WordPress performance optimization

WordPress performance is directly tied to page load speed, SEO rankings, and bounce rate. UnderHost shared hosting includes Redis, Nginx, and NVMe SSD-take advantage of these to serve pages quickly even without a VPS.

Page caching

Caching stores pre-built HTML pages so WordPress doesn't have to process PHP and database queries for every visitor. Install one caching plugin (not multiple):

• WP Rocket-Premium, easiest to configure, best results
• W3 Total Cache-Free, many options, more complex configuration
• LiteSpeed Cache-Free, excellent on servers with Nginx/LiteSpeed
• WP Super Cache-Simple free option for small sites

After installing a caching plugin, enable page cache and browser cache at minimum.

Redis object cache

UnderHost shared hosting includes Redis, an in-memory key-value store that dramatically speeds up WordPress database queries by caching them in RAM.

1. Install the Redis Object Cache plugin by Till Krüss
2. Go to Settings → Redis
3. Click Enable Object Cache
4. The status should change to "Connected"

You don't need to configure Redis credentials-the plugin auto-connects to the server's Redis instance.

Image optimization

Large images are often the biggest performance bottleneck. Optimize them:

• Use WebP format instead of JPEG/PNG (smaller file size, same quality)
• Install ShortPixel or Smush to auto-compress images on upload
• Enable lazy loading (WordPress does this by default since 5.5)
• Set a maximum image size appropriate for your layout (e.g. 1920px wide maximum)

Database optimization

Over time, WordPress databases accumulate overhead from revisions, spam comments, and transient options. Clean them periodically:

• Install WP-Optimize and run a database cleanup
• Limit post revisions: add define('WP_POST_REVISIONS', 5); to wp-config.php
• In phpMyAdmin, run OPTIMIZE TABLE on large tables
• Delete spam and trash comments

Plugin audit

Every active plugin adds PHP execution time. Audit your plugins:

• Deactivate plugins you don't actively use
• Replace multiple feature-specific plugins with one well-coded alternative
• Use Query Monitor to find slow database queries caused by specific plugins
• Avoid pagebuilders with excessive scripts if performance is a priority

CDN with Cloudflare

Cloudflare's free plan caches static assets (CSS, JS, images) on servers worldwide and delivers them from the location closest to each visitor. Enable it by:

1. Adding your site to Cloudflare and updating nameservers
2. Enabling the proxy (orange cloud) on your domain's DNS records
3. Setting SSL mode to Full (Strict) in Cloudflare → SSL/TLS

Use the latest PHP

PHP 8.1 and 8.2 are significantly faster than PHP 7.x. Switching to a supported PHP 8.x version (in cPanel → MultiPHP Manager) can reduce page generation time noticeably. Always test plugin compatibility after switching.

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