Page Speed
Find slow articles with PageSpeed Insights and speed them up in ways that don't conflict with cache plugins
Find slow articles and speed them up
"Sorabun > Measure / Analyze > Page Speed" measures how fast each article loads and reduces what slows it down (Pro).
Sorabun doesn't do full-page caching (the core feature of plugins such as WP Rocket). It doesn't mix well with pages that differ by visitor, such as paid articles and CTAs, and it doubles up with hosting caches. Instead, Sorabun speeds up articles in ways that don't conflict with caching, and works together with any cache plugin you use.
No AI is used, so there are no AI costs.
1. Find slow articles
Google PageSpeed Insights measures how fast each article loads on a phone. Each article takes about 20 seconds.
- "Measure articles not measured yet" measures one after another. Press "Stop" at any time
- Turn on automatic daily measurement (
psi_auto, off by default) to measure 5 articles a day: those not measured yet first, then those measured more than 30 days ago - The list is sorted from lowest score. Each article shows LCP, CLS, INP, and main causes and what you can do
| Metric | Meaning | Good |
|---|---|---|
| Score | The PageSpeed Insights performance score | 90 or higher (under 50 is slow) |
| LCP | Time until the largest element (often the featured image) appears | 2.5 seconds or less |
| CLS | How much the layout shifts while loading | 0.1 or less |
| INP | Time from a tap to a response | 200 ms or less |
When real reader data (from Chrome users) exists for an article, those numbers are shown first. Otherwise the numbers come from a test load. INP only appears for articles with real reader data.
You can measure without a key, but the daily limit is low. A key with the "PageSpeed Insights API" enabled in Google Cloud raises it (free). The key is stored encrypted.
2. Make pages lighter
Each setting takes effect as soon as you press "Save." Anything that changes how pages look is off by default. After turning one on, open an article and check that nothing looks broken.
| Setting | Default | What it does |
|---|---|---|
Lighter YouTube embeds (yt_facade) | Off | Shows only the video's image until it's pressed, then swaps in the video. A YouTube embed loads hundreds of KB even if no one plays it |
Load the featured image first (lcp_priority) | On | On article pages, the featured image your theme shows is loaded first instead of later. Shortens LCP |
Add width and height to images (img_dims) | Off | Adds width and height to images in the body that lack them, so the layout doesn't shift while loading (CLS) |
Stop the emoji script (no_emoji) | Off | Current browsers display emoji on their own, so the script that turns them into images isn't needed |
Stop the embed script (no_embed) | Off | Stops the script that lets other sites embed your articles |
Don't load dashicons (no_dashicons) | Off | Readers who aren't logged in don't load the admin icon font |
Heartbeat every 60 seconds (heartbeat) | Off | Reduces periodic requests while the admin screen stays open, lowering server load |
When WP Rocket's "Replace YouTube iframe with preview image" is on, Sorabun doesn't replace YouTube embeds (to avoid doing it twice).
The WebP image setting is on the Security / Speed screen.
3. Database cleanup
The number of removable items is listed, and "Clean up" removes each kind (administrators only). Up to 500 items are removed at a time.
| Item | What's removed |
|---|---|
| Old revisions | For each article, everything older than the newest ones you keep (db_keep, 5 by default) |
| Auto-drafts | Auto-drafts older than 7 days |
| Spam comments | Comments marked as spam |
| Trashed comments | Comments in the trash |
| Expired temporary data | Temporary data that has expired and is no longer used |
You can also clean up automatically every week (db_auto, off by default).
For articles where a rewrite draft was applied, the old text can be restored from revisions. Since the newest revisions are kept, recent rewrites can still be undone.
4. Working with caches
When WP Rocket, LiteSpeed Cache, W3 Total Cache, WP Super Cache, WP Fastest Cache, SiteGround Optimizer, or Autoptimize is installed, Sorabun clears that article's cache whenever it changes how an article looks: applying a rewrite draft, fixing links, updating review dates, CTA or paid-article settings, and so on. When you change a site-wide setting (CTA, generation defaults, and so on), the whole site's cache is cleared.
Caches are only cleared when what's displayed changes. Counting data such as CTA clicks doesn't trigger clearing. You can also clear manually with "Clear cache now."
Server-side caches such as Xserver's "Server cache" can't be cleared by plugins. If a change doesn't show up, clear the cache in your hosting control panel.