Give your WordPress Website A Full Checkup in 3 easy Steps:
1: Check for Overcrowding
Extensive research by Top Seo Professionals has revealed that websites on Shared IP’s will not rank as high in search engines. Furthermore, the more websites hosted on the same server, the slower your WordPress site will be further degrading SEO rankings and providing a poor user experience!
2: Conduct the proper WP Speed Test
Have you ever properly tested the speed of your WordPress site or did you use Yslow, Gtmetrix, or a similar tester? Since these speed testing programs only test what happens after the WordPress site displays, using the previous mentioned Post Render testing programs is like testing for the flu with an Xray – It doesn’t make sense.
3: A Quick Self Diagnosis
The most accurate test you can do to your WordPress website is a self diagnosis. This test is very easy to do and can be conducted by simply signing into your WordPress backend. There will be obvious signs if the hosting is not sufficient for your WordPress based site. When it comes to WordPress, all hosts are not created equal!
Step 1: Test for Overcrowding
Overcrowding can negatively impact SEO, User Experience, and Reliability!
Perhaps the most important test is a Reverse IP Domain check
- It is widely speculated by top SEO Professionals that websites on Shared IP’s will not rank as high.
- The more websites per server, the slower your website will be.
- Reliability and Website Reputation can also be affected
A Reverse IP Domain Check will give us the information we need!
Head to http://www.yougetsignal.com to perform a Reverse IP Domain Check This will tell us how many websites are on the same IP. Enter your website name without the http://. If I was testing this website, I’d enter www.thewordpressdoctor.com.
The results are in
If you find more than 100 websites per IP with this test, you should consider new hosting! WordPress based websites work their best with less than 100 websites per server.
Pay Careful Attention for a Red Warning Box for Adult content. Many hosts mix adult content themed websites with standard websites. Adult websites can negatively affect your websites reputation. If you find adult content on the same ip, you should consider finding a new webhost!
Step 2: The proper way to test the speed of your WordPress website:
The speed of your WordPress site is extremely important. Slow Wordpres sites will frustrate users as well as degrade your SEO Rankings. Do not make the mistake of using Gtmetrix or Yslow to test a WordPress based website. WordPress is coded in PHP and stores information in a Mysql database, Yslow and Gtmetrix do not test either of the two. It’s like testing the tires on a car to determine its horse power, it doesn’t make sense.
What’s your response time?
Your response time is the time it takes from when a person enters your website to the time it takes your website to start rendering the content. Head to http://tools.pingdom.com and enter your website name to perform a speed test. When the test completes, the most important piece of information displayed is on the first line of the graph under the test box. This is your response time, if it’s under 1/2 of a second or 500 miliseconds, you’re doing pretty good. If it’s between 500 miliseconds to 1 second, you’re a little slow. If it’s over 1 second, your website is very slow, and either your WordPress site or host is very slow at processing MYSQL Queries. You should consider finding a new host.
- < 1/2 SecondNo speed issues
- 1/2 – 1 A little slow
- > 1 SecondVery Slow, consider new hosting