WordPress Speed Optimization Checklist

A concise optimization checklist ordered from high-level architecture down to front-end polish.

Infrastructure

Use supported PHP, adequate hosting resources, HTTPS, a healthy database and the caching layers recommended by your host.

Caching

Choose one page-cache owner, configure cache exclusions for dynamic areas and use preloading where it makes sense.

Media

Resize images to display dimensions, use efficient formats, avoid autoplay-heavy media and lazy-load non-critical assets.

CSS and JavaScript

Remove unused assets where possible, load critical resources early, delay non-essential work and test every interactive feature.

Third parties

Audit tags, chat widgets, ad scripts, heatmaps and external fonts. The fastest code is often code you do not load.

Monitoring

Recheck Core Web Vitals and representative page templates after major theme, plugin or marketing changes.