How to Use GTmetrix Plugin to Improve WordPress Site Performance

Having a fast website is very important. We work hard to keep our own websites as fast as possible because we understand that a slow website will lose traffic and hurt our business.

Many things can slow down a website, such as cheap hosting, large image files, or plugins that don’t work well. A slow site can make people leave before they see what you offer.

GTmetrix is a helpful tool that can check how fast your website is and let you know about potential issues that can slow it down.

In this article, we will show you how to use the GTmetrix plugin to test and improve your WordPress site’s performance.

What Is GTmetrix?

GTmetrix is a website speed check tool that lets you see how fast your website loads. Website loading speed is more important than ever because users have a short attention span.

According to a StrangeLoop case study that involved Amazon, Google, and other larger sites, a one-second delay in page load time can lead to a 7% loss in conversions, 11% fewer page views, and a 16% decrease in customer satisfaction.

GTmetrix gives you a glimpse of what’s slowing down your WordPress website with suggestions on what to do to improve your WordPress performance and speed.

That being said, let’s look at how to use the GTmetrix plugin to improve the speed of your WordPress website.

Setting Up the GTmetrix Plugin in WordPress

First, you need to install and activate the GTmetrix for WordPress plugin. If you are not sure how to do this, then be sure to check out our complete guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Upon activation, the plugin will add a new menu item labeled ‘GTmetrix’ in your WordPress admin sidebar. You need to click it to visit the plugin’s settings page.

On this page, you will be asked to provide your GTmetrix account email and API keys.

You can create a free account to get the API keys. This free account will come with a limited number of requests per day. However, if you are using this on one website, then you will likely never run out of credits.

Simply click the ‘Register for a GTmetrix account now’ link to go to the GTmetrix website and sign up for an account.

After creating your account, you need to click the ‘Account’ link at the top of the page.

Next, simply click on the ‘Generate API key’ button. GTmetrix will generate an API key for you, which you must copy.

Now, you can switch back to the ‘GTmetrix’ settings page in your WordPress dashboard. Go ahead and enter your account email address and the API Key you copied earlier.

Don’t forget to click on the ‘Save Changes’ button to store your settings.

Running GTmetrix Performance Tests in WordPress

Now that you have set up the plugin, you can run your WordPress performance tests.

Simply go to the GTmetrix » Tests page. You can quickly test your website’s homepage from here by clicking on the ‘Test your Front Page now’ button.

You can also run performance tests for any page on your WordPress website. Simply enter the page URL into the ‘Test performance of’ box.

For these custom tests, you can also provide a label and choose a geographic location. Ideally, you want to focus on locations closest to your target audience.

Understanding GTmetrix Performance Test Results

GTmetrix offers a complete performance breakdown of the web page you are testing. It uses Google Page Speed and YSlow performance tests to score your page load time and will show an overall score as a result summary.

Anything below A means there is room for improvement. However, this does not necessarily mean that your website is really slow.

To understand the score, you need to click on the ‘Detailed Report’ link. It opens up your URL on the GTmetrix site.

This report gives you a detailed breakdown of your PageSpeed score, YSlow score, and a list of recommendations on what you can change to improve your page load time.

It is divided into different tabs. First, you will see your PageSpeed score with different ranking items listed with their individual score.

Green items are good and don’t need your attention. Red items are slowing down your website and require further investigation.

The best part is that when you click on the item, it tells you exactly what needs to be fixed.

Each tab has a little ‘What’s this mean?’ button. If you click on that, then it will give you the details on what can be improved.

You can find all your past reports on the GTmetrix » Tests page under the Reports section.

This allows you to manage and run tests as you work on improving your website speed and performance.

Using GTmetrix Without a Plugin

If you want to use GTmetrix without installing the plugin, then you can simply go to their home page and then enter your URL.

After you test your site, you’ll get a detailed report, just like you did with the plugin.

The disadvantage of this method is that you cannot save different reports and compare them as your website speed gets better.

Bonus Tips to Improve Website Performance

The GTmetrix speed check will show you a lot of information. However, you may want to compare your results using a different website speed check tool, like the IsItWP Website Speed Test Tool or Pingdom.

If your website is still showing low performance scores, then you can go through the details and improve each item one by one. However, this can become too technical for a beginner.

Here are some quick tips to help you instantly improve website speed issues without any special skills.

1. Use the Best WordPress Hosting

If you are using a low-quality WordPress hosting provider, then there is not much you can do to improve the performance of your website.

Here are our recommendations for the top 3 fast web hosting companies you can try:

• Bluehost – great price + comes with built-in caching.
• SiteGround – premium WordPress hosting + built-in caching + uses Google Cloud. We use SiteGround for WPBeginner.
• WP Engine – top-rated managed WordPress hosting provider with performance optimization.

2. Set Up a WordPress Caching Plugin

All top WordPress hosting companies now offer built-in caching solutions that you can turn on to improve website speed. But you can also use a WordPress caching plugin to improve your website performance.

Caching allows your website to load a page from a temporary file instead of running a new request. We recommend using WP Rocket, the best WordPress caching plugin on the market.

3. Optimize Images for Faster Page Load

Images take more time to load than text, and if a page has a lot of images, then they slow down your website. On the other hand, images are important for user engagement, and you cannot avoid them.

The solution is to optimize WordPress images for faster page load. You will still use the same images but with smaller file sizes.

4. Use WPBeginner Pro Services

Are you looking for expert help to get your site running faster? Our team of WordPress experts specializes in optimizing websites and improving performance.

We generate a comprehensive site speed and website performance report and use that information to take proven measures to improve page loading time, server performance, and various technical aspects of WordPress SEO.

Pricing for our site speed optimization service starts at $699.

There is a lot more you can do to make your site load even faster. We have compiled a complete WordPress speed and performance guide for beginners with step-by-step instructions to improve your website speed.

We hope this article helped you learn how to use the GTmetrix plugin to improve your WordPress site performance. You might also want to see our guide on how we boost page load speed on WPBeginner and our expert picks of the best website speed test tools.

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