Slower Page Speeds

Many factors may be contributing to slower than desired page speeds. Double check your settings for optimal performance.

My page speed has dropped and I am not getting the speeds shown on test sites. Why is my speed slower?

Old Theme Version

Keeping your Acabado theme up-to-date prevents many issues on your site. Outdated theme versions will slowly lose compatibility and functionality, and may cause page speed delays. 

In most cases the theme will automatically prompt you of a theme update through your WordPress dashboard. However, occasionally you may find the need to update your theme manually. If you notice you are not using the latest Acabado version follow the steps here to manually update.  

Image Optimization

Image compression is a key element of getting unparalleled page load speeds. If you haven't properly set up image optimization in Acabado you could be unnecessarily slowing down your site. 

We've built Acabado to work seamlessly with a reputable plugin to optimize images on your site. See this tutorial to set up this on your site: Setting Up Image Optimization

Plugins & Page Builders

Any page builder or table building plugin is going to slow down the speed of your site, particularly pages with the custom builds. The page has to load additional code. There’s no way around that. That’s why we use the built in functionality of WordPress whenever it’s at all possible.

The truth is the MAJORITY of problems on your site will be caused by plugins. Be very deliberate about the plugins you keep and the purpose they serve. If you have any plugins that are not ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL to the site, take the time to deactivate and delete them. The goal is to have the minimum plugins possible. Most are simply not essential. Multiple plugins on your site it will negatively effect your speed and site performance.

Ads

Regardless of ad provider, ads will decrease your site speed simply because there is more information to load. When monetizing your site with ads make sure to work with your ad provider to load the ads after the content. This helps speed up page loads. However, if you scroll very quickly, it does move the content which can be annoying.  This isn’t an Acabado issue, it’s an ad loading issue. You see this really often on ad-heavy sites. Still, we find it’s better to load ads after the content, otherwise you find yourself waiting several seconds for content to load, which deters readers.