WordPress Plugins May Slowing Down Your Site's Performance.

WordPress Plugins May Slowing Down Your Site’s Performance.

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Using Poorly Coded Plugins Can Hurt Your WordPress Performance

Poorly coded plugins can slow down your WordPress site, leading to frustratingly long loading times for your visitors.

Understanding which plugins cause this issue can be tricky. For instance, our website loads in under one second despite having multiple plugins installed. How do we achieve this? By carefully selecting only well-coded plugins that don’t compromise performance.

In this article, we’ll guide you on how to identify performance-draining plugins and find faster alternatives, ensuring a better experience for your visitors.

Why Do Some Plugins Slow Down Your WordPress Site?

WordPress plugins are like apps for your website. They add functionality such as contact forms, image optimization, SEO enhancements, and more. However, every plugin uses server resources—including memory, processor power, and storage when loaded.

When a visitor accesses your website, WordPress runs its core files along with all active plugins. If a plugin is poorly coded, it can cause delays, resulting in slower loading times.

Common causes of slow plugins include:

  • Inefficient PHP code that consumes excessive server resources.
  • Plugins that query the database too frequently, straining the server.
  • External resources loaded from slow third-party servers, such as scripts or fonts.
  • Bloated plugins with unnecessary features that increase load time.

The Impact of a Slow Website:
A delay of just one second can reduce conversions by 7%, page views by 11%, and customer satisfaction by 16%.

The issue isn’t the number of plugins—it’s their quality. You can run dozens of well-coded plugins without issues, but a single poorly optimized plugin can slow your site significantly.

Related : Why Is WordPress Slow? Learn How to Fix It

How to Identify Plugins Slowing Down Your WordPress Site

1. Finding Plugins That Make Slow Database Queries

Use a query monitor to identify plugins causing slow database queries. A popular option is the free Query Monitor plugin.

Steps to Use Query Monitor:

  1. Install and activate the plugin.
  2. Visit your site’s front end, hover over the Query Monitor tools in the admin bar, and select Database Queries.
  3. Click Queries by Component to view a breakdown of queries by plugin.
  4. Sort the list by the Time column to find the slowest plugins.

Plugins performing over 20–50 queries or taking longer than half a second may require attention.

2. Finding Plugins That Load Slow Resources

When a visitor views your site, their browser downloads files like images, scripts, and stylesheets. Some plugins load external or internal files which can slow this process.

Using Browser Tools to Identify Slow Resources:

  1. Open your site in Google Chrome and select Inspect under Developer Tools.
  2. Navigate to the Network tab and reload the page.
  3. Sort resources by the Time column to see which takes the longest to load.

To identify specific plugins, use the Coverage report:

  • Open More Tools> Coverage in Chrome Developer Tools.
  • Filter by /plugins/ in the URL field to find files loaded by plugins.

3. Manually Testing Each Plugin

Deactivate your plugins one by one and run a speed test after each deactivation. This method is free and straightforward but can be time-intensive.

Steps for Manual Testing:

  1. Perform an initial speed test to establish a baseline.
  2. Deactivate one plugin and run another test.
  3. Compare results to identify any significant performance improvement.
  4. Reactivate the plugin and test the next one.

For accuracy, conduct these tests on a staging site hosted on the same server as your live website.

Bonus: Optimize Mobile Performance with Google Lighthouse

Use Google Lighthouse to analyze mobile performance and identify areas for improvement. Lighthouse provides insights into render-blocking resources, unused code, and other bottlenecks.

Professional Site Speed Optimization

For more advanced performance improvements, consider hiring a professional service to optimize your site’s speed. These experts can fine-tune your site and help you achieve optimal results.

Choosing Better Plugins

When selecting WordPress plugins, prioritize well-coded options with positive reviews, regular updates, and minimal resource usage. Replacing poorly performing plugins with optimized alternatives can make a huge difference.

Pro Tip: Regularly update your plugins. Developers often release updates that fix bugs and improve performance.

Enhancing Mobile Performance with Google Lighthouse and Expert Tips

Using Google Lighthouse for Mobile Performance Optimization
Google Lighthouse is a powerful tool to improve your WordPress site’s performance, accessibility, best practices, and SEO. While it doesn’t specifically identify slow plugins, it provides critical insights into optimizing your site, particularly for Google Core Web Vitals, which directly impact user experience and SEO.

Related : Why Is WordPress Slow? Learn How to Fix It

Additionally, Lighthouse can identify slow or large scripts and resources, which may point to plugins affecting your site’s performance.

For a detailed guide, refer to the section on preparing your WordPress site for mobile in our WordPress SEO Checklist.

Professional Site Speed Optimization Services
Identifying and resolving plugin-related performance issues can be complex, especially if you’re not tech-savvy. Why not let our experts handle it?

Our Site Speed Optimization Service includes:

  • Setting up a staging site to safely test without affecting your live site.
  • Using Google Lighthouse reports to troubleshoot performance issues.
  • Updating plugins and optimizing their usage.
  • Enhancing server performance and image optimization.

Pricing starts at just $699. Contact us today for a free consultation!

Selecting High-Performance WordPress Plugins
If you’ve found plugins slowing down your site, here’s how to choose better alternatives:

  1. List Your Requirements: Identify essential features from the current plugin and consider areas for improvement.
  2. Search the Plugin Directory: Look for plugins with many active installs, high ratings, and compatibility with the latest WordPress version.
  3. Use Trusted Recommendations: Explore curated directories like the WPBeginner WordPress Solution Center for reliable, tested plugins.

Popular plugins we recommend:

  • All in One SEO (AIOSEO): Top SEO plugin.
  • MonsterInsights: Simplifies Google Analytics.
  • WPForms: Leading form builder.
  • SeedProd: No-code page builder.
  • OptinMonster: Conversion optimization software.
  • Duplicator: Backup and migration solution.

Test Before Finalizing: Run speed tests before and after installing new plugins to ensure they don’t impact performance negatively.

For more details, see our Beginner’s Guide to Choosing the Best WordPress Plugins.

Expert Resources for WordPress Performance
Boost your site’s performance with these expert guides:

By leveraging tools like Google Lighthouse and following these strategies, you can significantly enhance your WordPress site’s mobile performance while maintaining a seamless user experience.

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