Thread by @SybreWaaijer

Someone recently asked how to #optimize a #WordPress website. Let's begin 🧵:

1. Don't use anything created by Syed Balkhi;
2. If you sell stuff via WooCommerce, best to create a separate WordPress installation (until they hire me to fix their shit);

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3. Don't optimize scripts. In fact, turn off concatenation:

define( 'CONCATENATE_SCRIPTS', false );

4. Turn on OpCache in PHP. Tweak it via user.ini if you're on a shitty host (the next tweet shows contents).

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opcache.enable = 1
opcache.fast_shutdown = 1
opcache.interned_strings_buffer = 16
opcache.max_accelerated_files = 7963
opcache.memory_consumption = 192
opcache.revalidate_freq = 5
opcache.validate_root = 1
opcache.huge_code_pages = 1
opcache.jit_buffer_size = 256M

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5. Don't use Block themes with Full Site Editing. They'll cut the load time in half.
6. Also don't use page builders like Elementor.
7. Turn off WP Cron, and ping the script via the webhost instead (the next tweet shows how)

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Add this to wp-config.php:
define( 'DISABLE_WP_CRON', true );

Configure this at the host (ask them), every 3 minutes or more frequent if you run a shop; set example.com to your domain, obviously:

wget -q -O - example.com/wp-cron.php?do… >/dev/null 2>&1

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8. Upload a favicon.ico to the root folder of your domain. It may even be an empty file; it just has to exist. Browsers naturally try this location and might spawn a PHP process when there's no file.
9. Don't use object caching unless your database is on another server.

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10. Don't use page caching unless no user can affect your content. WordPress is dynamic.
11. Tweak MyISAM or InnoDB to fill ~50% of your available RAM. Enable auto optimization if available. This is the proper method for object caching.

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12. Use a CDN. Never use Amazon S3 or another Push CDN; always use a Pull CDN. Use KeyCDN's plugin to connect.
13. Drop the NGINX proxy on your site and use Apache or Litespeed instead. If you have a CDN, you're not serving static files, and Apache is faster for PHP.

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14. Don't use Cloudflare's free tire. Their DNS service is great, but their (free) CDN/proxy clears caches too often, so it almost always adds a delay. Besides, see 10.
15. Always set up a blog page if you have a static front page. Redirect it to home if you don't use it.

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Bonus:

16. Don't use Site Kit; it's terribly coded.
17. Don't use Jetpack or Akismet, same story.
18. Use The SEO Framework instead of other SEO plugins.

https://twitter.com/TheSEOFramework/status/1493352649445580804

If your site became slower after this, you probably have plugins and themes enabled that handle scripts badly. One example is Contact Form 7; use HTML Forms or Gravity Forms instead.

Also, disable security plugins and rely on mod_security with Comodo or OWASP. Due diligence.

If your site is static (users cannot provide content and it's not a shop), use WP Super Cache and set just one single setting:
Settings > WP Super cache > Easy > Caching > hit Caching On (Recommended). Hit "Update status"; don't touch the plugin again.

Ignore the Jetpack spam.