{"id":12709,"date":"2023-06-14T13:59:52","date_gmt":"2023-06-14T11:59:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/longwatchstudio.com\/?p=12709"},"modified":"2024-09-18T10:30:50","modified_gmt":"2024-09-18T08:30:50","slug":"optimizing-the-performance-of-a-wordpress-site","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/longwatchstudio.com\/en\/optimiser-les-performances-dun-site-wordpress\/","title":{"rendered":"Optimizing the performance of a WordPress site"},"content":{"rendered":"

WordPress is a very powerful CMS<\/strong> (Content Management System<\/em><\/strong>). It allows, in particular thanks to a library of more than 100,000 plugins, to create any type of website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, this is not without its drawbacks. Indeed, the available plugins are developed by a multitude of studios and developers, independent of each other. This means that, depending on the plugins you install and their quality, your site can quickly see its performance degrade<\/strong>. Ultimately, this will cause significant inconvenience to your visitors who will quickly leave your site<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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You don't want your site to be associated with this image<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

It is therefore essential to monitor the performance of your website and ensure that you are always optimizing the visitor experience. In this article, we will look at different techniques that allow you to evaluate and improve the performance of your website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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SEO vs Performance<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Before we get to the heart of the matter, let\u2019s take a moment to talk about SEO. For a website to be successful, two elements must be combined: SEO and performance. The two elements are very different.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SEO<\/strong> is primarily used to increase the number of visitors<\/strong> to your site. It consists of improving the semantic structure of your content<\/strong> in order to facilitate their reading<\/strong> and their referencing by search engines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Performance<\/strong> is used to keep visitors<\/strong> on your site and reduce your bounce rate<\/strong>. The bounce rate is the percentage of visitors who leave your website without taking any action<\/strong> on it. Improving the performance<\/strong> of a website therefore consists of improving the fundamental structure of your content and the speed at which it is displayed<\/strong> so as not to lose visitors prematurely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both operations are complementary and you will need to work on both aspects for the success of your website. However, improving the performance of your website is done more quickly and requires less effort<\/strong> than SEO in the long term. Both operations can be done in parallel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Analyze your site's performance<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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When we talk about website performance, we are primarily talking about display speed<\/strong>. And to measure this performance, there are several things to look at:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

TTFB<\/strong> (or Time to First Byte<\/strong>): This is the time after which your browser receives the first information from the called server. This measurement is mainly used to measure the response time of your server.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The LCP<\/strong> (or Largest Contentful Paint<\/strong>): This is the time after which the browser displays the content visible to the Internet user. The browser first displays the top of the page (visible content) before displaying the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The TTI<\/strong> (or Time to Interactive<\/strong>): This is the time after which the Internet user can interact with your website, such as clicking on buttons or hovering over content that changes appearance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The FLT<\/strong> (or Fully Loaded Time<\/strong>): This is the time needed to fully display the content of your page.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To give you a better idea of \u200b\u200bwhat this looks like, here are the different display times for this article.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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If you achieve this result, you have won.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

To perform this test yourself on your website, go to GTmetrix<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here we can see that the TTFB is 434ms<\/strong>, which is an incompressible time and depends above all on your hosting. The LCP and the FLT are very close to each other with respectively 1.3s and 1.6s. The page is therefore visible in a little over a second<\/strong> and completely loaded in less than two seconds<\/strong>. This is a grade A performance, the site is well optimized.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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If your average page load time exceeds 6 seconds, you will lose 50% of your audience before they even get to see your content. 47% of visitors expect a load time of less than 2 seconds.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Now that you know the goal to achieve and the means to measure performance, let's move on to the tools needed to obtain this result.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Content editing tool<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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By default, WordPress offers a tool called Gutenberg for editing content. Gutenberg<\/strong> is a tool that has evolved a lot in recent years. It is a powerful tool and suitable for publishing articles and text content on your website<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, for advanced designs, it is a tool that quickly shows its limits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You will therefore need to turn to other tools for the creation and design of your website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This tool will have a significant impact on the performance of your website. Therefore, you should choose it carefully. Indeed, some block editors can generate an overly complicated HTML structure<\/strong> of your website. This can have an impact not only on performance but also on SEO.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Luckily, there are websites that do comparisons of content editor plugins<\/a>. This will provide you with all the information you need to make an informed choice.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Gutenberg, the WordPress content editor<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Oxygen<\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Oxygen<\/a> is the most powerful content editing plugin for WordPress and WooCommerce to date. It requires no special programming or design knowledge and provides all the tools you need to design your website. This plugin also offers a one-time payment for a lifetime license<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The +<\/h3>\n\n\n\n