20 articles
Finding what makes WordPress and WooCommerce slow: TTFB, Core Web Vitals, the database and caching.
Server response time, the caching layers, the database, the admin and the Core Web Vitals visitors feel. The guides go from the first measurement to the specific fixes; the free tools run the first checks in your browser.
Not covered yet: hosting comparisons with measured tests and media offloading for large WordPress libraries.
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Performance7 min read
WordPress LCP image optimization: make the largest image load first
A slow WordPress LCP image usually needs three things: early discovery, high fetch priority, and a file sized for the space it occupies. Find the actual LCP element first, then remove accidental lazy loading, fix responsive image markup, preload late-discovered backgrounds, and retest.
Performance7 min read
WordPress OPcache settings: size it, check it and keep it warm
WordPress OPcache settings should be sized from the cache your PHP-FPM workers are using, not from a copied tuning block. Check the live OPcache status, count the PHP files in the active release, then make deployment resets and warm-up part of the release process.
Performance8 min read
WordPress PHP workers: size them, spot saturation and use fewer
WordPress PHP workers are PHP-FPM child processes that execute uncached PHP requests, and pm.max_children caps how many a pool can serve at once. Size the pool from measured worker memory and available RAM, then confirm saturation with the PHP-FPM status page and logs before adding workers.
Performance8 min read
WordPress REST API performance: find slow endpoints and make them fast
WordPress REST API performance improves when you measure the request first, reduce the work each endpoint does, and cache only responses that are safe to share. Start with time to first byte, then trace database queries, remote HTTP calls, response building, authentication and cache behavior before changing code.
Performance8 min read
How to find and fix slow WordPress database queries
WordPress slow database queries are usually found by measuring the actual SQL, its execution time, and how often it runs before changing indexes or code.
Performance7 min read
WordPress speculative loading: faster navigation without breaking a store
WordPress speculative loading can make page-to-page moves feel faster by asking the browser to fetch likely destinations before a visitor clicks. On a WooCommerce store, keep dynamic and state-changing URLs out of those rules, then verify what Chrome loads before making the behavior more eager.
Performance8 min read
How to fix a slow WordPress admin dashboard without guesswork
To fix slow WordPress admin screens safely, time one repeatable request, profile the work inside that request, then change one cause at a time. Query Monitor, browser Network data, WP-CLI, and the database can show whether the delay comes from SQL, AJAX, scheduled jobs, remote HTTP calls, or memory pressure.
Performance7 min read
How to reduce WordPress TTFB: a diagnostic guide
To reduce WordPress TTFB, measure the same request at each layer instead of tuning WordPress blindly. Separate DNS, connection and TLS time from time to first byte, compare CDN hits with origin requests, then profile PHP, database work and external calls on the slow path.
Performance8 min read
WordPress autoloaded options: measure and review wp_options
WordPress autoloaded options are rows in wp_options that WordPress loads into the alloptions array during a normal request. Measure the core autoload set, identify the largest rows and their owners, then disable autoload only for options that are not needed broadly.