1. Choose a Managed WordPress Host

Site speed and performance has always been my obsession as a webmaster. In my 15 years of optimizing WordPress sites, site health has proved one of the most crucial elements for keeping sites running smoothly.

So in this post, I want to share everything I‘ve learned to help you optimize your site‘s health and performance. By following these 12 tips, you‘ll give your WordPress site the best possible foundation to thrive for years to come.

Why WordPress Site Health Matters

Let‘s first look at why maintaining good site health needs to be a top priority:

• Speed is money. Studies show even 1 second delay costs 7% conversions. Improved site speed increases revenue by up to 15%.

• Google ranks speed. Faster sites achieve better SEO rankings. Page speed impacts Google‘s mobile ranking factor.

• Users demand speed. 47% expect sites to load in 2 seconds. 3 in 4 will abandon if it takes longer.

|Stats on Why Site Speed Impacts Business|
|-|-|
|15% higher revenue from faster sites|
|7% lower conversions per 1s delay|
|47% expect under 2s load time|
|74% will abandon slow loading sites|

It‘s clear that optimizing site health directly translates into happy users and a thriving business. Now let‘s explore how to maximize your WordPress site‘s health and performance.

Your web host has the single biggest impact on WordPress performance and security. I always recommend using a specialized Managed WordPress Hosting provider.

Here‘s why managed WordPress hosting is worth the investment:

• Optimized infrastructure. Their servers are fine-tuned for WordPress speed with tools like NGINX, PHP 7.4, OpCache, and MariaDB.

• Automatic updates. They maintain the latest versions of WordPress, themes, plugins for you. No more manual updates.

• Expert support. Their WordPress engineers can help troubleshoot any issue and offer performance tips.

• Enhanced security. Proactive monitoring and hardening like web application firewalls keep your site locked down.

• Built-in caching. CDNs, object caching, and other speed optimizations are handled for you.

I suggest hosts like WPEngine for enterprise sites or SiteGround for small to mid-sized sites. The few extra dollars a month are well worth it for the performance and security.

Migrating to managed WordPress hosting is the easiest way to resolve most common site health issues. Their specialized infrastructure maintains excellent scores out of the box.

SSL certificates encrypt the connection between your site and visitors. This keeps user data secure and private.

There are several excellent reasons to add HTTPS protection:

• Privacy – Encrypts sessions and prevents sniffing of sensitive user data.

• Security – Prevents man-in-the-middle attacks and MITM data altering.

• SEO Rankings – Google gives a ranking boost to secure HTTPS sites.

• PCI Compliance – Required for sites accepting payments to transmit card data securely.

• Trust – The padlock icon indicates a secure connection users can trust.

Most managed WordPress hosts include free SSL certificates. For self-managed sites, Let‘s Encrypt provides free auto-renewing SSLs.

Prioritizing an SSL installation should be one of your first steps to maximize site security and performance.

Running the latest versions of WordPress, plugins, and themes ensures you have all the latest security fixes, feature enhancements, and performance improvements.

However, updating WordPress scares some site owners who worry it will break their site. In reality, the WordPress core development team rigorously tests each release for backwards compatibility.

Here are my recommendations for staying up-to-date:

• WordPress Core – Update to the latest version as soon as possible. This ensures you have all security patches.

• Themes – Check Theme → Themes for any theme updates. Update active themes regularly.

• Plugins – Use a plugin like Easy Updates Manager to auto-update your plugins.

Staying on top of updates does require some added maintenance. But it is 100% worth it to keep your site secure and running smoothly.

It‘s easy for site owners to go plugin happy and install plugins without fully utilizing them. Over time, unused plugins bloat sites, slow performance, and increase security risks.

I recommend auditing your plugins quarterly and removing any inactive ones. Even if disabled, plugins can still be exploited in attacks.

Benefits of removing unused plugins:

• Faster Performance – Less bloat improves page load times.

• Enhanced Security – Eliminate vulnerabilities from inactive plugins.

• Simplified Codebase – Avoid disruptions from unused plugin conflicts.

• Cleaner Dashboard – Removes clutter for better admin experience.

Doing an annual plugin spring cleaning vastly improves site health and security. Be ruthless in removing plugins that no longer benefit your site.

Using outdated versions of server software like PHP and MySQL can create major issues with WordPress compatibility and performance.

Always use their latest stable versions to benefit from speed optimizations, security fixes, and support for modern WordPress features.

Here‘s how to check your versions from within WordPress:

• PHP Version – Requires PHP 7.4 or newer. At least PHP 7.2 is strongly recommended.

• MySQL Version – MySQL 5.6+ or MariaDB 10.0+ is recommended.

If your versions are outdated, contact your web host to request an upgrade. Managed WordPress hosts stay on top of the latest software releases.

PHP extensions add functionality for database connections, cryptography, image manipulation, and more. Certain PHP extensions are required for WordPress functionality.

Common required extensions include:

• php-mysql – MySQL database integration.

• php-curl – Transfer data with cURL.

• php-gd – Image creation and editing.

• php-mbstring – Multibyte string parsing.

The Site Health check will notify you of any missing extensions. You would need to request your host install them. Managed WordPress hosting will activate essential extensions by default.

While WordPress can technically handle hundreds of plugins and themes, loading too many will bog down your site‘s performance.

Follow these guidelines to keep your codebase as lean as possible:

• Plugins – Only use essential plugins. Under 10 is ideal, under 20 max. Delete all inactive plugins.

• Themes – Stick with 1 main theme. Ditch any unused themes. Avoid bloated theme demos.

The Health check warns if your site uses over 70 plugins or themes – a clear sign of a bloated codebase.

Carefully review each plugin and theme so you only load the essential code your site needs. Every little bit of bloat slows things down.

WordPress releases security patches between major updates. It‘s critical to install these immediately to avoid any window of exploit.

Enable automatic background updates to install security patches as soon as they become available:

1. Go to Dashboard → Updates
2. Check "Automatically update to minor releases"

This automates critical security releases. Major version updates will still require manual installation.

Set it and forget so you don‘t need to worry about missing an important security update!

The WordPress REST API allows external applications to access your site‘s data through HTTP requests. However, more endpoints means more vulnerabilities.

I recommend disabling any unused REST API endpoints. This reduces your attack surface.

You can easily manage endpoints with plugins like WP REST Cache or Shield Security.

Only enable the minimal endpoints your site needs. Disable all others to improve security.

Proper file and folder permissions restrict access and prevent malicious changes. Here are the recommended permission levels:

• wp-config.php – Read only (400 permission)
• wp-content – 755 permission
• plugins – 755 permission
• themes – 755 permission

Incorrect permissions enable hackers and compromised users to modify sensitive files.

A permissions checker like WP File Permissions can scan and identify issues.

Managed hosts optimize permissions for you. Self-managed sites should actively verify proper levels.

Allowing users to edit plugin and theme files right from WordPress is very risky. A compromised account could sabotage your site.

I suggest disabling the file editor for all user roles except admins:

// wp-config.php

// Disable File Editor
define( ‘DISALLOW_FILE_EDIT‘, true );

This prevents any non-admin user from making changes through the file editor.

You can also block the plugin and theme editors specifically:

// Disable theme/plugin editors
define( ‘DISALLOW_FILE_MODS‘, true );

These restrictions limit abilities only to trusted admin users.

Optimizing for maximum speed delivers substantial benefits for site health:

• Caching – Server-level caching stores rendered pages to bypass PHP and database lookups. Dramatically accelerates sites.

• CDN – A content delivery network offloads static assets to a distributed network of edge servers near visitors. Major speed boost.

For enterprise sites, a managed solution like WPEngine caching is ideal. Smaller sites can benefit from free options like WP Super Cache.

Investing in solid caching and CDN integration will take your WordPress site‘s performance to the next level. Faster is better when it comes to site health!

Keep Your Site Healthy

Maintaining excellent site health should be an ongoing priority. Follow these tips and your WordPress site will hum along smoothly for years to come.

The most impactful fixes involve choosing a managed host, staying updated, eliminating bloat, and leveraging caching. But all the little optimizations add up to a high-performance site.

How are you doing on site health right now? See any areas needing improvement? I‘m happy to help troubleshoot any specific issues in the comments below!