Do you have a WordPress website? Do you want it to be faster? Website performance is now more important than ever. In this updated guide, you’ll learn why performance matters and how you can create a hyper-fast WordPress website.
Why performance is crucial
Effects on SEO and rankings
Page speed has been a Google ranking factor for desktop searches since 2010 and for mobile searches since 2018[^1]. With the introduction of Core Web Vitals as a ranking factor in 2021, the importance of performance became even more important[^2]. The three main metrics are:
- Largest Contentful Paint (LCP): Should occur within 2.5 seconds
- First Input Delay (FID): Should be less than 100 milliseconds
- Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS): Should be below 0.1
Effects on user behavior
Current studies show dramatic effects of loading time on user behavior[^3]:
- 53% of mobile users leave a page that takes longer than 3 seconds to load
- Every second of delay reduces the conversion rate by 7%
- 79% of online shoppers say they will not return to a slow website
Concrete bounce rates with different loading times[^4]:
- 1-3 seconds: Bounce rate increases by 32
- 1-5 seconds: Bounce rate increases by 90%
- 1-6 seconds: Bounce rate increases by 106
- 1-10 seconds: Bounce rate increases by 123
WordPress in the year 2024
Market dominance
WordPress continues to dominate the internet with over 45% market share of all websites[^5]. According to BuiltWith.com, as many as 43% of the top websites use WordPress as their CMS[^6].
Performance comparison
Current analyses by HTTPArchive.org[^7] show:
WordPress websites:
- Desktop: 2.8 MB on average
- Mobile: 2.5 MB on average
- Average of 85 HTTP requests (desktop)
For comparison – Magento websites:
- Desktop: 3.2 MB on average
- Mobile: 3.0 MB on average
- Average of 182 HTTP requests (desktop)
Google recommends a maximum page size of 500 KB and a maximum of 50 HTTP requests[^8].
Optimization strategies for 2024
1. hosting optimization
Modern server technology
- PHP 8.2/8.3 for significant performance improvements[^9]
- MariaDB/MySQL 8.0 for improved database performance
- HTTP/3 with QUIC for reduced latency[^10]
- LiteSpeed or OpenLiteSpeed as an Apache/Nginx alternative
Redis Caching
Redis (Remote Dictionary Server) is a fast, open-source, in-memory data store[^11] that:
- Enables response times of less than one millisecond
- can process millions of real-time requests
- Ideal for caching and session management is
2. image optimization
Best practices for image formats[^12]:
- JPEG: Optimal for photos and screenshots
- PNG: Best choice for images with sharp edges and text
- WebP 2: Modern alternative with better compression
- AVIF: Outstanding quality with small file size
Recommended image sizes[^13]:
- HD quality: maximum 1280 x 720 pixels
- 4K quality: maximum 3840 x 2160 pixels
- 8K quality: maximum 7680 x 4320 pixels
3. plug-in management
Important review criteria for plugins[^14]:
- Regular updates
- WordPress version compatibility
- Reviews and user experiences
- Support quality
- Performance impact
4. modern caching strategies
Recommended caching plugins 2024[^15]:
- WP Rocket: Premium all-in-one solution
- FlyingPress: Innovative performance optimization
- LiteSpeed Cache: Optimal for LiteSpeed web servers
- Swift Performance: Good price-performance ratio
Best practices for monitoring
Performance metrics
Key figures for 2024[^16]:
- Time to First Byte (TTFB): < 200ms
- First Contentful Paint (FCP): < 1.8s
- Largest Contentful Paint (LCP): < 2.5s
- Total Blocking Time (TBT): < 200ms
- Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS): < 0.1
Monitoring tools[^17]
- Google Search Console Core Web Vitals Report
- Chrome User Experience Report (CrUX)
- PageSpeed Insights
- GTmetrix
- WebPageTest
Conclusion
Optimizing a WordPress website is a continuous process. Focus on:
- Core Web Vitals as central metrics
- Mobile performance as an absolute priority
- Modern image formats and optimization techniques
- Serverless and edge computing solutions
- Continuous monitoring and optimization
List of sources
[^1]: Google Search Central
[^2]: Web.dev Core Web Vitals
[^3]: Think with Google Mobile Study
[^4]: Google/SOASTA Research
[^5]: WordPress.org Statistics
[^6]: BuiltWith CMS Usage
[^7]: HTTP Archive Web Almanac
[^8]: Google Web Performance
[^9]: PHP Documentation
[^10]: HTTP/3 Documentation
[^11]: Redis Documentation
[^12]: Google Images Best Practices
[^13]: Web.dev Image Optimization
[^14]: WordPress Plugin Handbook
[^15]: WordPress.org Plugin Directory
[^16]: Web Vitals
[^17]: Google Developer Tools
This article was last updated in October 2024 and reflects current best practices for WordPress performance. All trademarks and product names used are the property of their respective owners.