WordPress Site Speed Auditor

This skill provides a comprehensive performance audit framework for WordPress sites, themes, and plugins.

When to Use This Skill

Invoke this skill when:

•Analyzing a WordPress theme or plugin for performance issues
•User requests a site speed audit or performance review
•Investigating slow page loads or performance complaints
•Optimizing a WordPress site for better Core Web Vitals
•Reviewing code before deployment to catch performance issues

Audit Checklist

1. Image & Media Optimization

Check for:

Recommendations:

•Convert JPEG/PNG to WebP (30% smaller file sizes)
•Use lazy loading for all images below the fold
•Implement responsive images with srcset
•Use external video hosting (YouTube, Vimeo) with lazy loading
•Optimize images before upload or use plugins (Smush, ShortPixel, Imagify)

2. Database & Query Optimization

Check for:

Tools to use:

•Query Monitor plugin - Identifies slow queries and query counts
•WP-CLI: wp db optimize - Optimize database tables
•WP-CLI: wp transient delete --all - Clear expired transients
•WP-CLI: wp post list --post_type=revision --format=count - Count revisions

Recommendations:

•Limit post revisions in wp-config.php: define('WP_POST_REVISIONS', 3);
•Clean database regularly (WP-Optimize plugin)
•Implement object caching (Redis, Memcached)
•Add indexes for frequently queried meta keys
•Use transients for expensive query results
•Implement proper query result caching

3. Plugin & Theme Performance

Check for:

Recommendations:

•Deactivate and remove unused plugins
•Replace heavy plugins with lightweight alternatives
•Use Query Monitor to identify resource-intensive plugins
•Choose lightweight themes (GeneratePress, Astra, Kadence)
•Avoid page builders for simple sites
•Limit font weights and character sets
•Use SVG icons instead of icon fonts

4. Caching Implementation

Check for:

• Page caching - Is static HTML being generated and served?
• Browser caching - Are proper cache headers set for static assets?
• Object caching - Is persistent object caching (Redis/Memcached) enabled?
• Opcode caching - Is OPcache enabled on the server?
• Cache preloading - Is cache automatically generated for critical pages?
• Cache exclusions - Are dynamic pages (cart, checkout) properly excluded?
• CDN integration - Are static assets served from a CDN?
• Cache invalidation - Does cache clear properly on content updates?

Recommendations:

•Install caching plugin (WP Rocket, WP Super Cache, W3 Total Cache)
•Enable page caching for anonymous users
•Implement object caching with Redis or Memcached
•Configure browser caching with far-future expiration headers
•Use CDN (Cloudflare, BunnyCDN, StackPath) for static assets
•Enable cache preloading for better first-visit performance

5. Asset Optimization (CSS/JS)

Check for:

Recommendations:

•Minify CSS/JS files (Autoptimize, WP Rocket)
•Combine files where appropriate (be careful with HTTP/2)
•Defer non-critical JavaScript with defer or async attributes
•Inline critical above-the-fold CSS
•Remove unused CSS (PurgeCSS, UnCSS)
•Load JavaScript in footer when possible
•Use vanilla JavaScript instead of jQuery for simple tasks
•Enable GZIP/Brotli compression (reduces files by 70-90%)

6. Server & Hosting Configuration

Check for:

• PHP version - Using PHP 7.4 or older (should be 8.1+)
• Server resources - Memory limits, max execution time
• HTTP/2 or HTTP/3 - Modern HTTP protocol support
• GZIP/Brotli compression - Compression enabled for text assets
• Keep-Alive - Connection persistence enabled
• DNS lookup time - Slow DNS resolution
• Server location - Geographic distance from target audience
• Shared hosting - Resource limitations from shared environment
• Server response time - TTFB (Time To First Byte) over 200ms

Recommendations:

•Upgrade to PHP 8.1 or 8.2 (30-50% performance improvement)
•Increase PHP memory limit to at least 256MB
•Ensure HTTP/2 or HTTP/3 is enabled
•Enable GZIP or Brotli compression
•Use quality managed WordPress hosting (WP Engine, Kinsta, Cloudways)
•Consider upgrading from shared to VPS/dedicated hosting
•Use server closer to target audience or implement CDN

7. Core Web Vitals & User Experience

Check for:

• Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) - Should be under 2.5 seconds
• First Input Delay (FID) - Should be under 100 milliseconds
• Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) - Should be under 0.1
• First Contentful Paint (FCP) - Should be under 1.8 seconds
• Time to Interactive (TTI) - Should be under 3.8 seconds
• Total Blocking Time (TBT) - Should be under 200 milliseconds
• Layout shifts - Images without dimensions causing shifts
• Font loading - FOUT (Flash of Unstyled Text) or FOIT (Flash of Invisible Text)

Tools to measure:

•Google PageSpeed Insights
•GTmetrix
•WebPageTest
•Chrome DevTools Lighthouse
•Core Web Vitals Chrome extension

Recommendations:

•Optimize LCP element (usually hero image or heading)
•Add width/height attributes to images to prevent CLS
•Use font-display: swap for web fonts
•Minimize JavaScript execution time for better FID/TBT
•Implement critical CSS for faster FCP
•Preload key resources (fonts, hero images)

8. HTTP Requests & Resource Loading

Check for:

• Total HTTP requests - More than 50 requests is concerning
• Third-party requests - Excessive external domain requests
• Duplicate resources - Same resource loaded multiple times
• Large resources - Files over 1MB being loaded
• Blocking resources - Resources blocking page render
• Preconnect/prefetch - Missing resource hints for external domains
• Lazy loading scripts - Scripts loading when not needed
• Analytics overhead - Multiple tracking scripts

Recommendations:

•Reduce total HTTP requests (combine files, use sprites)
•Minimize third-party script usage
•Use resource hints: preconnect, dns-prefetch, preload
•Defer non-critical resources
•Implement lazy loading for images and iframes
•Consolidate analytics tools (use Google Tag Manager)
•Remove duplicate resources

9. WordPress-Specific Optimizations

Check for:

• Heartbeat API - Running too frequently
• Embeds - wp-embed.js loading when not needed
• Emojis - Emoji script/styles loading unnecessarily
• Dashicons - Dashicons loading on frontend
• REST API - Excessive REST API calls on frontend
• wp-cron - Heavy scheduled tasks during peak traffic
• Gutenberg styles - Block styles loading when not using blocks
• jQuery Migrate - Old jQuery migrate script still loading

Recommendations:

•Disable/limit Heartbeat API frequency
•Remove emoji scripts if not needed
•Dequeue Dashicons on frontend (unless using them)
•Disable embeds if not using WordPress embeds
•Replace wp-cron with real cron jobs
•Remove jQuery Migrate if not needed
•Conditionally load Gutenberg styles only when needed

10. Code Quality & Best Practices

Check for:

• Inline styles - Excessive inline CSS in HTML
• Inline scripts - JavaScript directly in HTML
• External dependencies - Heavy external libraries for simple tasks
• Unoptimized loops - Expensive operations in loops
• File I/O in loops - File reads/writes in repeated operations
• Remote requests - API calls without caching/timeouts
• Error suppression - Using @ operator hiding performance issues
• Debug mode - WP_DEBUG enabled in production
• Disabled caching - Development constants in production

Recommendations:

•Move inline styles to external stylesheets
•Move inline scripts to external files
•Cache expensive operation results
•Avoid file operations in loops
•Cache external API responses with transients
•Remove debug mode and development constants in production
•Use WordPress coding standards and best practices

Audit Output Format

Provide audit results in this structure:

code

## WordPress Performance Audit Results

### Critical Issues (Fix Immediately)
1. [Issue] - [Impact] - [Recommendation]

### High Priority (Fix Soon)
1. [Issue] - [Impact] - [Recommendation]

### Medium Priority (Optimize When Possible)
1. [Issue] - [Impact] - [Recommendation]

### Low Priority (Nice to Have)
1. [Issue] - [Impact] - [Recommendation]

### Strengths (Already Optimized)
1. [What's working well]

## Estimated Performance Impact
- Current estimated load time: [X] seconds
- After optimizations: [Y] seconds
- Potential improvement: [Z]%

## Implementation Priority
1. [First thing to fix - highest impact/effort ratio]
2. [Second priority]
3. [Third priority]

Key Performance Metrics to Report

Always include these metrics when available:

•Page load time (target: <3 seconds)
•Time to First Byte (target: <200ms)
•Total page size (target: <2MB)
•Number of HTTP requests (target: <50)
•Largest Contentful Paint (target: <2.5s)
•First Input Delay (target: <100ms)
•Cumulative Layout Shift (target: <0.1)

Tools & Commands Reference

WP-CLI Commands:

bash

wp plugin list --status=active  # List active plugins
wp db optimize                  # Optimize database
wp transient delete --all       # Clear transients
wp cache flush                  # Clear cache
wp option list --autoload=yes   # Check autoloaded options

Query Monitor Checks:

•Database queries (count and slow queries)
•HTTP API requests
•Hooks & actions
•Scripts & styles
•Languages (translation files)

Browser DevTools:

•Network tab - Resource sizes and timing
•Performance tab - Flame charts and bottlenecks
•Lighthouse - Core Web Vitals and performance score
•Coverage tab - Unused CSS/JS

Remember

•Focus on high-impact, low-effort optimizations first
•Measure before and after every optimization
•Test on real devices with throttled connections
•Don't over-optimize - diminishing returns after core issues fixed
•Mobile performance is critical for SEO and user experience
•Core Web Vitals directly impact Google rankings