploads/images/gallery/2025-08/dNtimage.png) ##### General Minify the HTML Output: Enabled Web Fonts Optimization: Enabled [](https://bookstack.webmarketersdev.ca/uploads/images/gallery/2025-08/x8dimage.png) #### **4. Media** ##### Compression Settings Use WebP Images: EnabledWebP Compression may take up to 30 minutes if the website has a lot of images that need to be converted to WebP. Usually, expect it to take 5 minutes or less.
##### Media Optimization Lazy Load Media: EnabledThis can occasionally cause issues, if you find an image/video isn't showing up, or loads too slowly, try turning this off. It's an optional setting but usually improves performance.
[](https://bookstack.webmarketersdev.ca/uploads/images/gallery/2025-08/ugPimage.png) # LightSpeed Cache (LS Cache) ### What is LightSpeed Cache? LiteSpeed Cache is a free, all-in-one WordPress optimization plugin that delivers powerful server-level caching and performance enhancements. It includes features like image optimization, CSS/JS minification, lazy loading, and support for QUIC.cloud CDN, making it ideal for boosting page speed and Core Web Vitals. While it works best with LiteSpeed Web Server, many of its tools are compatible with other servers like Apache and NGINX.We only use this for websites hosted on WHC. However, it works well elsewhere too.
#### Install & Activate the plugin Name: LiteSpeed Cache Author: LiteSpeed Technologies [](https://bookstack.webmarketersdev.ca/uploads/images/gallery/2025-08/H9uimage.png) ##### **Here's how we configure the plugin:** The easiest way to configure the plugin is to head over to the "Presets" tab in the plugin, where you can apply a preset configuration that might suit your needs. The **Aggressive** preset is closest to how we would usually configure an optimization plugin. It minifies and combines both CSS & JS, optimizes static files, optimizes images and has a good caching configuration. If you'd prefer manually setting fewer features, continue scrolling below... [](https://bookstack.webmarketersdev.ca/uploads/images/gallery/2025-08/2eeimage.png) #### **1. Cache** Enable Cache: ON [](https://bookstack.webmarketersdev.ca/uploads/images/gallery/2025-08/qcWimage.png) #### **2. CDN** We don't use this CDN tool. It could be useful, especially with the Cloudflare option, but its not something you need to turn on. #### **3. Image Optimization** Remove Original Backups: OFF Optimize Losslessly: ON Next-Gen Image Format: WebP [](https://bookstack.webmarketersdev.ca/uploads/images/gallery/2025-08/nSBimage.png) #### **4. Page Optimization** ##### **CSS Settings:** CSS Minify: ON CSS Combine: ON [](https://bookstack.webmarketersdev.ca/uploads/images/gallery/2025-08/GZHimage.png) ##### **JS Settings:** JS Minify: ON JS Combine: ON Load JS Deferred: Deferred [](https://bookstack.webmarketersdev.ca/uploads/images/gallery/2025-08/Iicimage.png) ##### **HTML Settings:** HTML Minify: ON Remove Query Strings: ON DNS Prefetch Control: ON Remove Noscript Tags: OFF [](https://bookstack.webmarketersdev.ca/uploads/images/gallery/2025-08/MXMimage.png) #### **5. Database** ##### **Manage** The database options are mostly for reactively cleaning databases once they're bloated. If you ever need to do one-time database cleanup, this is a great tool. [](https://bookstack.webmarketersdev.ca/uploads/images/gallery/2025-08/kZ4image.png) ##### **Optimization Settings** Revisions Max Number: 15 Revisions Max Age: 175 Days [](https://bookstack.webmarketersdev.ca/uploads/images/gallery/2025-08/Ou8image.png) #### **6. Crawler** We can set limits on crawl bots set by search engines in this tool. No default settings need to be set. If you have an e-commerce site that seems to be running slowly, I recommend setting limits. We've seen issues before with WooCommerce sites crashing when they're getting crawled. [](https://bookstack.webmarketersdev.ca/uploads/images/gallery/2025-08/5zMimage.png)