[Support request] Website Running Slow

[David]

Hi Jo – apologies i thought i had replied ( i must have logged out on send ).

First off if it is not a server issue why would they recommend upgrading?
I ran several network tests, and the average load was 8 seconds. Around 5.5 seconds was waiting for the server to respond (Time to First Byte). The rest of the site loads after this in around 2.5 seconds.

So the issue is clearly server / host related.

[Jo]

I’m not getting anywhere with them. I know if I go back to them they will repeat the site needs to be optimized.

What about their suggestion that the plugins are the issue?

[David]

Hi Jo,

ok if you want to eliminate any site related possibilities then its going to require disabling certain plugins. The biggest hit to the site is the 3rd party requests being made to social networks. Can you disable Facebook, twitter feeds etc for the time being and then we can re-run the test.

[Jo]

I’ve deactivated Twitter and Facebook feeds. On GT Matrix it has halved the page load time!

I would prefer to have the social media feeds on my site. Are there alternative plugins I can use which don’t slow down the site?

[David]

Hi Jo,

ok before we go about getting your social media back on-line, the TTFB hasn’t changed, so now the only other thing in your control is the Wordfence. Disable this temporarily and let me know.

[Jo]

I’ve deactivated Wordfence

[David]

OK last thing – go to Autoptimize in the WP admin bar (at the top) and Delete Cache.

[Jo]

done

[David]

Hi Jo,

I will go and look for faster social media feeds for you.

In the meantime can you feedback to the host and ask them to look at the network times. TTFB is around 4 seconds. Which is still extremely slow. We have removed the majority of third party requests and local firewall and the site is reasonably well optimized. Improvements can be made but they would be post the TTFB. This really needs then to look into why there is such a long wait time for the server to respond.

[Jo]

OK, they are on it. They are going to migrate the site onto another server. This will take 30-45 minutes.

[David]

Fingers crossed Jo. We’re making progress.

[Jo]

Hi David,

The site has now been moved and there is a huge improvement!

I’m now reluctant to re-activate plugins like Wordfence and Facebook/Twitter feeds. I don’t want to slow the site down again.

What do you think?

[Tom]

If switching servers fixed it, then I assume you should be fine to turn those plugins back on.

If you find they cause it to slow down again, you at least have something to report to your hosting that they can look into 🙂

[Author]

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