I finally got the go ahead to launch a site I’ve been building for a few months and while its all currently functional, The site and it’s pages are taking roughly twice as long to load as they did on my testing server. I do not personally know if this has something to do with the server or if WordPress is configured incorrectly, nor do I know how to figure out what the problem is. The testing server was on the latest version of PHP while the final site is only using PHP v 7.2. and I do not have a SSL cert for the final site at the moment either. I don’t know if either of these things affect the speed.
Testing site: interstatesteel1.caprockvetclinic.com
Final site: interstatesteeltexas.com
I’m also looking for other page speed suggestions if anyone has one. I’ve browsed quite a number of form posts, articles, and reddit discussions on wordpress speed improvements. I’ve implemented every free suggestion I could find and know how to do including:
1. Compress and reduce picture and upload sizes on everything I can using jpg and webp images across the board.
2. Installing and setting up W3 total cache
3. Optimizing the database with WPOptimize plugin
4. Using minify to reduce picture sizes after upload.
5. Using the lightest weight theme I could find.
6. Probably some other suggestions I have since forgotten.
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Preload your LCP in the header. Get the server updated to at least PHP8.0 – 7.4 end of life is basically now. Get the SSL installed (causes slow down due to redirects). Retest – with the environment variables closer to that of the development server. And then follow up here.
Yes, the PHP version makes a difference – try using v8 first, but if you have issues, jump down to 7.4. Do not go lower than 7.4, those versions are not secure.
Caching also helps a lot. I prefer WP Rocket (paid), but W3TC should be enough.
I also see significant file size improvements for JPG/PNGs when converting to WebP – use “WebP Express” – it’ll convert your jpg/png’s on the fly, and only serve them to browsers that accept them (which is most browsers these days anyway)