How to Reduce Time to First Byte (TTFB) in WordPress – Expert Tips

Speeding up your WordPress website is crucial for providing a good user experience and boosting conversions. One important metric that impacts page load time is time to first byte or TTFB.

Reducing TTFB helps pages load faster, which leads to higher visitor engagement, lower bounce rates, and increased revenue.

In this comprehensive guide, we will dive deep into what TTFB is, why it matters, how to measure it, and most importantly – expert tips to lower TTFB in WordPress.

What is Time to First Byte (TTFB)?

Time to first byte or TTFB refers to the time a browser takes to receive the first byte of data from a web server.

It measures the duration between a user clicking on a web page and the server starting to send a response to the browser.

TTFB depends on multiple factors like DNS lookup time, TCP handshake, TLS negotiation, application processing, and more. It shows how quickly your web server responds to a request.

The lower the TTFB, the faster pages will load for users. High TTFB means a slow initial server response, leading to delays in displaying content.

Why Reduce TTFB in WordPress?

Lowering your website‘s TTFB score is crucial for providing a fast user experience. Studies show higher TTFB directly impacts visitor engagement and conversions.

According to research by Akamai:

• A 1 second delay in page load time can lead to:
  • 7% loss in conversions
  • 11% decrease in page views
  • 16% decline in customer satisfaction

Reducing TTFB speeds up how soon your web server sends a response when a user requests a page. This means:

• Faster first paint and first contentful paint
• Quicker page loads
• Lower bounce rates
• Improved user experience
• Higher conversions and sales

TTFB also impacts page speed metrics that are part of Google‘s Core Web Vitals – Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), First Input Delay (FID), and Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS).

Optimizing TTFB helps boost overall site performance and can improve WordPress SEO.

Next, let‘s look at how to measure TTFB on your website.

How to Check TTFB on Your Website

You can use various tools to test the time to first byte (TTFB) score of your WordPress site. Let‘s explore some popular options:

1. Google PageSpeed Insights

Google PageSpeed Insights is a free online tool to check your website‘s speed performance.

To use it for measuring TTFB:

• Go to https://pagespeed.web.dev/
• Enter your website URL
• Click Analyze

PageSpeed Insights will test your page and show TTFB under Lab Data in the PageStats section.

This helps you monitor how your TTFB score changes over time and compare it across different pages.

2. Chrome DevTools

Another way to check TTFB is using Chrome DevTools:

• Open your site in Chrome
• Right click and select Inspect
• Go to the Network tab
• Reload the page
• Check the Waterfall chart and hover over the bars

In the tooltip, you will see Waiting (TTFB) which shows the time taken for the server to respond.

3. WebPageTest

WebPageTest provides detailed website performance reports including TTFB:

• Visit WebPageTest and enter your URL
• Click Start Test
• Under the Waterfall chart, hover over the green bar
• The tooltip will show TTFB

4. GTmetrix

GTmetrix is another excellent tool for monitoring TTFB over time.

To use it:

• Go to the GTmetrix website
• Enter your URL and click Analyze
• Check the Waterfall tab

You will see TTFB listed under the Waiting column for each resource.

Now that you know how to measure TTFB, let‘s dive into expert tips to reduce it.

Expert Tips to Reduce TTFB in WordPress

Here are actionable strategies WordPress site owners can use to lower time to first byte and speed up their websites:

1. Update WordPress, Plugins, and Themes

Using up-to-date software is crucial for performance.

Newer versions of WordPress and plugins include under-the-hood improvements to caching, database queries, loading of assets, and more.

Staying updated ensures you leverage the latest speed enhancements.

Tips for updating software:

• Update WordPress – Upgrade your WordPress core to the newest version. Use auto-updates if available.

• Update plugins – Check plugins and update to latest versions. Avoid outdated, unmaintained plugins.

• Update themes – Upgrade themes to benefit from speed fixes in new releases.

• Remove bloat – Delete unused plugins, themes, and media files. They can slow down your site.

Keeping your software stack current is one of the easiest ways to lower TTFB.

2. Switch to a Faster PHP Version

The PHP version your site runs on impacts TTFB and overall speed. Newer PHP releases contain performance improvements.

For example, PHP 7.4 made big enhancements to opcode caching and just-in-time compilation. PHP 8.0 added further optimizations.

Upgrading your PHP version can help reduce TTFB and load pages faster:

• Make sure your hosting provider supports PHP 7.4 or PHP 8.0
• Use PHP 8.0 for maximum performance benefits
• Avoid outdated versions like PHP 5.x

Also ensure important PHP extensions like Opcache are installed and enabled.

3. Enable Caching in WordPress

Adding caching to your WordPress site stores static copies of pages that can be served faster upon repeat requests.

This avoids slower dynamic page generation and database queries on each load.

There are two recommended ways to implement caching:

Plugin-Based Caching

Plugins like WP Rocket add robust caching right within WordPress:

• Full page caching
• Browser caching
• Lazy loading
• And more

Using a dedicated caching plugin optimizes TTFB and overall site speed.

Hosting-Level Caching

Many managed WordPress hosts include server-level caching for free:

• Varnish, Nginx Proxy, Redis
• Memcached
• CDN for cache storage

This handles caching outside of WordPress for reduced TTFB.

Enabling caching is one of the most impactful ways to reduce TTFB and improve website performance.

4. Configure a Content Delivery Network (CDN)

A CDN can lower TTFB by serving cached static assets from edge locations closer to visitors.

With a CDN, assets are loaded from nearby CDN edge servers instead of your origin web server.

This provides two benefits:

1. Reduce Server Load

Taking offload static content to the CDN decreases requests to your web server. This helps lower TTFB.

2. Faster Content Delivery

Users get content served from CDN nodes geographically near them, speeding up TTFB.

Some popular WordPress CDN options:

• Cloudflare
• Amazon CloudFront
• Akamai
• StackPath

Using a CDN in addition to caching improves TTFB for site visitors worldwide.

5. Tune Your Database

An unoptimized database can bog down your website and increase TTFB.

Here are some tips for improving database performance:

• Cleanup – Remove stale data like outdated transients or unneeded post revisions.

• Indexing – Add proper indexes on queries and joins to improve response times.

• Table Optimization – Optimize database tables through plugins like WP-Optimize.

• Caching – Database caching stores query results in memory to avoid disk I/O. Plugins like HyperDB can help.

• Object Caching – Store database objects in memory using Redis or Memcached to avoid queries.

Tuning your database improves query response times and reduces TTFB.

6. Choose a Fast Web Host

Your choice of WordPress hosting provider impacts TTFB due to differences in:

• Server hardware
• Network connectivity
• Infrastructure optimization
• Caching solutions
• CDN availability

Here are some things to look for in a web host optimized for speed:

• Global CDN for asset delivery
• Advanced caching layers
• Fast storage with SSDs
• Cutting-edge hardware and infrastructure
• Server locations close to your audience

Migrating to a fast web host can significantly reduce TTFB compared to a budget shared host.

Some recommended fast WordPress hosting providers:

• WP Engine
• Kinsta
• Pagely
• Pressidium
• Pantheon

Investing in a high-performance web host is one of the best ways to improve TTFB.

7. Compress Images

Large uncompressed images slow down page loading and increase TTFB.

Using image optimization tools, you can compress images without affecting visual quality.

This results in faster loading, saving bandwidth and improving TTFB.

Here are some WordPress plugins that can automate image compression:

• WP Smush
• Imagify
• Compressor
• EWWW

For maximum compression, also optimize images before uploading them to your site.

8. Defer Non-Essential Javascript

Javascript files can block page rendering and delay when the visitor sees content.

By default, all JS files are loaded synchronously without considering their priority.

Deferring non-critical Javascript allows your pages to load visibly faster. Users see content sooner while non-essential JS files load later.

To defer JS in WordPress:

• Use Autoptimize
• Load JS asynchronously
• Set proper async and defer attributes
• Prioritize important scripts over others

Deferring non-critical JS is an impactful way to lower TTFB.

9. Use a Lightweight Theme

Your theme‘s code quality and features affect frontend performance.

Heavy themes with complex functionality can make pages slower to load.

Switching to a lightweight theme optimized for speed can help lower TTFB.

Some fast minimal WordPress themes:

• GeneratePress
• OceanWP
• Astra
• Twenty Twenty-One
• Twenty Twenty-Two

Avoid bloated themes with excessive features. Instead choose a lightweight, speed-focused theme to reduce TTFB.

10. Configure Caching Headers

Enabling caching headers tells browsers to store assets locally and reuse them upon repeat visits.

This avoids re-downloading unchanged resources, making pages load faster.

Some important caching headers to configure:

• Cache-Control
• Expires
• ETag
• Last-Modified

WordPress plugins like Cache Control make it easy to configure optimal caching headers.

Proper browser caching reduces requests to the server and lowers TTFB.

Conclusion

Optimizing your WordPress site to reduce time to first byte (TTFB) is crucial for faster page loads and better user experience.

Lower TTFB results in quicker first paint, lower bounce rates, and higher conversions.

Use the expert tips outlined in this guide – updating software, caching, CDN, optimizing code, choosing fast hosting, and more – to start lowering your website‘s TTFB score right away.

Consistently monitoring TTFB using online tools helps track improvements over time.

Reduced TTFB, combined with optimizing other page speed metrics, makes your WordPress site lightning fast for visitors worldwide.