We are always looking for new and innovative ways to further speed up and optimize your WordPress sites. For the past couple months, our team has been working backside the scenes with the developers at WP Rocket to coordinate some changes with their make new version iii.0 plugin (released April three, 2018). We are excited to denote that WP Rocket 3.0 and Kinsta are now fully compatible and will be from here on out.

Check out everything you need to know beneath nigh using WP Rocket at Kinsta and how it can exist a great lucifer for you and your clients.

Using WP Rocket at Kinsta

For those of you who aren't familiar with WP Rocket, information technology's a pop all-in-one premium caching and optimization plugin for WordPress. Usually we don't let caching plugins in our environs because they conflict with our congenital-in caching solution. However, equally of WP Rocket iii.0, their page caching functionality will automatically exist disabled when running on Kinsta servers. Equally a effect, we allow WP Rocket on our platform because in that location is no longer whatsoever incompatibilities.

This allows you to now use Kinsta'due south caching solution but even so take reward of the amazing optimization features WP Rocket has to offer (nosotros volition dive into these beneath).

Why is caching important? Caching is the process of storing resource from one request and reusing those resources for subsequent requests. Basically, information technology reduces the amount of work required to generate a folio view and decreases the load on the spider web server. Information technology's the number one style to negate the filibuster from the dependency WordPress has on PHP and a database (read more nigh WordPress vs static HTML).

WP Rocket 3.0 Features

If you lot haven't seen the new 3.0 version of WP Rocket nonetheless the UI is beautiful; while nevertheless being easy to use and navigate! Below we'll dive into a few of the recommended features that you can utilize from WP Rocket to speed upwardly your WordPress site, as well equally how it's synced with the Kinsta environment.

We will besides exist running some speed tests to meet which options take the nigh affect on a alive site. Remember though, results can vary from site to site, so make certain to exam on your own site or staging.

If you're using a staging site at Kinsta, WP Rocket has whitelisted our URL structure (staging-sitename.kinsta.cloud) which ways it will not count equally a site against your overall license count. The same goes for running on localhost.

WP Rocket's main dashboard.
WP Rocket'south primary dashboard.

Clearing Cache

Even though caching is automatically disabled in WP Rocket when running on Kinsta, the "Clear cache" choice in the WP Rocket menu is synced up with the Kinsta surround. If you lot clear your WP Rocket cache, it actually clears your entire site'due south Kinsta cache instead.  How cool is that? And as ever, you tin can clear your Kinsta cache from the top right-hand side of the admin bar.

Clear cache (2 ways)
Clear cache (ii means)

The "Purge this URL" also works the same way, but instead of purging your site'due south entire cache information technology clears the enshroud of the URL you're currently on. This is great if peradventure you made a manual update to a page or mail service

For performance reasons, we don't recommend constantly clearing your site'southward unabridged cache, as information technology then has to rebuild. Purging individual URLs is a much amend way.

WP Rocket purge cache on individual URL
WP Rocket purge cache on individual URL

If you lot alter something on your WordPress site, such equally a plugin or theme, yous might see a warning from WP Rocket. The Clear cache button here also clears the Kinsta cache.

WP Rocket changes clear cache
WP Rocket changes clear cache

Lastly, if you click on the "Articulate Enshroud" push button from the WP Rocket dashboard, this besides clears the Kinsta enshroud.

Clear cache in WP Rocket.
Articulate enshroud in WP Rocket.

Cache

As we mentioned before, WP Rocket page caching is automatically disabled for sites hosted on Kinsta. Thus, we recommend leaving WP Rocket'southward cache settings as is with "Enable Caching for Mobile Devices" checked.

WP Rocket page cache settings.
WP Rocket folio cache settings.

File Optimization

Under the "File Optimization" menu they requite you the ability to optimize your CSS and JavaScript files. Allow's dive into each of these a bit.

WP Rocket file optimization.
WP Rocket file optimization.

Basic Settings

  • Minify HTML: Minifying HTML removes whitespace and comments to reduce the size. We ran speed tests and saw a 0.84% decrease in load time with this selection enabled. ⏱ You might not run across crazy improvements with this feature, but mostly, less whitespace and code is a skillful thing.
  • Combine Google Fonts files: Combining Google Fonts will reduce the number of HTTP requests. If you lot are utilizing a host with HTTP/2 enabled, it is no longer recommended to combine files due to improvements with parallelization. Kinsta fully supports HTTP/ii. Loading your fonts from your ain CDN tin can likewise sometimes ameliorate operation. Bank check out our guide on how to host local fonts.
  • Remove query strings from static resources: Your CSS and JavaScript files normally accept the file version on the end of their URLs, such every bit domain.com/mode.css?ver=4.six. Some servers and proxy servers are unable to enshroud query strings, even if aenshroud-control:public header is present. And so past removing them, you tin sometimes improve your caching. We ran speed tests and saw a one.86% subtract in load time with this choice enabled. Notation: You can't use this forth with the minify CSS or JavaScript options.

CSS Files

  • Minify CSS files removes whitespace and comments to reduce the file size. We ran speed tests and saw a one.69% decrease in load time with this pick enabled. ⏱ Due to the fashion CSS works, this could intermission your site, then make certain to test it. Once more, in general, less whitespace and code is a good matter.
  • Combine CSS files merges all your files into 1, reducing HTTP requests. If you are utilizing a host with HTTP/2 enabled, it is no longer recommended to combine files equally they tin can at present be loaded in parallel over a single connection. Kinsta fully supports HTTP/2. Read more well-nigh combining external CSS.
  • Optimize CSS delivery eliminates return-blocking CSS on your website for faster-perceived load time. Read more about this in our in-depth manufactures on render-blocking CSS and optimizing disquisitional rendering path. We ran speed tests and saw a 0.17% decrease in load fourth dimension with this option enabled. ⏱ Remember though, this is more about perceived load time rather than actual load fourth dimension.

JavaScript Files

  • Minify JavaScript files removes whitespace and comments to reduce the file size. We ran speed tests and saw a 0.84% decrease in load time with this choice enabled. Due to the way JavaScript works, this could break functionality with your plugins or theme, so brand sure to test it.
  • Combine JavaScript files combines your site's JS info fewer files, reducing HTTP requests. If you lot are utilizing a host with HTTP/two enabled, information technology is no longer recommended to combine files equally they can at present be loaded in parallel over a unmarried connectedness. Kinsta fully supports HTTP/2.
  • Load JavaScript deferred eliminates render-blocking JS on your site and tin can improve load time. Read more about this in our in-depth articles on return-blocking JavaScript. This can also break your site if you aren't conscientious, then make sure to examination. We ran speed tests and saw a 1.35% decrease in load time with this option enabled.

If you are a Kinsta client and y'all are using the code minification characteristic that is built into the MyKinsta dashboard, double-check with support to encounter if using both options is fine.

Media

Under the "Media" carte du jour they give yous an option to lazy load your images and video, too as disable additional scripts from loading such equally Emojis and Embeds. Allow's dive into each of these a scrap.

WP Rocket media optimization.
WP Rocket media optimization.

LazyLoad

Lazy loading is an optimization technique that loads visible content but delays the downloading and rendering of content that appears below the fold. By enabling the lazy load option it tin can improve actual and perceived loading fourth dimension equally images, iframes, and videos volition be loaded only as they enter (or about to enter) the viewport and reduces the number of HTTP requests.

  • Enable for images:We ran speed tests and saw a 3.89% decrease in load time with this selection enabled.
  • Enable for iframes and videos:We dropped viii YouTube videos onto a page and saw a 74.43% decrease in load time with this option enabled. WP Rocket has an option to automatically replace a YouTube video with its preview image. This is an incredibly powerful fashion to speed up videos on your WordPress site.

Check out our in-depth tutorial on lazy loading in WordPress.

Emoji

With the release of WordPress 4.2 came the integration of emojis into core for older browsers. The big result with this is that it generates an additional HTTP asking on your WordPress site to load the wp-emoji-release.min.js file. And this loads on every unmarried page.

Disable Emoji: The disable emoji choice will reduce the number of HTTP requests. It won't interruption them, it will only default back to the user's browser emoji version. We ran speed tests and saw a ii.2% decrease in load time with this option enabled.

Check out our in-depth commodity on disabling emojis.

Embeds

With the release of WordPress 4.4 came the oEmbed feature into core. You lot have probably seen or used this before. This allows users to embed YouTube videos, tweets and many other resource on their sites simply by pasting a URL, which WordPress automatically converts into an embed and provides a live preview in the visual editor. If y'all accept Facebook embed in your site, cheque out how Facebook's new update volition impact it, and how to gear up it.

However, what this ways is that it too generates an boosted HTTP asking on your WordPress site now to load the wp-embed.min.js file. And this loads on every unmarried page.

Disable WordPress embeds: The disable embeds option will reduce the number of HTTP requests. We ran speed tests and saw a iv.9% subtract in load time with this option enabled. ⏱ Cheque out our in-depth article on disabling embeds.

Preload

Under the "Preload" menu they requite you lot an pick to enable cache preload, DNS prefetch, and font preloads. Not all of these will piece of work at Kinsta. But permit's swoop into each of these a chip.

Preload settings in WP Rocket.
Preload settings in WP Rocket.

Preload Cache

Nosotros don't recommend this pick for sites hosted on Kinsta because it can actually reduce performance by overloading PHP workers.

Prefetch DNS Requests

DNS prefetching allows you to resolve domain names (perform a DNS lookup in the background) before a user clicks on a link, which in turn tin can assistance improve performance. Information technology is done past adding a rel="dns-prefetch" tag in the header of your WordPress site. We recommend adding prefetch to external requests from your CDN, Google Fonts, and Google Analytics. Here is an example below:

          <link rel="dns-prefetch" href="//cdn.domain.com/"> <link rel="dns-prefetch" href="//fonts.googleapis.com/"> <link rel="dns-prefetch" href="//world wide web.google-analytics.com">

This is harder to speed test, merely you tin rest assured information technology volition help speed upward your site.

Preload Fonts

If yous're hosting fonts on your own domain, and non on an external service like Google Fonts, we recommend adding them to the "Preload Fonts" list in WP Rocket. By preloading fonts in your HTML's <head> chemical element, web browsers can commencement downloading fonts earlier they are discovered in your CSS file.

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Advanced Rules

Due to the fact that WP Rocket syncs to the Kinsta environment cache, you can't utilize the avant-garde rules. If you lot demand to exclude a URL or directory from caching or strength cache a certain query string yous can always accomplish out to the Kinsta back up team.

Database

Under the "Database" carte du jour WP Rocket gives you the ability to perform cleanups on posts, comments, transients, and tables.

When combined with our automatic weekly database optimizations, keeping your database make clean by removing unnecessary postal service revisions and transients will ensure your database is working at peak performance.

WP Rocket database optimization.
WP Rocket database optimization.

Post Cleanup

Information technology is not uncommon for older sites to take 100+ revisions on their principal pages. This is simply due to years of editing and updating content. Permit'south say for example a site has 700 pages or posts with 150 revisions on each, this would be over 100,000 entries in the database. This takes up storage space, and fifty-fifty with database indexes, this can sometimes impairment operation.

WP Rocket gives you the pick to delete the following:

  • Revisions
  • Auto-drafts
  • Trashed posts

Check out our in-depth mail service on how to optimize revisions for faster performance.

Comments Cleanup

Similarly to revisions, spam and trashed comments can merely add up to wasted space over fourth dimension. WP Rocket gives you the option to delete the post-obit:

  • Spam comments
  • Trashed comments

If you aren't using comments on your WordPress site nosotros recommend simply disabling comments to prevent spam from coming through at all. You then as well don't have to worry about installing spam plugins.

Transients Cleanup

Transients in WordPress are sometimes overlooked, but they are very of import! In fact, nosotros've seen corrupted transient cache completely take down a WordPress site. These are meant to be temporary and so it'southward safe to remove them and we do recommend it. If they are needed by a plugin they will automatically be regenerated. WP Rocket gives you the option to delete the following:

  • Expired transients
  • All transients

Database Cleanup

The database cleanup option reduces the overhead of database tables. However, at Kinsta nosotros utilize InnoDB instead of MyISAM and therefore this is not usually needed. InnoDB has shown to perform improve and be more reliable. A large reason to use InnoDB over MyISAM, is to accept reward of row-level locking. This allows your database queries to process faster. If you drift your WordPress site to Kinsta, this is one of the many optimizations our engineers make on your site.

Automatic Cleanup

WP Rocket as well gives you the option to schedule automatic cleanup of your database on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis. This is scheduled with a cron job backside the scenes.

CDN

Under the "CDN" menu you can enable a third-party content delivery network. This is actually a no-brainer when information technology comes to performance. They take the load off of your web server while speeding up the delivery of content to your visitors thus making their feel better. Bank check out why we call up every site should be using a CDN.

If you're a Kinsta client, this menu won't be needed as the Kinsta CDN is automatically deployed on your site behind the scenes. Withal, we've noticed on a few sites that yous might need to enter in your Kinsta CDN URL when WP Rocket is enabled.

Nosotros recommend running your WordPress site first through a website speed test tool to confirm all of your assets (JS, CSS, and images) are loading from the Kinsta CDN.

Add your CDN settings in WP Rocket.
Add your CDN settings in WP Rocket.

Heartbeat

Heartbeat is a WordPress Core API for server-polling. It's used past many themes and plugins to maintain a stream of connection with your server. This allows WordPress developers to build real-time updates into their products.

Change WordPress heartbeat settings in WP Rocket.
Alter WordPress heartbeat settings in WP Rocket.

By default, the client-side Heartbeat code runs every 15-60 seconds. Depending on your site and server configuration, frequent Heartbeat server pings may not be necessary.

With WP Rocket, yous can reduce Heartbeat ping intervals to 2 minutes or completely disable pings altogether for your site's backend (WP dashboard), frontend, and post editor.

For most sites, we recommend using the "Reduce Activity" option. Many modernistic plugins and themes make sure of Heartbeat for core functionalities, and so disabling information technology completely could potentially suspension your site.

Add-Ons

Nether the "Add-Ons" WP Rocket gives yous the ability to add together additional services to your site like Cloudflare, Sucuri, Google Analytics, and Facebook Pixel. If yous use any of these services on your site, we recommend setting them up through WP Rocket to ensure y'all are benefiting from the nigh optimized integration for these services.

If you're already using other plugins to integrate these services into your site, you tin can safely remove those plugins later configuring the add-on in WP Rocket.

WP Rocket add-ons.
WP Rocket add-ons.

Image Optimization

The developers of WP Rocket are the same people behind Imagify, one of our favorite image optimization services. If yous're looking for an easy-to-use WordPress plugin for optimizing images, accept a look at Imagify. To learn more well-nigh image optimization and other optimization plugins and solutions, cheque out this article.

Image optimization by Imagify.
Image optimization past Imagify.

Concluding Speed Tests

We then ran some final speed tests with everything enabled so yous could see a before and after. Note: this WordPress site is hosted at Kinsta.

Before WP Rocket

We ran 5 tests in Pingdom without WP Rocket and took the average.

Before WP Rocket
Before WP Rocket

We and then ran a examination in Google PageSpeed Insights without WP Rocket.

PageSpeed Insights before WP Rocket
Google PageSpeed Insights before WP Rocket

After WP Rocket

We so ran five tests in Pingdom with WP Rocket and options enabled and took the average.

After WP Rocket
With WP Rocket

We then ran a test in Google PageSpeed Insights with WP Rocket.

PageSpeed Insights with WP Rocket
Google PageSpeed Insights with WP Rocket

Hither is the takeaway from the results above:

  • In our Pingdom tests, we saw a 9.12% decrease in total load time when running WP Rocket. While this might not seem crazy high, this merely took a few minutes and less than 10 clicks to accomplish.
  • Remember that WP Rocket's breadstuff and butter is in their caching solution. Just here at Kinsta, we are already using our built-in cache, so nosotros are only sharing results of their other optimization features. So really it's a nine% comeback on elevation of Kinsta's lightning fast cache.
  • The site we were utilizing for the test is fairly optimized already. Larger sites and those that are not as optimized will easily see even greater results.
  • Curious why there are additional requests in the final version? This is commonly due to lazy loading of images as it creates blankinformation:image/gif;base64 requests. But don't worry, it's still going to exist faster.
  • If y'all're hosting video you could possibly see decreases in load time of upward to fifty% or more. This is accomplished by utilizing WP Rockets feature that replaces YouTube videos with clickable preview thumbnails. This is really handy!
  • In our Google PageSpeed Insights tests, we saw an increase in our score from 88/100 to 98/100. However, scores are not as important equally overall load times, so take these with a grain of table salt. We discuss this in our article about Google PageSpeed Insights.

Every bit you can see higher up, WP Rocket makes information technology incredibly piece of cake to speed up your WordPress site with just a few uncomplicated clicks!

Summary

The team at WP Rocket consistently push button out new features that direct co-align with the web performance recommendations we share at Kinsta. Y'all can expect to encounter an fifty-fifty tighter integration with their plugin over the adjacent few months! We are excited that clients can now employ this plugin without any additional modifications needed.

Nosotros would love to hear what y'all think? Do you use WP Rocket? Let us know below in the comments.

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