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WordPress Speed Checklist for Beginners

WordPress speed checklist

A fast website is not just “nice”. It improves user experience, conversions, and search visibility. The good news is that most WordPress sites get fast with a few high-impact moves, especially when you run on GOZEN HOST with LiteSpeed-powered hosting.

This checklist is built for beginners and focuses on safe, repeatable wins.

Assumptions

This guide assumes your hosting runs LiteSpeed Web Server, which is the standard setup across GOZEN HOST Shared, WordPress, and most VPS plans. If your site is on a different stack, the concepts still apply, but caching options may differ.

Regional Performance Baseline

GOZEN HOST's LiteSpeed servers in USA and Europe deliver sub-300ms TTFB out of the box. Combined with QUIC.cloud, your visitors worldwide experience fast, reliable page loads.

Before you touch anything: measure your baseline

Speed optimization without measurement is guesswork.

Step 1: Run a baseline test (2 minutes)

Use Google PageSpeed Insights and test your homepage plus one inner page (blog post or product).

Write down:

  • LCP (Largest Contentful Paint)
  • INP (Interaction to Next Paint)
  • CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift)
  • TTFB (Time to First Byte)

Step 2: Know the targets

Aim for “Good” Core Web Vitals:

  • LCP: under 2.5s
  • INP: under 200ms
  • CLS: under 0.1

TTFB rough target:

  • TTFB: 0.8s or less is a practical goal for most sites

The checklist (do it in this order)

1) Pick ONE caching stack (do not double-cache)

If you’re on LiteSpeed hosting, LiteSpeed Cache (LSCache) is usually the best first choice. It’s designed for LiteSpeed servers (like GOZEN's WordPress Hosting and cPanel Shared Hosting) and can handle caching plus optional optimization services.

Most common beginner mistake

Do not run two full-page cache plugins at the same time. Pick one for page caching.

  • Use LiteSpeed Cache for page caching and optimization.
  • Keep other caching plugins for special cases only.

2) Enable LiteSpeed Cache (high impact)

Step 1: Turn caching on

In WordPress:

  1. LiteSpeed Cache → Cache
  2. Enable:
  • Cache
  • Browser Cache

Step 2: Turn on safe “Page Optimization” basics

In LiteSpeed Cache → Page Optimization, enable only the beginner-safe features first:
- Minify CSS
- Minify JS
- HTML minify (optional)

Then retest.

Tip

If you see layout issues after minify, turn off minify and move to image optimization first. Visual stability beats “micro scores”.

3) Fix images (this is where beginners win big)

Images are usually the largest payload on beginner sites.

Step 1: Convert and compress

  • Use WebP when possible.
  • Compress before upload, or use LSCache Image Optimization.

Step 2: Lazy load

Enable lazy loading in LSCache so offscreen images load later.

Step 3: Set correct image sizes

Big mistake: uploading a 4000px photo and displaying it at 600px.
- Resize images close to the size they display on the page.

4) Choose a lightweight theme (or you will fight your own site)

Beginner-friendly performance themes:
- Astra
- GeneratePress
- Neve

Avoid heavy “kitchen-sink” themes unless you truly need them.
Your theme sets the ceiling for performance.

5) Reduce plugins and overlapping features (speed through simplicity)

Every plugin adds:
- PHP execution
- database calls
- assets (CSS/JS)

Checklist:
- Delete what you do not use (disable is not enough).
- Avoid duplicates (example: 2 SEO plugins, 2 cache plugins, 2 image optimizers).
- If a plugin adds a page builder and you do not use it, remove it.

6) Control third-party scripts (the silent performance killer)

Chat widgets, tracking pixels, video embeds, and social feeds can crush INP.

Beginner rules:
- Keep only what drives revenue or leads.
- Avoid 4 different tracking tools “just in case”.
- If you embed YouTube, use a lightweight embed method.

7) Add a CDN when your audience is not local

A CDN serves your static content from locations closer to visitors.

Options:
- QUIC.cloud integration through LSCache (simple path on LiteSpeed)
- Cloudflare (solid general-purpose CDN)

Tip

A CDN improves global load time. It does not fix heavy pages, bad themes, or bloated plugins.

8) Clean database bloat (monthly maintenance)

Over time, WordPress stores:
- revisions
- transients
- expired logs
- spam comments

Use:

  • LiteSpeed DB Optimization, or
  • a dedicated cleanup tool

If you run WooCommerce, Action Scheduler logs can grow fast. Cleanups help, but do not delete pending actions blindly.

9) Keep WordPress updated (performance and security)

Outdated plugins and themes:
- run slower
- conflict more
- create security risk

Update cadence:
- weekly for normal sites
- more frequently for active WooCommerce stores

10) Re-test and lock in the win

Re-run PageSpeed Insights and confirm improvements. PSI also reports field data (CrUX) when available, which is the stuff that matters long-term.

Focus on:
- LCP improved
- INP improved
- CLS stable
- TTFB reduced

Fast summary checklist (print this)

  • ⬜ Baseline test (PSI)
  • ⬜ Targets set (LCP, INP, CLS, TTFB)
  • ⬜ One cache plugin only (LSCache recommended)
  • ⬜ Browser cache enabled
  • ⬜ Images compressed + WebP + lazy load
  • ⬜ Lightweight theme
  • ⬜ Plugin cleanup
  • ⬜ Third-party scripts trimmed
  • ⬜ CDN (optional, global audience)
  • ⬜ Database cleanup (monthly)
  • ⬜ Re-test and verify

When it’s time to scale

If your site still feels slow after doing the checklist:
- you may be CPU-bound (too many heavy plugins)
- you may have database pressure (WooCommerce, membership, bookings)
- you may have traffic growth

At that point, upgrading to a VPS is not “luxury”. It’s the correct move for predictable performance.