Resource Optimization
Updated last month
WordPress is a highly versatile tool, and its vast selection of available plugins and themes often leads our site to consume more resources than it should.
To that end, we recommend taking the following steps as part of the time-tested best practices that help ensure our website stays secure and well optimized.
Worth noting: if we’d prefer Duplika to take care of every detail and professionally optimize our site, let’s consider the Managed WordPress service.
PHP Settings
Previously, cPanel allowed PHP settings to be adjusted using variables in our account’s .htaccess file. This offered some flexibility, but it also required the PHP engine to check that file before running a process.
Thanks to Cloudlinux, Duplika offers a native PHP selector, which lets us configure the version from cPanel without modifying files on our website.
We recommend using PHP 8.3 or later.
Next, it’s best to remove any manual PHP settings from .htaccess (if any) and delete any php.ini or user.ini files.
Keep Everything Up to Date
The golden rule—the first security measure we must follow without exception—is to keep our platform 100% up to date at all times (including specific apps such as WordPress, Drupal, Joomla, Magento, etc.).
This can be difficult when a plugin or theme is no longer maintained by its developers. In such cases, we should consider alternative plugins or themes that meet our design and functionality requirements.
WordPress, plugins, and themes must be 100% up to date to prevent speed issues and, above all, security problems.
Cache Plugin
Every visit involves processing many MySQL queries to retrieve all the content our site publishes in each section. In other words, in most cases, hundreds of queries run simultaneously (we can see this in our account’s usage details—we recommend UsageDD).
A cache plugin takes a “snapshot” of the results of all the queries so it can serve a static version of the content, bypassing most of the server queries. These components can be configured to suit our needs and offer options ranging from simple, automated settings to fine-grained controls for advanced webmasters.
Our servers run LiteSpeed Web Server, the software that enables LiteSpeed Cache for WordPress, one of the world’s best cache and optimization plugins.
Check the Site Health Report
Several versions ago, WordPress introduced a Site Health report, which continues to improve and helps us get an overview of everything happening “under the hood.”
It’s available from the Tools -> Site Health menu.