{"id":6282,"date":"2022-10-10T11:45:25","date_gmt":"2022-10-10T11:45:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2022\/10\/10\/8-simple-steps-to-optimize-your-wordpress-site-for-seo\/"},"modified":"2022-10-10T11:45:25","modified_gmt":"2022-10-10T11:45:25","slug":"8-simple-steps-to-optimize-your-wordpress-site-for-seo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2022\/10\/10\/8-simple-steps-to-optimize-your-wordpress-site-for-seo\/","title":{"rendered":"8 simple steps to optimize your WordPress site for SEO"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/wp-content\/seloads\/2022\/10\/Inmotion-8-Simple-Steps-to-Optimize-Your-WordPress-Site-for-SEO-800x450.png\" alt=\"| Craig Hordlow\" class=\"wp-image-388451\" title=\"| Craig Hordlow\"><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>A fast website is a crucial part of <a href=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/top-7-seo-tips-for-wordpress-sites-385545\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener sponsored nofollow\">improving your SEO rank<\/a>; however, guides will oftentimes give generalized statements of optimization and what it can do for your website, or go in-depth into more technical aspects that might overwhelm some users.<\/p>\n<p>In this article, you will be provided with the most basic steps to improve the performance of your website without getting into the nitty gritty of code.<\/p>\n<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_81 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-grey ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Toggle Table of Content\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2022\/10\/10\/8-simple-steps-to-optimize-your-wordpress-site-for-seo\/#WordPress_websites_and_optimization\" >WordPress websites and optimization<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2022\/10\/10\/8-simple-steps-to-optimize-your-wordpress-site-for-seo\/#1_Test_your_site_speed_often\" >1. Test your site speed often<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-3' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2022\/10\/10\/8-simple-steps-to-optimize-your-wordpress-site-for-seo\/#Google_Core_Web_Vitals\" >Google Core Web Vitals<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2022\/10\/10\/8-simple-steps-to-optimize-your-wordpress-site-for-seo\/#Lighthouse_report\" >Lighthouse report<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2022\/10\/10\/8-simple-steps-to-optimize-your-wordpress-site-for-seo\/#2_Change_the_PHP_Version\" >2. Change the PHP Version<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-6\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2022\/10\/10\/8-simple-steps-to-optimize-your-wordpress-site-for-seo\/#3_Choose_a_host_focused_on_WordPress\" >3. Choose a host focused on WordPress<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-7\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2022\/10\/10\/8-simple-steps-to-optimize-your-wordpress-site-for-seo\/#4_Use_a_caching_plugin\" >4. Use a caching plugin<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-8\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2022\/10\/10\/8-simple-steps-to-optimize-your-wordpress-site-for-seo\/#5_Optimize_your_images\" >5. Optimize your images<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-9\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2022\/10\/10\/8-simple-steps-to-optimize-your-wordpress-site-for-seo\/#6_Consider_lazy_loading\" >6. Consider lazy loading<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-10\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2022\/10\/10\/8-simple-steps-to-optimize-your-wordpress-site-for-seo\/#7_Use_a_Content_Delivery_Network_CDN\" >7.\u00a0 Use a Content Delivery Network (CDN)<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-11\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2022\/10\/10\/8-simple-steps-to-optimize-your-wordpress-site-for-seo\/#8_Optimize_your_database\" >8. Optimize your database<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-12\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2022\/10\/10\/8-simple-steps-to-optimize-your-wordpress-site-for-seo\/#Continuing_your_education\" >Continuing your education<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-13\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2022\/10\/10\/8-simple-steps-to-optimize-your-wordpress-site-for-seo\/#Final_thoughts\" >Final thoughts<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"WordPress_websites_and_optimization\"><\/span><a><\/a>WordPress websites and optimization<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cloudflare.com\/learning\/performance\/why-site-speed-matters\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener sponsored nofollow\">Site speed<\/a> is more important than ever, end users will leave websites if the load time for pages or assets takes more than a couple of seconds, so every moment counts to capture your audience\u2019s attention and maintain your conversion rate.<\/p>\n<p>One of the most prevalent concerns with a part of the WordPress community is the Content Management System\u2019s (CMS) speed.<\/p>\n<p>This pressure for faster websites was one of the reasons why the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.inmotionhosting.com\/blog\/wordpress-performance-team\/?mktgp=t&amp;utm_campaign=wordpress-gtm-sponsored-article&amp;utm_source=sel&amp;utm_medium=content&amp;affiliates=2106307&amp;p_type=interest&amp;p_prod=wp&amp;p_ev=awareness\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener sponsored nofollow\">Performance Team<\/a> was created by the community, as there was fear WordPress was falling behind some of its competitors.<\/p>\n<p>While new integrations are being added to WordPress core, the good news is that many of the lightning-fast websites run WordPress as their CMS, and if you are struggling with yours it could be easily fixed with the following tips.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"1_Test_your_site_speed_often\"><\/span><a><\/a>1. Test your site speed often<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>The first step to improving your website\u2019s speed is to test it to see what can be improved.<\/p>\n<p>There are hundreds of tests to choose from online when checking performance, however, we will focus on Google Web Core Vitals and Lighthouse Reports.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Google_Core_Web_Vitals\"><\/span><a><\/a>Google Core Web Vitals<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Initiated by Google, <a href=\"https:\/\/web.dev\/vitals\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener sponsored nofollow\">Core Web Vitals<\/a> is one of the most important sites for speed tests on the internet currently, giving you information on the different fields that affect your website.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"421\" src=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/wp-content\/seloads\/2022\/10\/Inmotion-Google-Core-Web-Vitals-800x421.png\" alt=\"| Craig Hordlow\" class=\"wp-image-388452\" title=\"| Craig Hordlow\"><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>Currently, Core Web Vitals is very focused on user experience, with measurements such as loading performance, interactivity and visual stability; however, it is expressly mentioned that these factors can change in the future.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Lighthouse_report\"><\/span><a><\/a>Lighthouse report<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>If you are familiar with <a href=\"https:\/\/gtmetrix.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener sponsored nofollow\">GTMetrix<\/a> and other popular free speed test tools, you have been using <a href=\"https:\/\/web.dev\/measure\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener sponsored nofollow\">Lighthouse Report Technology<\/a>. It is an open-source technology, also by Google, that breaks down your website speed.<\/p>\n<p>Similarly to Web Core Vitals, this report is incredibly thorough and will provide a breakdown of issues that could be slowing down your page, from general performance, accessibility, best practices, and SEO.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"2_Change_the_PHP_Version\"><\/span><a><\/a>2. Change the PHP Version<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>PHP (Hypertext Preprocessor), is the coding language WordPress is based on. This means as WordPress grows in versions, it will need the latest version of this scripting language.<\/p>\n<p>Thankfully, WordPress has a PHP warning if it believes your current version of the CMS is not compatible or needs a newer version installed.<\/p>\n<p>Currently, it is recommended that you run PHP 8 or PHP 8.1 for a stable version of WordPress, or at the minimum PHP 7.4.<\/p>\n<p>PHP version 7.4 will continue to have security fixes until November 28, 2022. Once a version of software stops receiving security updates, it reaches its \u201cend of life\u201d and is no longer recommended for use.<\/p>\n<p>If your web host does not update your PHP version automatically, you can switch between different versions across sites using <a href=\"https:\/\/www.inmotionhosting.com\/support\/website\/how-to-change-the-php-version-your-account-uses\/?mktgp=t&amp;utm_campaign=wordpress-gtm-sponsored-article&amp;utm_source=sel&amp;utm_medium=content&amp;affiliates=2106307&amp;p_type=interest&amp;p_prod=wp&amp;p_ev=awareness\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener sponsored nofollow\">cPanel<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"3_Choose_a_host_focused_on_WordPress\"><\/span><a><\/a>3. Choose a host focused on WordPress<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Site speed goes deeper than hosting, however, the web host you choose will be the foundation for your website.<\/p>\n<p>A host that is focused on providing you with the best performance for your WordPress site comes down to the server infrastructure.<\/p>\n<p>At InMotion Hosting, we provide our customers with high-performance servers that are fine-tuned for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.inmotionhosting.com\/wordpress-vps?mktgp=t&amp;utm_campaign=wordpress-gtm-sponsored-article&amp;utm_source=sel&amp;utm_medium=content&amp;affiliates=2106307&amp;p_type=interest&amp;p_prod=wp&amp;p_ev=awareness\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener sponsored nofollow\">WordPress<\/a>. Our custom UltraStack configuration is designed to make your server incredibly fast and efficient using NVMe SSD, NGINX, PHP-FPM and Redis. No additional software configuration is necessary for you to see a significant improvement in your WordPress performance.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"4_Use_a_caching_plugin\"><\/span><a><\/a>4. Use a caching plugin<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Some of the most popular plugins in the WordPress ecosystem are caching plugins. They are advertised as a sure way to boost your website\u2019s performance, but what do they really do?<\/p>\n<p>In simple terms caching occurs when your computer remembers frequently used data from a website to save time.<\/p>\n<p>This means when you pull up a website, your computer first looks locally to see if it has a recently cached version to view.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"670\" height=\"600\" src=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/wp-content\/seloads\/2022\/10\/Inmotion-How-Caching-Works-670x600.png\" alt=\"| Craig Hordlow\" class=\"wp-image-388454\" title=\"| Craig Hordlow\"><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>Since WordPress sites are dynamic, every time an end-user requests your website it pulls content from the host. The website will try to load any new data and might be slower because of this.<\/p>\n<p>If you don\u2019t update your website often, using a caching plugin whose main job is to create a static version of your website that can be cached can increase your site\u2019s speed.<\/p>\n<p>These days caching plugins have different ways to increase your performance, from minimizing files to optimizing images and more.<\/p>\n<p>Here are a few popular and free <a href=\"https:\/\/www.inmotionhosting.com\/blog\/top-5-best-wordpress-caching-plugins\/?mktgp=t&amp;utm_campaign=wordpress-gtm-sponsored-article&amp;utm_source=sel&amp;utm_medium=content&amp;affiliates=2106307&amp;p_type=interest&amp;p_prod=wp&amp;p_ev=awareness\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener sponsored nofollow\">WordPress caching plugins<\/a>:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>W3 Total Cache:<\/strong> A caching plugin with a large number of options to tailor the caching capabilities of your website. This hosting agnostic plugin improves performance and reduces page load times by offering minification, object caching, database caching, cache-control and more.<\/li>\n<li><strong>WP Super Cache:<\/strong> This caching plugin from Automatic generates static HTML files from dynamic WordPress files and serves them to site visitors at lightning speeds.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Due to compatibility issues, we do not recommend having more than one caching plugin active at the time, as activating multiple plugins is counterproductive for optimization purposes.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"5_Optimize_your_images\"><\/span><a><\/a>5. Optimize your images<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Images can be deceivingly large files. Therefore, when your computer calls for information from the host it can be one of the last things to load.<\/p>\n<p>Optimizing your images can be done before or after the upload then to your website. WordPress supports <a href=\"https:\/\/www.inmotionhosting.com\/support\/edu\/wordpress\/wp-releases\/wordpress-5-8-webp-support\/?mktgp=t&amp;utm_campaign=wordpress-gtm-sponsored-article&amp;utm_source=sel&amp;utm_medium=content&amp;affiliates=2106307&amp;p_type=interest&amp;p_prod=wp&amp;p_ev=awareness\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener sponsored nofollow\">WebP images<\/a> which are optimized images introduced by Google that retain the quality of the photo without taking up a lot of space.<\/p>\n<p>Image optimization plugins are also a popular choice for WordPress users. Our recommendations include:<\/p>\n<ol type=\"1\">\n<li>Performance Lab: The Performance Lab plugin is a great resource to have for WebP image conversion and other optimization settings.<\/li>\n<li>Smush: One of the most popular plugins in WordPress, Smush automatically compresses and optimizes images as you upload them. You might need to upgrade to premium for bulk editing more than 50 images or compressing files larger than 5MB.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"6_Consider_lazy_loading\"><\/span><a><\/a>6. Consider lazy loading<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Contrary to what their name suggests, lazy loading is a great way to increase your site speed.<\/p>\n<p>A lazy loader will load your content only when it is needed, decreasing the number of asset and server requests to render your website.<\/p>\n<p>Certain optimization plugins now include lazy loading as one of their options, including Jetpack and WP Rocket, though sometimes this perk is offered at a premium price.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"7_Use_a_Content_Delivery_Network_CDN\"><\/span><a><\/a>7.\u00a0 Use a Content Delivery Network (CDN)<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.inmotionhosting.com\/blog\/what-is-a-content-delivery-network\/?mktgp=t&amp;utm_campaign=wordpress-gtm-sponsored-article&amp;utm_source=sel&amp;utm_medium=content&amp;affiliates=2106307&amp;p_type=interest&amp;p_prod=wp&amp;p_ev=awareness\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener sponsored nofollow\">Content Delivery Networks<\/a> have become a hot topic for web hosting, and for good reason. A CDN is a way for your end-users to access your website at a faster rate due to their servers caching your site data.<\/p>\n<p>Similarly to caching plugins, this helps users load up content without having to request it fresh every time they pull your site.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"389\" src=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/wp-content\/seloads\/2022\/10\/Inmotion-How-CDNs-Work-800x389.png\" alt=\"| Craig Hordlow\" class=\"wp-image-388455\" title=\"| Craig Hordlow\"><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>Having a CDN also heightens your website security, and certain brands even have implementations to protect you from DDoS attacks.<\/p>\n<p>If you are interested in a CDN but do not currently have the budget for one, Cloudflare offers a personal account for free, which has access to its CDN services.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"8_Optimize_your_database\"><\/span><a><\/a>8. Optimize your database<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>The information stored in your database is the heart of your website. It contains all the important WordPress installation details and files from your plugin, pages and even comments users make.<\/p>\n<p>Because of the way WordPress stores data, your database will need optimization. Database tables store things like post revisions, spam comments and deleted posts. These entries take up space and slow your site down.<\/p>\n<p>Removing these unnecessary files can improve your site speed because the tables where the data is stored will be smaller and data will be easier to process for your end users.<\/p>\n<p>Fortunately, you do not have to go through your database manually to optimize it, you can use a plugin such as WP-Optimize with database optimization capabilities.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Continuing_your_education\"><\/span><a><\/a>Continuing your education<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>If you are interested in learning more about <a href=\"https:\/\/www.inmotionhosting.com\/wordpress-vps?mktgp=t&amp;utm_campaign=wordpress-gtm-sponsored-article&amp;utm_source=sel&amp;utm_medium=content&amp;affiliates=2106307&amp;p_type=interest&amp;p_prod=wp&amp;p_ev=awareness\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener sponsored nofollow\">WordPress optimized hosting<\/a> and how you can improve your website speed and SEO, check out InMotion Hosting\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.inmotionhosting.com\/support\/edu\/wordpress\/?mktgp=t&amp;utm_campaign=wordpress-gtm-sponsored-article&amp;utm_source=sel&amp;utm_medium=content&amp;affiliates=2106307&amp;p_type=interest&amp;p_prod=wp&amp;p_ev=awareness\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener sponsored nofollow\">WordPress Education Channel<\/a> for further articles and guides.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Final_thoughts\"><\/span><a><\/a>Final thoughts<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Site speed will always be an important factor for SEO. Ensuring that your WordPress site is up to date and optimized will do wonders for your ranking.<\/p>\n<p>Learn more about how <a href=\"https:\/\/www.inmotionhosting.com\/wordpress-vps?mktgp=t&amp;utm_campaign=wordpress-gtm-sponsored-article&amp;utm_source=sel&amp;utm_medium=content&amp;affiliates=2106307&amp;p_type=interest&amp;p_prod=wp&amp;p_ev=awareness\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener sponsored nofollow\">WordPress VPS<\/a> with UltraStack can help improve your WordPress performance.<\/p>\n<p>The post <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/8-simple-steps-to-optimize-your-wordpress-site-for-seo-388450\" target=\"_blank\">8 simple steps to optimize your WordPress site for SEO<\/a> appeared first on <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Search Engine Land<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A fast website is a crucial part of improving your SEO rank; however, guides will oftentimes give generalized statements of optimization and what it can do for your website, or go in-depth into more technical aspects that might overwhelm some users. In this article, you will be provided with the most basic steps to improve the performance of your website without getting into the nitty gritty of code. WordPress websites and optimization Site speed is more important than ever, end users will leave websites if the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"h5ap_radio_sources":[],"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6282","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-best-seo-blogs"],"featured_image_src":null,"featured_image_src_square":null,"author_info":{"display_name":false,"author_link":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/author\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6282","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6282"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6282\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6282"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6282"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6282"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}