Today in 2020 users are more expectant for swift page loading times when browsing the web. As a result of this they’re more prone than ever to hit that back button in their browser if your website isn’t efficient when it comes to speed.
Google indicated that site speed was one of the organic ranking factors in their algorithm back in 2010. However the speed your website loads pages is essential to the success of all digital marketing channels, not just SEO. If the landing pages for your paid campaigns are slow loading then you’re likely to miss out on conversions too.
We’ve pulled together 5 WordPress plugins that you can install on your website to help improve your site speed. Some of these plugins complement one another and can be used together.
1. WP Fastest Cache
As the name suggests this plugin focuses on deleting caches once published to improve performance. It also allows you to enable/disable cache options through your WordPress dashboard for mobile users and users who are logged in. The plugin has a five star rating and over one million active installations on WordPress websites. It is free, however there are premium packages available with additional features.
2. Autoptimize
This plugin can improve your website performance through aggregating, minifying and caching scripts and styles. You can also optimise and lazy-load images, remove WordPress core emoji cruft and more. It has a 4.5 star rating and over one million active installations on WordPress websites. It is a free plugin, but they do offer premium support as a separate service.
3. Hummingbird
Hummingbird – Speed Optimize, Cache, Minify & Defer Critical CSS/Javascript
Hummingbird scans your site and provides one-click fixes to speed up WordPress in a flash. It aims to improve your site speed by adding new ways to boost Google PageSpeed Insights with fine-tuned controls over file compression, deferring CSS and JavaScript styles and scripts, minify for .CSS and .JS, Lazy Load integration and caching. The plugin has received a five star rating and over 90,000 active installations on WordPress websites. This is a free plugin, but again provide a premium option with additional features.
4. Lazy Load
Lazy Load displays images and/or iframes on a page only when they are visible to the user. This reduces the number of HTTP requests mechanism and improves the loading time. This plugin works on thumbnails, all images in a post content or in a widget text, avatars, smilies and iframes. The plugin has a four star rating and over 100,000 active installations on WordPress websites. This is a free plugin.
5. WP Super Minify
This plugin combines, minifies, and caches inline JavaScript and CSS files on demand to speed up page loads. By activating this plugin, you will see the source of your HTML, inline JavaScript and CSS are now compressed. The size will be smaller and quite helpful to improve your page load speed. This plugin has a four star rating and over 20,000 active installations on WordPress websites. It is a free plugin.