https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ncQcxnD-CxDk4h01QYyrlOh1lEYDS-DV/
Hello again folks! Your resident performance obsessed Redditor here, with my updated Pagespeed guide! It's gone through significant revisions since the last time I posted it. It has grown another 60 pages, up from 308 to over 368+ (and growing!) pages of content. It's officially hit full on novel length!
Major content additions, expansions on everything that was previously in the guide, significantly better and more logical organization, revamped table of contents, grammar and spelling fixes, many new optimization strategies and much needed additional specificity.
Included is a breakdown on how to analyze and interpret Speed Test reports to identify optimization opportunities.
There's an extensive amount of optimization information and resources for server stack configuration for NGINX, Apache, OpenLiteSpeed, Varnish, Object Caching, PHP, HAProxy, MySQL, SSL, Gzip/Brotli, HTTP/2 and HTTP/3, the Google Pagespeed module, Security considerations effects on performance and Linux optimizations. There are also a bunch of resources on database optimization.
WordPress specific optimizations: It now has sections on how to optimize common features including Ads, Forms, Woocommerce, Analytics, Google Maps, Fonts, Custom Fields, Galleries, Video Players, Sliders, Filters, SEO plugins, Anti-Spam, Cookie Notices, Backup plugins; in addition to one size fits all optimizations(Images, Videos, CDN, SSL, CSS, JS, Resource Hints, Caching etc), and tons and tons more.
Every optimization opportunity has a free plugin option (or multiple) listed. Some paid plugins are included as I find them very useful(Perfmatters and Asset Cleanup Pro for example). However I've included alternatives for all paid options. Every single thing in my guide can be implemented for free.
I've done my best to cover all of the bases you’d find in any page speed guide, in addition to a focus on adding uncommon optimization strategies and solutions that you won’t find in any off the shelf guide. This is a compilation of all of my research over the last 6 years delving into performance optimization.
I'm confident that if you follow every single step in the guide, almost any site you maintain can score 90+ on a Pagespeed Insights Mobile Speed Test.
If you notice anything missing from my performance guide that you think I should add, or if there is some information you believe needs to be amended (or expanded on), please let me know in the comments and I'll be sure to add a section or revise the content on the topic (if necessary) as soon as possible!
If you feel that the guide is too overwhelming and you'd prefer to have someone else optimize your site’s performance or need a consultation, feel free to DM me.
If anyone wants to be able to import a large set of free optimization plugins (and you can selectively choose which ones to download/install), download WP Favs. I do need to update the collection since I've added tons to the guide since the last time I posted this, but it's still comprehensive:
https://wordpress.org/plugins/wpfavs/
The code to import them is: JAuOGP5BZICR5LmBsPANN9kpKHfiie
The most recent additions to the guide have been: A much expanded section at the top on how to read and interpret page speed reports, an inferences section on how to read waterfall charts for information not explicitly reported in Pagespeed reports with a case study on a page on ThemeIsle's website, more expansion on misconceptions, much more information on various types of server caching and various components of server stack optimization, and so much more.
If this guide helped you out, please consider buying me a coffee! (Everybody likes coffee right?)
If anyone has any requests for additional content, please let me know in the comments!