Speed Up WooCommerce – Resources

Most caching and CDN info revolves around WordPress but not WordPress + WooCommerce. Standard caching applies to Javascript, CSS, and images, while HTML caching (also called full page caching) caches the entire page. When it comes to HTML caching/full page caching, WooCommerce pages and WooCommerce cookies must be bypassed/excluded. Cloudflare, for instance, uses Page Rules and Cache Rules to exclude certain WooCommerce pages and cookies from being cached.

WordPress Theme

Theme: GeneratePress

Content Delivery Network (CDN)

Cloudinary (CDN for images)

Limit WooCommerce files to WooCommerce Pages

Optimize loading WooCommerce CSS & JS scripts on WordPress: Remove WooCommerce CSS & JS scripts from non WooCommerce Pages in WordPress – WP Dev Design

WordPress Database Optimization

WP-Optimize WordPress plugin

Web Vitals (how-tos from Online Media Masters):

*Cloudflare settings
**Includes Page Rule from Cloudflare’s eCommerce best practices tutorial for /ajax/ pages

Cloudflare Settings

Page Rules: Very important to have the 3 Page Rules listed on Cloudflare (Free plan) in the exact positions, otherwise changes made in WordPress admin won’t show up immediately (here’s why):

  1. example.com/wp-admin*
  2. example.com/*preview=true*

Detailed list of Cloudflare settings from Online Media Masters 9 Cloudflare Page Rules For WordPress Sites (But Most Sites Only Need 3 Of Them)

Pricing & Features Beyond Cloudflare Free:

Bypass Cache on Cookie: WooCommerce requires this setting to force Cloudflare HTML Cache (full-page caching) to bypass/exclude WooCommerce cookies. Bypass Cache on Cookie setting is only available to Cloudflare business ($200/mo) and Enterprise ($1000/mo) customers.

Because WooCommerce needs Bypass Cache on Cookie settings on Cloudflare (which is only available on Cloudflare’s more expensive plans), Cloudways hosting looks like a great option because it offers Cloudflare Enterprise for only $4.99/mo as an add-on to their hosting plans.

Cloudflare + APO

With Cloudflare APO, your WordPress site’s HTML is cached in Cloudflare’s edge servers around the world. (But don’t forget that a WooCommerce site requires more Cloudflare Page Rules exclusions and bypasses – which are only available from more expensive Cloudflare plans).

How to Set up Cloudflare APO for WordPress – A Deep Dive into Boosting Performance up to 300% by Kinsta (article also includes a great breakdown of the four different WordPress setups, from “no optimization” to APO). On a high level, Cloudflare’s WordPress APO improves site performance in two major ways:

Price: $5.00/mo for Cloudflare’s APO

Cloudflare + Super Page Cache for Cloudflare plugin

As an alternative to Cloudflare + APO (which is $5/mo), use Cloudflare’s free plan + Super Page Cache for Cloudflare‘s WordPress plugin. And watch the Cloudflare Optimization for WordPress (FREE method) video for setting up Super Page Cache for Cloudflare plugin.

For reference, Online Media Masters mentions using Super Page Cache for Cloudflare in conjunction with Cloudflare’s free plan in The Best WordPress Cache Plugins 2023 (Winners: FlyingPress + LiteSpeed Cache) (see Cloudflare section).

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