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 

 

 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 

 

 2. Environment 

 HTTPS Enforce: Enabled Fix Insecure Content: Enabled 

 

 3. Frontend Optimization 

 CSS 

 Minify CSS Files: Enabled Combine CSS Files: Enabled Preload Combined CSS: Enabled 

 

 JavaScript 

 Minify JavaScript Files: Enabled Combine JavaScript Files: Enabled Defer Render-blocking JavaScript: Enabled 

 

 General 

 Minify the HTML Output: Enabled Web Fonts Optimization: Enabled  

 

 4. Media 

 Compression Settings 

 Use WebP Images: Enabled 

 WebP 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: Enabled 

 This 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.