SearchLove London | 'Jono Alderson', Turbocharging your Wordpress Website'

@jonoaldersonTurbo-charging your WordPress website

Turbo-charging your WordPress*

website


I’m going to make you care about technical SEO.


Jono AldersonHead of Insight @ Linkdex

@jonoalderson

Technical SEO + analytics geekCloset web developer & Wordpress fanatic

https://twitter.com/jonoalderson


So, like any good SEO, I needed a

website.


September 19th is Talk Like A Pirate Day


Today is International Plush Animal Lovers Day


Tomorrow is Cat Day and Internet Day


...and the whole of October is Pizza Month


!


# links builtzero


# bloggers emailedzero


Proactive outreach donezero


Comment spam, guest posting, content spunzero


Infographicszero


Average words per page< 50*


Budgetzero*


Wanna see?


www.daysoftheyear.com

http://www.daysoftheyear.com/


When we started talking about content

marketing, we stopped talking about technical

optimisation.“on page” is not the same as

“technical”


Why should we care?


We’ve all seen the impact of technical

bugs/faults/etc.

Broken pages, missing redirects, indexation faults, etc...


Visualising PerformanceSeeing is believing


Ditch the crappy metaphor!

Yes, it works as a loose analogy, but it gives people permission to think about it in an

abstract sense.


Visualising PerformanceSpeed● Google PageSpeed Insights, ySlow● Google Analytics● Pingdom, WebPageTest*


developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/insights/

http://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/insights/

http://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/insights/


webpagetest.org


There is no ‘site speed’ number which Google uses.

An aside… Developers HATE

this.


Visualising PerformanceUser Experience

● How’s it “feel”? Consider the psychology of the loading experience

● User experience index, general quality, give-a-damn● Track it, benchmark it. Surveying and feedback tools


Visualising PerformanceTechnical optimisation & security● Bandwidth/overhead optimisation

● Adoption of technologies (open graph, responsive images, caching, etc)

● Minimising risks of hacking, DDOS


But wait, this really isn’t SEO…?


So, let’s go.


bit.ly/searchlove-wordpressBut first...

http://bit.ly/turbo-charging-wordpress-cheatsheet

http://bit.ly/turbo-charging-wordpress-cheatsheet


Visualising the stack


Visualising the stack1. Hosting Type


Visualising the stack2. Server Spec & Config


Visualising the stack3. Theme / CMS


Visualising the stack4. Domain(s)


Visualising the stack5. Media / Assets


Visualising the stack6. HTML & DOM parsing (and CSS + JS)


Visualising the stack7. Re-flow / re-paint, FPS


So let’s start with something easy.

My ‘must have’ WordPress plugins


Don’t go anywhere without installing:W3 Total Cache*

RedirectionBWP Sitemaps

Broken Link CheckeriThemes Security*

Akismet*Query Monitor


You may also like...BWP Minify

Yet Another Related Posts Plugin*YARPP Experiments

Relevanssi*WP-PageNavi

Kraken.io*Google Tag Manager for Wordpress

User Role EditorCustom Post Type Permalinks


Third Party ServicesCloudflare (or MaxCDN)

NewRelicAn SSL certificate (ssl2buy.com)

...some kind of backup processes......and some proper hosting...


What, no Yoast SEO?


Stand up, Jim.Jim Seward, @iamoldskool


“My wordpress seo tends to be limited to ‘install the yoast plugin’ and do the usual site stuff...”Jim Seward, @iamoldskool


Is this really an issue?

What are the experts doing?


If everybody’s only running at 80%...

...Want the rest?


Here’s the stuff nobody talks about.


Buy yourself some hosting.

You can only learn this stuff by doing


Dedicated/tailored WordPress Hosting?


DIY HOSTINGShared, Dedicated, or VPS*(vs Clusters & hardcore setups, AWS elastic cloud computing)


cPanel


Behind the curtain…


http://codex.wordpress.org/


wp-config.phpSecurity settings

Auto update settingsLimit revision & trash storage

Cookie stuffSet memory allowance

Force SSLSet language

http://codex.wordpress.org/Editing_wp-config.php




Expert tip... Reference the

Template HierarchyURL -> <- Page


Expert Tip...You can use pre_get_posts to intercept and

change how requests are processed


URL Structures (Permalinks)

Default/?p=%post-id%

http://www.example.com/?p=123



‘Pretty’ /%category%/%postname%/

http://www.example.com/cat/page/



‘Flat’/%post-id%-%postname%/

http://www.example.com/123-page/


Custom 503, maintenance & DB error pages


Custom Error Files

<?php// Set headers before outputting the page HTML header('HTTP/1.1 503 Service Temporarily Unavailable'); header('Status: 503 Service Temporarily Unavailable'); header('Retry-After: 3600'); // 1 hour = 3600 seconds?>

<html>...

wp-content/maintenance.phpwp-content/db-error.php


Other WP Crap…


Expert Tip...Clean up WP and plugin overheads

// Clean up wp_head()function cleanhead() {

remove_action('wp_head', 'rsd_link'); remove_action('wp_head', 'wlwmanifest_link');remove_action('wp_head', 'wp_generator'); remove_action('wp_head', 'feed_links_extra', 3 );remove_action('wp_head', 'feed_links', 2 ); remove_action('wp_head', 'adjacent_posts_rel_link_wp_head', 10, 0 );remove_action('wp_head', 'rel_canonical');remove_action('wp_head', 'wp_shortlink_wp_head', 10, 0 );}add_action('init', 'cleanhead');


Expert Tip...Clean up WP and plugin overheads

// Ged rid of superfluous CSSfunction deregister_styles() { if (!is_admin()) {

wp_deregister_style('avatars');wp_deregister_style('imgareaselect')wp_deregister_style('avatar-manager.css');wp_deregister_style('yarppRelatedCss');

} }add_action( 'wp_print_styles', 'deregister_styles');


Expert Tip...Kill unnecessary templates

// Kill misc pagesadd_action('template_redirect', 'jono_nerf_pages');function jono_nerf_pages() { global $wp_query, $post; if (is_day() || is_month() || is_year()) { header("HTTP/1.0 404 Not Found"); $wp_query->set_404(); } if (is_attachment()) { header("HTTP/1.1 301 Moved Permanently"); header("Location: ".get_permalink($post->post_parent)); exit; } if (is_feed()) { header("HTTP/1.0 404 Not Found"); $wp_query->set_404(); wp_query->is_feed = false; } if ((is_archive()) && (!have_posts())) { header("HTTP/1.0 404 Not Found"); $wp_query->set_404(); }}


Your Theme Performance

PHP & databaseTheme files and functions

Plugins & widgets


W3 Total Cache!


I’m not going to tell you how to configure

this.Your site is unique.


Here’s a good place to start


Expert Tip...You can move redirects from out of WordPress

and into .htaccess from within the plugin admin


apple-touch-icon.png (and variants)favicon.ico (and variants)

browserconfig.xmlInvalid or un-used feedsinvalid page/date ranges

broken internal links (and missing http links)alternate sitemap and meta data urls

pages & images with weird, breaking parameterssecurity probes

legacy urls

Some things to watch out for...


The physical location of your server & media

matters.

Use a CDN


MAGIC.


Subdomains Rock.Serialisation of requests (and other cool stuff)


*No need to create/configure subdomains in cPanel/WHM!


Cloudflare + Subdomains + W3 Total Cache = MAGIC

Configure in W3TC as a “Generic Mirror”


Expert Tip...Redirect requests which resolve to your CDN subdomains (or other

hostnames)// Redirect requests from non-primary domainsfunction domain_redirect() { $hostname = $_SERVER['HTTP_HOST']; $mainDomains = array('www.daysoftheyear.com','app.daysoftheyear.com'); if (!in_array($hostname,$mainDomains)) { $uri = $_SERVER['REQUEST_URI']; wp_redirect( 'https://www.daysoftheyear.com'.$uri, 301 ); exit; }}add_action('init', 'domain_redirect');


Expert Tip...Use established CDNs to server common/large resources (like

jQuery)// Use Google CDN for jQueryfunction modify_jquery() { if (!is_admin()) { wp_deregister_script('jquery'); wp_register_script('jquery', 'http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.11.1/jquery.min.js', false, '1.11.1'); wp_enqueue_script('jquery'); }}add_action('init', 'modify_jquery');


(Or W3 Total Cache)


Before…

After…


HTTPS / SSLChange to protocol-relative URLs (//example.com/file/)

References in CSS/JS & third party stuff

Purchase & install key*(Cloudflare is MAGIC)

Buy the right type (single, multi, wildcard)

Tweak CDN config

W3 Total Cache config


Expert Tip...Database find & replace

update TABLE_NAME set FIELD_NAME = replace(FIELD_NAME, ‘find this string’, ‘replace found string with this string’);

...or cheat...

“Search and Replace” plugin


HTTPS / SSLForce SSL in wp-config.php (esp. if using Cloudflare)

// Force SSLdefine('FORCE_SSL_ADMIN', true);if ($_SERVER['HTTP_X_FORWARDED_PROTO'] == 'https') $_SERVER['HTTPS']='on';


HTTPS / SSLForce SSL in .htaccess

http://www.webhostinghub.com/help/learn/website/ssl/force-website-to-use-ssl

http://www.webhostinghub.com/help/learn/website/ssl/force-website-to-use-ssl


Media OptimisationPay attention to every detail.Kraken, but get it right first.

Photoshop isn’t good enough; use dedicated kit


File size is (sometimes) less important than

#requests


CSS SpritesAre super-awesome, and avoid extra

requests


Expert Tip...You can base64 encode images in your

CSS


Expert Tip...Change default media links

// Change image default linkfunction misc_change_image_default_link() {

$image_set = get_option( 'image_default_link_type' );if ($image_set !== 'none') {

update_option('image_default_link_type', 'none');}

}add_action('admin_init', 'misc_change_image_default_link', 10);


Expert Tip...Lowercase filenames

// Lowercase filenamesadd_filter('sanitize_file_name', 'mfl_make_filename_lowercase', 10);function mfl_make_filename_lowercase($filename) { $info = pathinfo($filename); $ext = empty($info['extension']) ? '' : '.' . $info['extension']; $name = basename($filename, $ext); return strtolower($name) . $ext;}

Expert Tip...Responsive Images (without the overhead…)

<picture><source srcset="small-image.jpg" media="(max-width: 480px)"><source srcset="medium-image.jpg" media="(max-width: 720px)"><source srcset="large-image.jpg" media="(max-width: 1024px)"><source srcset="xlarge-image.jpg" media="(max-width: 1280px)"><img srcset="xlarge-image.jpg" alt="" /></picture>


Expert Tip...Responsive Images (without the overhead…)

// Thumbnail sizesadd_image_size( 'cols-1-small', 480, 314, array( 'left', 'top' ) );add_image_size( 'cols-1-med', 720, 470, array( 'left', 'top' ) );add_image_size( 'cols-1-large', 1024, 669, array( 'left', 'top' ) );add_image_size( 'cols-1-xlarge', 1024, 669, array( 'left', 'top' ) );

add_image_size( 'cols-2-small', 240, 157, array( 'left', 'top' ) );add_image_size( 'cols-2-med', 360, 236, array( 'left', 'top' ) );add_image_size( 'cols-2-large', 512, 335, array( 'left', 'top' ) );add_image_size( 'cols-2-xlarge', 512, 335, array( 'left', 'top' ) );


webpagetest.org

http://webpagetest.org/


Expert tip... NewRelic


Expert Tip...Check your error_log file


Stuff I haven’t talked about...Parent/child theme relationships

PHP(!)Transient caching

Device-type optimisationAwkward SSL stuff (chain certificates)

CSS/JS optimisationWP Cron, Ajax & the Heartbeat API

Browser reflow and repaint

(That may own websites are a bit slow, and far from perfect!)

Take it one step at a time.


Stop mitigating against technical

impact......Start capitalising on technical

opportunity.


Learn (some of) this stuff!

And not just because you want to be “full stack”.


And if you’re not at least thinking about this stuff…?

Maybe all you’re doing is “marketing”.


Google cares about this stuff...

Because users do. Even if they don’t know they do.


Aim for 100%(but get there one step at a time)


WIN


Jono AldersonHead of Insight @ Linkdex

@jonoalderson

(and also www.daysoftheyear.com)

https://twitter.com/jonoalderson

SearchLove London | 'Jono Alderson', Turbocharging your Wordpress Website'

Marketing

Transcript of SearchLove London | 'Jono Alderson', Turbocharging your Wordpress Website'