Make your website faster – improve load time and Core Web Vitals

In short

Measure first, then optimise the biggest brakes: oversized images, missing caching, outdated PHP, too many plugins and scripts. With compressed images (WebP), a cache, a current PHP version and a tidy database, most sites become noticeably faster. A plan with more power only helps if the site is already clean.

Measure first

What you do not measure, you cannot improve. Use:

• PageSpeed Insights (Google): measurements and concrete hints.
• Developer tools in the browser (F12), Network tab: shows what is how large and how long it takes.
• WebPageTest or similar services for tests from different locations.

Measure the home page and a subpage, several times, and compare before and after each change.

Core Web Vitals

Google rates three values in particular:

Value	Meaning	Good is	Typical brake
LCP (Largest Contentful Paint)	When is the largest visible element there?	under 2.5 s	large hero image, slow server, blocking scripts
INP (Interaction to Next Paint)	How quickly does the page react to clicks?	under 200 ms	heavy scripts, many plugins
CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift)	Does the content jump while loading?	under 0.1	images without dimensions, late-loading fonts and ads

Then there is TTFB (Time to First Byte): how long until the server delivers the first response? It depends on server, cache and PHP.

What is slowing your site down?

Large images (several MB)Shrink images and convert them to WebP→

The first response takes long (TTFB over 600 ms)Page cache, PHP version, database→

Many plugins and scriptsClear out and delay loading→

Content jumps while loadingSpecify dimensions, load fonts cleanly→

Visitors from abroadConsider a CDN→

Images

Images are usually the largest part of a page.

• Right size: an image displayed 800 pixels wide does not need to be 4000 pixels wide.
• Modern formats: WebP and AVIF are much smaller than JPEG and PNG at the same quality. WebP is supported by all current browsers.
• Compress: reduce to 70 to 85 % quality; you will hardly notice it.
• Lazy loading: images below the visible area are only loaded when you scroll to them.

<img src="foto.webp" width="800" height="450" alt="Description" loading="lazy">

Do not lazy-load the hero image at the top of the page, otherwise LCP gets worse. Always specify width and height so nothing jumps (CLS).

With WordPress, plugins handle the conversion and delivery of WebP automatically. Check in the plugin directory which ones fit your theme.

Caching

Caching saves computing work: instead of building every page anew for every visitor, it is built once and delivered many times. There are several levels (Understanding caching):

Level	Effect	How
Browser cache	Static files are not loaded again	Headers in .htaccess (example)
Page cache	Finished HTML is delivered	Cache plugin or server feature
Object cache (Redis)	Database queries are remembered	WordPress hosting includes Redis in every plan, web hosting from Pro
CDN	Files come from a server nearby	See below

With Nexthosting WordPress hosting, a Redis object cache is included in every plan. Activate it with the matching plugin as described in the web panel.

PHP version

New PHP versions are much faster than old ones. Nexthosting offers PHP 8.2 to 8.5, with 8.4 as the default. Switch the version in the web panel (PHP settings) and test the site afterwards. Older plugins sometimes need updates.

Database

WordPress in particular collects ballast:

• post revisions, drafts and trash
• expired “transients”
• spam comments
• leftovers of uninstalled plugins (tables and entries in wp_options)

Tidy up regularly, but with a backup. Limit revisions in wp-config.php:

define( 'WP_POST_REVISIONS', 5 );

More about databases: Databases and phpMyAdmin.

Plugins and scripts

• Remove plugins you do not need. Every plugin loads files and queries.
• Avoid plugins that do the same job twice.
• Load scripts deferred (defer) or only on the pages where they are needed.
• Replace heavy page-builder elements with simple ones.
• Review external services (chat, tracking, embeds): every additional provider costs load time and needs consent.

Before clearing out: staging

Test changes to plugins on a copy first (Staging and cloning), so the live site does not go down.

Fonts

• Use few typefaces and weights (e.g. 2 instead of 6).
• Include fonts yourself (from your own server) instead of loading them from a third-party provider. This saves connections and is better for privacy.
• Use the WOFF2 format.
• With font-display: swap, the browser shows text immediately in a fallback font:

@font-face {
  font-family: "My Font";
  src: url("/fonts/my-font.woff2") format("woff2");
  font-display: swap;
}

Compression

Compressed transfer (GZIP, sometimes Brotli) shrinks text files by up to 70 %. It is usually already active on the server. To check and, if necessary, activate it: .htaccess basics.

CDN

A CDN (Content Delivery Network) delivers static files from servers near the visitor. It is worthwhile for an international audience and large files. With mostly German visitors it brings little. Note: a CDN is another service provider with data protection questions, and when there are problems you may see Cloudflare error codes (HTTP status codes).

The plan

If the site is cleanly optimised and still stays slow, resources are lacking. Nexthosting plans differ in vCPU and memory; the plans are listed on the web hosting and WordPress hosting pages. For shops with WooCommerce, at least the Pro plan is recommended. You can switch via the contact form or a ticket.

Checklist

1. Record measurements (PageSpeed, Network tab).
2. Shrink images, use WebP, set width and height.
3. Set up page cache and browser cache.
4. Set the PHP version to the current one.
5. Clear out plugins, clean up the database.
6. Reduce fonts and include them yourself.
7. Measure again and compare.

Frequently asked questions

How fast should my site be?

Under 2.5 seconds until the most important content is visible (LCP) counts as good.

Does a bigger plan help?

Only if CPU or memory are really the bottleneck. Often it is images and plugins.

Why do two measurements differ?

Measurements fluctuate (cache, time of day, test location). Measure several times and compare averages.

Further reading

• Understanding caching
• .htaccess basics
• PHP settings in the web panel
• Maintaining WordPress