Page load speed is more important than ever before now that Google is using it as a ranking factor. If you are running a WordPress site, know that speed may be your enemy. Your page might be loading more slowly than it needs to without you having done anything in particular to cause it.

Below are five things you can do to make your WordPress site load faster. Remember that higher speeds lead to greater visitor satisfaction.

1. Choose a WordPress Hosting Plan

There are so many web hosting companies out there that it would be impossible to list them all in a single blog post. Yet not every hosting company is created equally. For the fastest possible page load times, choose a web hosting company that offers managed WordPress hosting. This sort of hosting is optimized for WordPress by default.

2. Optimize Your Images

The bulk of the data transferred between host and browser is found in a page’s images. You can speed page loading by optimizing your images with compression. If you are using an external image editor, save your images as JPEGs or PNGs in 72 dpi. Otherwise, you can download and install an image optimization plugin like Imagify.

3. Choose a Lightweight Theme

There are a lot of visually stunning themes out there. Unfortunately, some of them are terribly bloated with extra features you do not need and will never use. It is best to choose a lightweight theme with no extra bells and whistles. The lighter the theme, the faster it will load.

4. Limit Plugin Use

WordPress functionality is improved by downloading and installing plugins. That is not a bad thing. But plugins slow down page speed. Therefore, limit your plugin use only to those plugins that are absolutely necessary. Any plugins you are not using should be uninstalled immediately.

5. Use a Caching Plugin

One type of plugin you should use in order to make your page load faster is a caching plugin like WP Rocket. A caching plugin stores each of your site’s pages in a cache and automatically updates them when necessary. This speeds up load times by not forcing browsers to reload pages from scratch every time they visit your site.

Google is now ranking for page load speed. If your site is running too slowly, fix it by employing the tips you read here.