A few years ago I wrote a guide on how to get a perfect 100/100 score on Pagespeed Insights, Pingdom and GTMetrix. A lot of time has passed since then. The rules have changed and I’ve learned new, easier ways to optimize my WordPress blog. In this post I’ll show you an updated approach to completely optimize your blog using a few efficiënt, easy to use plugins.
May 27th Google integrated Lighthouse 6 into Pagespeed Insights tool, containing major changes and focussing more on UX and less on server performance. In short, the information in this post is out dated and there is no fixed set of steps anymore to raise your PageSpeed Scores. More specifically, having a high PageSpeed score does not guarantee passing the Core Web Vitals assessment. Click here for tips on how to pass this assessment.
The Easiest Way to get a 100/100 score on Pingdom and Pagespeed Insights
In order to speed up your WordPress website you’re going to need the right tools. Luckily all of these very powerful plugins are free.
- WP Fastest Cache,
- Autoptimize,
And if you’re using Google Fonts and/or Google Analytics:
- OMGF,
- CAOS.
In my previous post I was convinced W3 Total Cache (W3TC) was the way to go when it came to page caching. Over time I learned that W3TC should be seen somewhat as a pro-package. If your blog is hosted on a VPS or Dedicated Server — which most WordPress blogs aren’t — W3TC offers you the tools to tweak it to peak performance.
However, most WordPress blogs aren’t on dedicated hosting, but rather shared hosting — so am I. The developers already confessed that W3TC’s minification method took up too much resources for these types of hosting packages. So we’ll be sticking to Autoptimize to minify and combine our JavaScript (JS) and Stylesheets (CSS).
Today I will show you how WP Fastest Cache and Autoptimize will make you score higher in Google Pagespeed Insights and Pingdom.
Installing the Plugins
I assume you know how to install plugins from within your own WordPress installation. If not, click the link. After you’ve installed and activated the plugins through the repository, continue with this tutorial.
Sorry for the delay in answering you. Now I tried again with and without Autoptimize and I cannot find any more errors. Sorry for wasting your time.
Thanks and greetings 🙂 Martina
Now I understand:
the last to options in Autoptimize-options: if I activate them (save script in a static way and optimize also for other users – should be the translation) I CAUSE problems. If they are DEactivated: all fine!
Sorry Daan, I come back again for this problem that seems to be a GHOST PROBLEM:
it is not always like that.
Today it was on: https://www.aloebenessere.it/prodotti-per-uso-esterno-della-forever/ browsing with FIREFOX. The last button (shampoo) on the left site in this row was like 80% SMALLER!
I deaktivated Autoptimize: it works perfect (in a cleaned Browser) and than reactivated it. This time the visualizzation problem does not come back.
I think there is no sense to try with CSS (not thinking of the fact that I do not know CSS) because the GHOST PROBLEM come one day here, one day there….
Some days I deaktivated Autoptimize because of this but yesterday I put it again on all my 8 homepages because your tipps REALLY makes a SPEED DIFFERENCE!
Any ideas?
Thank you, Greetings, Martina
Hello Daan,
Great article. I just followed your tutorial and it brought some interesting speed developments on my website. But still, I am getting warnings in Google Page Speed Insights against analytics code. I installed your plugin and entered the tracking ID. should I make any modifications there?
Waiting for your reply,
Hi Manoj,
I’ve ran your site through Pagespeed Insights and appearantly you’re still loading analytics.js externally. It states the source is: /analytics.js (www.google-analytics.com). This isn’t created by CAOS, because CAOS copies the file to your localhost. Whichever plugin or head-code is adding this to your website, you can remove it. Cause CAOS is taking care of it now 🙂
The caching plugin “WP Fastest Cache (WPFC)” is no longer available. Is there another caching plugin you would suggest.
I’m not sure what you mean? It’s right here: https://nl.wordpress.org/plugins/wp-fastest-cache/
Dear Daan,
I am trying to implement your suggestions on this site: https://www.akcalarmobilya.com But in Autoptimize, under the Extras tab, there is not such option as “CSS Options”? Is this because they have updated the plugin or? :/
Sincerely,
Bobo
It isn’t underneath the ‘Extra’-tab. It’s underneath the ‘Main’-tab. Click ‘show advanced options’ to reveal all options.