What are the causes of a slow WordPress website [2024]?
A slow WordPress website can not only be frustrating for visitors, but it can also have a negative impact on your SEO ranking and therefore on the success of your website. The causes of slow loading times can be varied, and often it is a combination of several factors that affect performance. In this blog post, we’ll take an in-depth look at the possible causes and show you how to identify and fix these issues.
Hosting issues
Shared Hosting
One of the most common causes of a slow WordPress website is choosing the wrong hosting provider.
If you’ve opted for shared hosting, you’ll be sharing server resources with many other websites.
This can lead to bottlenecks, especially if one of the other websites on the server experiences a sudden spike in traffic.
Shared hosting, while inexpensive, is often not powerful enough to ensure a fast loading time.
Insufficient server resources
Other hosting options such as VPS (Virtual Private Server) or Dedicated Hosting can also experience performance issues if the server does not provide enough resources.
Too little RAM, a slow CPU, or insufficient bandwidth can significantly slow down your website’s load times.
Geographical distance to the server
The geographical distance between the server location and your website’s visitors can also cause slow loading times.
For example, if your server is located in the United States and most of your visitors are based in Europe, the extra milliseconds it takes to send data across the Atlantic can increase load times.
Unoptimized images and media
Large Image Files
Images are often the largest files on a website and can significantly affect load time if not optimized.
Uncompressed or too large image files can cause the website to take several seconds longer to load.
Missing or incorrect image formats
Using outdated image formats like JPEG or PNG instead of more modern formats like WebP can also affect loading time.
Modern image formats are often smaller and offer better compression without sacrificing image quality.
No use of lazy loading
Lazy loading is a technique in which images are only loaded when they actually appear in the visible area of the screen.
If lazy loading is not implemented, all images on a page will load at the same time, resulting in longer loading times.
Too many plugins
Superfluous or poorly optimized plugins
Plugins are a great way to extend the functionality of a WordPress website.
However, too many plugins or poorly optimized plugins can slow down the loading time significantly.
Each plugin adds additional lines of code that need to be processed when the website loads.
Conflicts between plugins
Another problem can arise when two or more plugins do not harmonize well with each other.
Such conflicts can lead to longer loading times or even malfunctions of the website.
Outdated plugins
If you use outdated plugins that are no longer updated regularly, this can also affect the performance of your website.
Outdated plugins are often less efficient and can contain security vulnerabilities that affect overall performance.
Unclean code and scripts
Unoptimized JavaScript and CSS code
JavaScript and CSS files are essential for the design and functionality of your website.
However, if these files are not optimized, it can lead to longer loading times.
Non-minified code that contains a lot of extraneous spaces and comments will take longer to load and process.
Excessive use of external scripts
The integration of external scripts, such as advertising networks, social plugins or analysis tools, can also increase the loading time.
Each external script represents an additional request to an external server, which increases the overall page load time.
Render Blocking Resources
Render-blocking resources such as JavaScript and CSS files embedded in your website’s header can prevent the page from rendering quickly.
It is important to identify these resources and optimize them so that they do not unnecessarily increase loading times.
Database problems
Unoptimized database
A WordPress website stores most of its data in a MySQL database.
If this database is not optimized, it can lead to significant performance issues.
Cluttered tables, unnecessary database queries, and unindexed columns can slow down website speed.
Excessive Post Revisions
WordPress automatically saves revisions of your posts.
These can accumulate over time and bloat the database, resulting in longer loading times.
It is advisable to limit the number of revisions saved or to delete old revisions regularly.
Slow database queries
If your website uses a lot of custom queries or has complex JOINs in the database, this can significantly slow down load times.
Slow queries can be improved by using caching or by optimizing the database structure.
Missing or inefficient caching mechanisms
No browser caching
Browser caching allows static resources such as images, CSS, and JavaScript files to be stored in the user’s local storage.
This means that these resources do not have to be reloaded every time the page is loaded.
If browser caching isn’t set up properly, it can lead to longer load times.
No server-side caching
Server-side caching, such as that provided by plugins such as W3 Total Cache or WP Super Cache, can significantly improve the loading time of a WordPress website.
It stores a static version of your website, so the server doesn’t have to regenerate the content every time you view a page.
Inadequate object caching strategy
Object caching can improve the speed of database queries by keeping frequently used queries in memory.
If this type of caching is not implemented or poorly configured, it can lead to performance degradation.
Heavyweight themes and unoptimized design
Overloaded themes
Another common problem is using heavyweight themes that come with a lot of features that you may not need.
These themes can contain many additional scripts and CSS files that increase the loading time.
Unnecessary design elements
Design elements such as animations, videos in the background, or elaborate fonts can also affect the performance of your website.
It is important to limit the design to the essentials and avoid unnecessary elements.
Non-responsive design
A non-responsive design that works poorly on mobile devices can also increase loading time.
If your website isn’t mobile-friendly, you’ll need to load a lot of resources that aren’t needed on small screens.
Insufficient CDN usage
No Content Delivery Network (CDN)
A CDN (Content Delivery Network) can significantly reduce your website’s load time by distributing static resources such as images, CSS, and JavaScript files across servers that are geographically closer to your visitors.
If you don’t use a CDN, it can lead to longer loading times, especially for international visitors.
Incorrect CDN configuration
Configuring a CDN incorrectly can also affect performance.
If the CDN isn’t set up properly, content may not load correctly or not at all, negatively impacting the user experience.
Deprecated CDN resources
It is important to ensure that the resources stored on the CDN are updated regularly.
Outdated resources can lead to inconsistencies and increase site load time.
Too many HTTP requests
Excessive number of requests
Every file loaded from your server generates an HTTP request.
If your website has a lot of images, scripts, and stylesheets, it can increase the number of requests and increase load time.
No summary of CSS and JavaScript
Combining CSS and JavaScript files into one file at a time can reduce the number of HTTP requests.
If this is not done, the browser will have to load multiple files, which can increase the loading time.
No asynchronous loading of scripts
Scripts that are loaded synchronously block page loading until they are fully loaded.
This can significantly increase the charging time.
Asynchronous loading of scripts can fix this problem.
Security issues and malware
Malware infections
One of the most serious causes of a slow WordPress website can be an infection with malware or malicious code.
Such infections can overload the server by performing unwanted actions in the background, such as sending spam or performing DDoS attacks.
Excessive security requests
Too many security requests, such as from poorly configured security plugins, can also affect your website’s performance.
These plugins can load the database or load additional scripts that increase the loading time.
Non-optimized SSL certificates
Although SSL certificates are essential for your website’s security, a poorly configured SSL certificate can increase your website’s loading time.
This often happens when the server is not properly optimized for HTTPS requests.
Excessive number of redirects
Cascading Redirects
An excessive number of redirects, especially if they cascade, can significantly increase the loading time.
Each redirect means an additional HTTP request, which increases the overall load time.
Non-Necessary Redirects
Sometimes redirects are not necessary, such as when redirecting from HTTP to HTTPS or from www to non-www.
If not set up properly, they can cause unnecessary delays.
Redirects through plugins or themes
Some plugins and themes can cause additional redirects that aren’t obvious.
These redirects should be identified and, if possible, removed to reduce loading time.
Inadequate technical maintenance and monitoring
Lack of regular maintenance
Regular maintenance of a WordPress website is crucial to ensure optimal performance.
This includes updating WordPress itself, plugins and themes, cleaning up the database, and monitoring server resources.
No monitoring of loading time
Without a monitoring tool that continuously monitors your website’s load times, it’s difficult to identify and fix performance issues.
Tools like Google PageSpeed Insights, GTmetrix, or Pingdom can provide valuable insights into your website’s load times.
Lack of security updates
Security updates are important not only to protect your website from threats, but also to ensure that it runs efficiently.
Outdated software can cause security vulnerabilities and performance issues.
Insufficient PHP version and server configuration
Outdated PHP version
The version of PHP running on your server can have a significant impact on the speed of your WordPress website.
Older PHP versions tend to be less performant and may contain security vulnerabilities that make your website vulnerable.
Non-optimized PHP configuration
PHP configuration can also play a role.
Values that are too low for parameters such as memory_limit or max_execution_time can affect your website’s loading time.
Lack of server optimizations
The server itself can be optimized to improve performance.
This includes adjusting the Apache or Nginx configuration, enabling compression tools like Gzip, and optimizing HTTP/2 to allow for faster load times.
Too much dynamic content
Overuse of widgets and shortcodes
Widgets and shortcodes are handy for making content dynamic, but they can also slow down load time because they generate additional queries and scripts.
No caching of dynamic content
Dynamic content that has to be regenerated every time the page is viewed can increase the server load.
Using caching strategies to cache this content can significantly reduce load time.
Complex database queries for dynamic content
When dynamic content is based on complex database queries, it can significantly increase load time.
It is important to optimize these queries or use alternatives such as caching.
Conclusion
The causes of a slow WordPress website are many and can lie in different areas, starting with the hosting environment, optimizing images and plugins, and configuring database and caching mechanisms correctly.
A thorough analysis of website performance is the first step in identifying the root causes and taking targeted measures to improve load times.
By implementing the best practices above, you can not only significantly reduce the loading time of your WordPress website, but also improve the user experience and boost your SEO rankings. It’s important to regularly monitor your website’s performance and make necessary adjustments to ensure that it continues to be fast and efficient.
