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):
- How To Remove Unused JavaScript In WordPress (Usually Caused By Plugins, Third-Party Code, Themes/Page Builders)
- Total Blocking Time In WordPress: How To Reduce Main-Thread Tasks And JavaScript
- How To Add DNS Prefetch Hints In WordPress + Why You Shouldn’t Need To
- The Ideal Autoptimize Settings 2023 To Optimize CSS, JavaScript, Misc Settings
- How To Delay JavaScript Execution In WordPress (With List Of Common Files)
- The Best WordPress Cache Plugins 2023 (Winners: FlyingPress + LiteSpeed Cache)
- How To Delay JavaScript Execution In WordPress (With List Of Common Files)
- 16 Ways To Reduce Impact Of Third-Party Code In WordPress (AKA External Domains)
- 10 Best WordPress CDNs 2023 (Spoiler: Ideally Use Cloudflare + APO, Cloudflare Enterprise, Or QUIC.cloud On LiteSpeed)*
- 9 Cloudflare Page Rules For WordPress Sites (But Most Sites Only Need 3 Of Them)**
*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):
- example.com/wp-admin*
- 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:
- Static HTML copies of your WordPress site’s pages are cached in Cloudflare edge servers around the world.
- Third-party fonts are cached and served by Cloudflare.
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).
