Having a website that performs well is critical to having good ranking in search engine results. Consequently, the Page Progressive team takes time to learn how to use tools and procedures that make your WordPress load as quickly as possible.
Tthere is speculation by website developers that too many plugins can affect the speed at which your website loads and works. Recently, some research was done to determine the correlation between performance and plugins. It should be noted that while there is no exact number on how many WP plugins would be too many, this doesn’t mean you should have dozens and dozens of plugins – simply because they are available. The team at Elegant Themes shared their study results of how plugins can affect a WP site. These numbers may give you a better idea of how plugins affect loading time, but your results may vary depending on how your website is set up.
Here is what they found in their test:
- A site without any plugins loaded in .6 seconds.
- Adding Yoast SEO resulted in a load time of .93 seconds
- Adding All in One SEO increased load time to .9 seconds
- TinyPNG slowed load time to .86 seconds
- Ninja Forms caused a .85 second load time
- WooCommerce increased load time to .78 seconds
- Easy Digital Downloads resulted in an increase to .71 seconds
- Wordfence on a site resulted in a load speed .69 seconds
- ShortPixel and Contact Form 7 each caused an increase of .66 seconds
- Jetpack yielded a .64 second increase
Ultimately, it was determined that it was not so much the number of WP plugins that were used, but rather the types of plugins used that affected load speed. For example, the WooCommerce plugin can slow your site down more on its own than using several different plugins at the same time. But that does not mean that WooCommerce is a “bad” plugin. It’s one of the best ecommerce systems on the planet…same with Wordfence…it’s a fantastic security plugin, but with added functionality often comes added load time. So you have to decide if the features that plugin offers is worth the tradeoff on loading time on your site.
Also of interest, is a test by Theme Isle, which found the below results within certain types of plugins:
- Security: + 13 seconds
- Backup: + .94 seconds
- Contact forms: +.96 seconds
- SEO: +1.03 seconds
- e-Commerce: +1.22 seconds
Every WP plugin has different functions and features. And, when installed properly, neither you nor your guests will notice a negative load time. But, if you are concerned, there is an assortment of tests you can run on your website to see if WP plugins, large files, or other elements are affecting your website. Some of the most popular ones include Pingdom, GTmetrix, the Inspect feature on Google Chrome, or Inspect Element in Firefox. So, if you are curious as to how your site will measure up, take advantage of these tools!
We all know that having a website that works well and is easy to navigate is an important part of how it performs. When the Page Progressive team develops your website, we ensure that every step is taken to boost your site’s performance. If you have questions about your website and want to ensure your site is all you need it to be, then give us a call today. We would love to work with you and help your website’s performance be everything you need it to be.