WordPress Optimizations and Search Engine Rankings
I had to hold off on doing some optimizations until I had a stable connection for at least an hour or so. I think the wait was worth it.
Optimization #1: Removing the last of the social widgets from the footer and any advertising widgets from the sidebars. I'm still making money in other ways, so phooey on sidebar and footer slowdowns.
Optimization #2: Replacing WP-Cache 2 with WP Super Cache. Those who are logged in or leave a comment get the benefit of the WP-Cache 2 that's included with WP Super Cache, but with code optimizations (Donncha picked up where the other developer stopped). Those who are not logged in and don't leave comments (99 percent of the Internet) get the benefit of WP Super Cache, which serves static pages that aren't processed by PHP like WP-Cache 2.
Although there's a noticeable speed improvement, even on my lousy connection, there are more optimizations that need to be done:
I've been trying to incorporate something like Minify for PHP4 (since that's what my host uses) which is based on Minify for PHP5. Although I'm familiar with both PHP and CSS (and even a little JavaScript), I couldn't get it to work for me. My main CSS would stop working completely.
I took a look at Combine, but it appears to be written for Apache 2 and my host uses Apache 1.3. I also took a look at JSmart. It didn't work for me either.
I'm not sure what I need to do to get one of these options working, and I'm all eyes if anyone can help.
Search Engine Rankings: I saw a note somewhere (sorry, but I don't remember where) that Google did away with their supplemental index (Google Hell). I don't know if that, or the recent Google PageRank slapfest, had anything to do with the improvement of this blog's search engine rankings. I do know that, even with a PageRank of 0, I'm getting more traffic than some people with a PageRank of 4 and 5.
It's a known fact that the more often one of your links appears on Google's search results, the faster it climbs to the top of the index (I hesitate to use an acronym like SERPS because I really don't know what it means and what factors are in control). It's not a known fact that there are ways to have your links come up more often, without being searched for. One of those ways is a plugin called AskApache Google 404. I have it installed on both of my blogs. Go ahead; click this link to test it: Google at Untwisted Vortex. You'll see what I mean almost instantly.
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The whole G index is in a flux following the October PR shake up. I guess the main advice is to keep on doing the "right" things (i.e. don't do paid reviews, ensure you don't have dupe content, don't link to bad neighbourhoods) but the fact is that G are in a bit of a flux at the moment with the SERPs that it's tough to know when or how to link out to folks…
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I'm not too worried about either the PR or the SERPS, but it's nice to see it happening in my favor for a change.
The site is loading and flowing a lot faster now, RT. even when I use Firefox or Opera, your fixed background image doesn't slow down the scrolling (which is a browser problem).
That's because you're being served a static page. If I turned of the super cache, it would be back to the way it was before.
That's why I asked my host about xcache. They compiled it within hours. That was cool. Supercache might be next.
[...] to RT for putting me on to this excellent plugin. Some Related PostsWhat About Me?How Strong Is Your [...]
I also just started using WP Super Cache and so far I am very happy with it. My host was complaining about server resources used by our site and suggested it. Not only does it make your site faster it also partially protects you from traffic spikes (as it greatly reduces the server load of processing pages). And it has options for taking even more aggressive measures in case you predict a huge traffic spike.
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Exactly, that's why I'm using it. I get spikes all the time.
These are some good tips. I tried your tip of removing social buttons. We'll see how it works out!
Happy new year!
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You can download this great plugin called all in one SEO. Even since I installed it ive been getting so many more hits to my blog posts