[Support request] Coach – Site Library

[Ana]

Hello,

I was using the regular GP Premium, and I was updating all my posts, pages, and creating my home page. At this time my site speed using Google Page Insights was for mobile above 90 and Desktop 98-100. GT Metrix was 95-99 and 100 Score A. I have a server for one site only. The site is small. I went ahead and decided to update to use the Coach (theme) now my site in Google Page Insights is Mobile 51 and Desktop 79. I am using Autoptimize to delete cache, and I do not have shared hosting. I paid for my own server. Can someone please let me know if you can check to see what the issue maybe?

please note before deciding to use the Coach theme – the site was super fast using the just GP Premium no library site. I decided to use the Coach site as I was having issues creating a nice home page, and since there aren’t any stand-alone pages, I decided to use the Coach theme, basically for the home page, and some features I thought would be nice to have.

are the themes on the site-library created to be light?
I have a DigitalOcean server and ServerPilot servicing managing my server.

Thank you.

Ana

[David]

Hi there,

Aside of any plugins that may affect performance the GP Sites are simply a set of pre-installed pages, and sometimes some custom CSS – so there should be no adverse affects to the sites performance.

For example – heres a Page Speed Insights report on the Coach Demo:

https://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/insights/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fgpsites.co%2Fcoach%2F&tab=mobile

The site demo has minimal optimization applied to it and the scores are both over 90.

So something else must be at play. I you can provide a link to your site i am happy to take a look to see whats going on.

[Ana]

Hi David,

Thank you for the reply.

https://simplyconnectandshare.com/

This is my site.

I have zero or 1% of coding. So, I am hoping is not something complicated.

Ana

[Leo]

Hi Ana,

I just ran your site through GTMetrix and the score is excellent:
https://gtmetrix.com/reports/simplyconnectandshare.com/G1DOyozc/

What issues are you having?

[Ana]

Hello Leo,

GTMetrix and Google PageSpeed Insights were giving similar scores before the upgrading to Coach. After I added the Coach theme and made simple changes to it.

GTMetrix went down to what you see now which is still acceptable. I was having 98-100 on both GTMetrix and Google. Now Google has gone down way too much. They are very important for ranking.

here are the readings on PageSpeed Insights. https://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/insights/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fsimplyconnectandshare.com%2F&tab=mobile

mobile 51 and desktop 64-82

Thank you.

Ana

[David]

Couple of things:

1. The major issue on loading time ( ironically ) is the use of the Recaptcha option on your forms. Are you able to disable that option to test for improvement.

2. You’re using the WP Rocket Lazy Loader for your images, which is fine, but it also applies to the Logo which is bad. You will need to add to exclude the logo from lazyloading. To do that you need to add this PHP Snippet to your site:

function rocket_lazyload_exclude_class( $attributes ) {
	$attributes[] = 'class="is-logo-image"';

	return $attributes;
}
add_filter( 'rocket_lazyload_excluded_attributes', 'rocket_lazyload_exclude_class' );

This article explains how to add that code:

https://docs.generatepress.com/article/adding-php/

TLDR – there are two main options:
1. If you’re using a Child Theme then you can add the code to your Child Themes functions.php
2. If you’re NOT usina a Child Theme then install the Code Snippets plugin and create a new Snippet, add the code and simply save it with the default options.

[Ana]

Hi David,

Thank you for your reply. I am so sorry for my late response.

I went ahead and removed the Recaptcha from the forms, and added code into the “Code Snippets” plugin. To be honest. I don’t know if I have a child theme. I have the generate press and the “coach” uploaded. To get into the functions. I would have to use Cyberduck to find the section to add a code. I don’t know how to do that. So, for now, I will use the code snippets. The site improved. But there seems to still be an issue with the mobile speed.

I was unable to reach the Recaptcha team to give them feedback as they do not have support for the free option. It is ironic that their service slows down the website as it is to protect websites. And Google penalizes slow websites.:(

Thank you.

Ana

[David]

Ok so that PHP Snippet didn’t work – are you using this plugin for the lazy load ?

https://en-gb.wordpress.org/plugins/rocket-lazy-load/

The next major impact on the site performance is the mailerlite forms and signup banner at the footer. There code makes multiple 3rd party network requests.

But just removing reCaptch as pushed mobile score from 50 to 80 – which is great 🙂

[Ana]

Hello David,

Yes, I am using this plugin for the lazy load. https://en-gb.wordpress.org/plugins/rocket-lazy-load/ I have disabled it to see if the site improves.

another plugin I am using is Autoptimize
https://wordpress.org/plugins/autoptimize/
but I do not have the Images section checked to do lazy-load images. It also has the option to exclude images. Do you have any suggestions of how I can exclude the logo image? In the code snippets I enter the code to exclude it from the rocket lazy load, but since I disabled the rocket lazy load and checked this plugin for the lazy load images. I am assuming I may need to exclude the logo image.

You said: The next major impact on the site performance is the mailerlite forms and signup banner at the footer.

Mailerlite forms: I have removed one and left one only, I do need to have one sign up form as it is for my email marketing, and most websites have huge banners and sign up forms.

I removed the footer banner, and left it only in one place on the top, but then what is the point of wanting to create banners, hero banners, etc. if the websites are going to be slow by having banners. it defeats the purpose of creating hooks and inserting them as it will start to slow the website. But I guess this is how it all works. M

Thank you for your time, David!

[David]

So the PHP Snippet i provided was specific to the WP Rocket Lazy loader – i am unsure why it didn’t work as its their provided code.

Instead, leave it disabled and enable the Images option in Autoptimize, then in the exclude field you can add is-logo-image to exclude the logos.

The issue with the forms is not how they are added to the site, but how the Mailer Lite app is delivering its code. Each form variation added to the page requires multiple requests to the mailer lite servers to load its specific CSS and Javascript requirements. The more you add the more requests are made… which all slow down a site.

[Author]

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