10 Proven Ways to Speed Up a WordPress Website and Improve Core Web Vitals

Website speed is no longer a nice-to-have. Visitors abandon slow pages, and Google uses Core Web Vitals as part of its page experience signals. The good news is that most WordPress sites can become dramatically faster with a handful of targeted improvements.

Understanding Core Web Vitals

Core Web Vitals are three metrics that describe real-world user experience:

• Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) — how quickly the main content appears. Aim for 2.5 seconds or less.
• Interaction to Next Paint (INP) — how quickly the page responds to taps and clicks. Aim for 200 milliseconds or less.
• Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) — how much the layout jumps while loading. Aim for 0.1 or less.

10 Ways to Make WordPress Faster

1. Measure Before You Optimise

Test key pages with PageSpeed Insights and check field data in Google Search Console. Measuring first shows which pages and metrics need attention, and gives you a baseline to prove improvements.

2. Choose Quality Hosting

Cheap shared hosting is one of the most common causes of a slow time to first byte. Look for a host with modern PHP versions, server-level caching and resources that match your traffic.

3. Enable Page and Object Caching

Page caching serves pre-built HTML instead of running PHP and database queries on every visit. Object caching with Redis speeds up the dynamic parts, such as logged-in users and WooCommerce carts.

4. Serve Modern, Responsive Images

Convert images to WebP or AVIF, serve appropriately sized versions with srcset, and always set width and height attributes to prevent layout shifts.

5. Lazy-Load Below-the-Fold Media

Images and embeds that are not visible on first load should load only when needed. Never lazy-load your main hero image, though — it should load with high priority to improve LCP.

6. Reduce Plugins and Page Builder Bloat

Every plugin can add scripts, styles and database queries. Audit your plugins, remove the ones you do not need and replace heavy page builders with lightweight custom blocks where practical.

7. Minimise and Defer JavaScript

Large JavaScript bundles hurt INP. Remove unused scripts, defer non-critical code and limit third-party tags such as chat widgets and trackers.

8. Optimise Fonts

Use a small number of font weights, preconnect to font providers or self-host fonts, and use font-display: swap so text is visible immediately.

9. Clean Up the Database

Remove post revisions, expired transients and spam comments, and make sure autoloaded options stay small. A lean database responds faster to every request.

10. Use a Content Delivery Network

A CDN stores static files on servers around the world, so visitors download them from a location close to them. This reduces latency, especially for international audiences.

Keep Speed Improvements Working

Performance tends to degrade as new content, plugins and scripts are added. Re-test after major changes and include performance checks in your regular maintenance routine.

Need a faster website without the trial and error? Our website speed optimization service covers audits, fixes and before-and-after reporting. Contact us for a free performance review.