I need to better understand optimisation option

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Anonymous
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I have two Wordpress sites with Inmotion, and I'm trying to speed them up,


Using the Cache Manager I have set up caching for both sites. One of them has NGINX Helper plugin installed, the other doesn't (I didn't realise until now that was the case). I have also tested out various optimisation plugins, including Autoptimise, Hummingbird, WP Optimise and Fastest Cache, singly or Autoptimise together with one other. None of them seemed to speed things up any more than when I just used the Inmotion caching, so I deactivated them all.

Yet my load speeds seem to have dropped recently. I have a very fast minimal theme, but Google Page Speed Insights says my slower loads are caused by "render-blocking resources". It advises me to " inline critical assets and defer less important resources". So my questions to you are these please:

1. Do I need both the Inmotion cache and the NGINX Helper plugin to increase load speed?
2. If I have both of these, do I need another optimisation plugin as well? Which would you recommend for my situation?

3. Does caching (either Inmotion's cache or caching plugins) address the issues raised by Google Page Speed Insights? Does the Autoptimise plugin or any other plugin address those issues?

4. Do you know of any reason why my testing didn't show any speed advantage with any of the plugins? Do I need to wait for a few days/weeks to get the advantage of them, or should they help straightaway?

Thanks for any advice you can offer.

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anonymous
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Hello, 

Thank you for your question regarding site load speed. Unfortuantely, without being able to thoroughly review your website, it is difficult for me to provide specific answers in some cases. 

1. Both of these plugins should assist in caching, which should help speed up page loading in many instances. However, if not all page elements are being cached, these benefits may be lessened. 

2. Unfortunately, I am not able to recommend any specific plugins, but you may find additional benefits in using other optimization plugins. If you are serving up a lot of high-resolution images, you may want to consider using a Content Delivery Network or CDN as well. CDNs distribute the load across a broader network, reducing the burden on the hosting server and thus speeding up load times. 

3. The issue raised by the Google Page Speed Insights utility indicates that there are scripts or some other part of the site code preventing the site from loading more quickly. I recommend reviewing which page elements load first to determine which resource specifically is the culprit.  

4. Unfortunately, I cannot speak to efficacy of 3rd party testing resources. It is possible that the aforementioned issues prevented the caching plugins from providing any tangible benefit. Alternatively, it is possible that the caching plugins themselves are not configured properly and not caching larger page elements. 

I do hope this information is helpful, please let us know if you have any further questions. 

Best Regards, 

Alyssa K.

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1
anonymous
  • Answer
  • Answered

Hello, 

Thank you for your question regarding site load speed. Unfortuantely, without being able to thoroughly review your website, it is difficult for me to provide specific answers in some cases. 

1. Both of these plugins should assist in caching, which should help speed up page loading in many instances. However, if not all page elements are being cached, these benefits may be lessened. 

2. Unfortunately, I am not able to recommend any specific plugins, but you may find additional benefits in using other optimization plugins. If you are serving up a lot of high-resolution images, you may want to consider using a Content Delivery Network or CDN as well. CDNs distribute the load across a broader network, reducing the burden on the hosting server and thus speeding up load times. 

3. The issue raised by the Google Page Speed Insights utility indicates that there are scripts or some other part of the site code preventing the site from loading more quickly. I recommend reviewing which page elements load first to determine which resource specifically is the culprit.  

4. Unfortunately, I cannot speak to efficacy of 3rd party testing resources. It is possible that the aforementioned issues prevented the caching plugins from providing any tangible benefit. Alternatively, it is possible that the caching plugins themselves are not configured properly and not caching larger page elements. 

I do hope this information is helpful, please let us know if you have any further questions. 

Best Regards, 

Alyssa K.