15 Tips to Speed Up Your WordPress Backend: Improve Dashboard Responsiveness

The issue of WordPress dashboard slowdown is a big challenge in website management. It is affected by several factors, including server speed, the core WordPress program, and the efficiency of the themes and plugins you choose. Even if your site loads quickly for visitors, if the admin backend is running slowly, page generation throughout the site will be slowed down, giving the impression that the site is slow to respond overall. Ensuring that the backend is fast is key if you want your website to run smoothly.

Here, we'll help you understand and solve some common problems and teach you how to make the WordPress backend administration run faster.

1. Check your connection

A slow Internet connection can creep up on background speed. If you're on unstable Wi-Fi, this could be one of the problems. Try usingSpeedtest.netTools like this check your internet speed and if it's not fast enough, consider upgrading it or switching to a wired connection for a more stable internet speed.

If your website is on shared hosting, it means that you are sharing server resources with other websites. If there is a huge increase in traffic to these sites, your dashboard speed may suffer.

Most hosting companies have a status page that lets you see if the server is having problems or is being maintained.

2. Test the speed of the WordPress backend

Doing a speed test on the backend of your website is a good way to help you figure out why your website is slow.LighthouseLighthouse is a great tool because it gives you a complete overview of your website's performance. After using Lighthouse test, you won't just know if your website is "fast" or "slow", but you will get a detailed performance report, for example:

• file size: Large files, especially images and videos, can slow down the background. lighthouse identifies these large files and gives you the opportunity to optimize them.
• Render blocking resources: These may be scripts or style sheets that are preventing the page from loading.Lighthouse helps you identify these problems by giving you the option of loading them later or asynchronously.
• Server response time: If the server is slow to respond, it can delay everything.Lighthouse evaluates this problem by measuring Time to First Byte (TTFB) to help you determine if server speed is an issue.

It's easy to run a Lighthouse test. Just use Chrome and open Developer Tools (e.g. right click on the WordPress backend interface and select "Inspect"). Find the Lighthouse tab and click Generate Report. The tool will analyze and tell you what's going wrong that's causing the backend to slow down.

3. Upgrade your version of WordPress.

Every time WordPress is updated, not only will new features be added, but it will also improve the efficiency of your website's operation. If you are using an older version, you are missing out on these benefits. These enhancements include code optimizations and better caching mechanisms, all aimed at making your site run smoother and faster.

Also, because WordPress is so popular, it's often a target for hackers. Using an older version of WordPress is like leaving the door open for malware that can slow down your site.

4. Adjust PHP settings

WordPress is made in the PHP language, so the version of PHP can greatly affect the speed of your your site. Newer versions of PHP are not only more secure, they are also faster. For example, according to Cloudways tests, PHP 8.0 is almost three times faster than PHP 5.6.

Not sure which version of PHP your server is running? You can easily find out in the WordPress backend via the Tools menu or the Site Health widget in the Dashboard.

However, most web hosting services will not automatically update you your website to the latest PHP version, as the update may give you compatibility issues with your website's theme or plugins.

How to increase PHP memory limit

One setting you can adjust is PHP's memory limit, think of it like the "brain power" you need to work on your website. The more memory you have, the faster your website and administration pages will run.

Usually, you can increase the PHP memory limit in the control panel of your web hosting. Or, if you are willing to get your hands dirty and change the code, you can do this by modifying the wp-config.php file.

Just add this line of code define('WP_MEMORY_LIMIT', '256M'); It will be possible to increase the memory limit to 256MB. if you find that WordPress is running slowly in the background, this method may help.

<code>define('WP_MEMORY_LIMIT', '256M');</code>
<code>define('WP_MEMORY_LIMIT', '256M');</code>
define('WP_MEMORY_LIMIT', '256M');
define('WP_MEMORY_LIMIT', '256M');
define('WP_MEMORY_LIMIT', '256M');

5. Check your plug-ins

Most WordPress websites use some plugins, but some of them may use a lot of resources and slow down your admin interface. How to find out and deal with these problematic plugins?

In addition to measuring the speed of the WordPress backend, there's a great tool called WP Hive, which is an extension for Chrome and Firefox. It can tell you how well each WordPress plugin you have installed is performing.

WP Hive can tell you how much memory each plugin uses, how it affects page speed, and even if they cause errors. You can also use it to compare the performance of different plugins, which is useful for speeding up the WordPress admin interface.

If you find that a plugin is slowing down the site, you can try deactivating them to see if you can speed it up.

But what if that plugin is particularly important to your site?

At this point, look for alternatives with similar functionality but lighter weight. Also, keep in mind that for every plugin you add, the loading time of the site will be a little bit longer. So, the best strategy is to use only those plugins that you really need.

6. Run the query monitor to keep an eye on the plug-in

Query Monitor(Query Monitor) is an advanced tool that gives you a detailed view of your WordPress site's activity at the database level. It helps you to identify those plugins that are taking more resources by showing all the database queries on your website.

After installing the plugin, you will find a new menu in the toolbar of the admin interface. Click on this menu to see detailed information about database queries, PHP errors, and more. This is a powerful tool that is invaluable for figuring out and fixing issues with a slow WordPress backend.

Open the interface and go toDatabase Query - Query by Component section to see how it's running.

7. Use the cache function

Caching works by saving static copies of website pages, which reduces the server's workload and makes the website load faster. Enabling caching is helpful for websites.

However, you may not want to use caching in the WordPress admin backend. This is because the admin backend is always busy with real-time updates, such as publishing new posts or updating plugins. If they are cached, you may see old information, which can cause more problems.

Luckily, there are some caching plugins likeW3 Total Cacherespond in singingWP Super Cache, can help you solve this problem. These plugins allow you to disable caching for logged-in users or for specific pages, such as the admin backend. This way, you can enjoy the benefits of fast loading on the front-end of your site while ensuring that the admin backend is always displaying the most up-to-date information.

8. Using CDNs for speed

CDNs help web pages load faster by storing the static content of a website such as images and videos on servers around the world. The benefit of this is that no matter where a visitor is, they will be able to access the content from the server closest to them, which reduces wait times and makes websites load faster.

A CDN doesn't just make the front end of your site load faster, it also speeds up the WordPress admin backend. Especially if you and your team members are logging into the admin dashboard from different places, using a CDN can significantly improve access speeds.

9. Reduce the WordPress autosave interval

WordPress automatically saves the post or page you're writing at intervals that default to 60 seconds. This is great because it prevents you from accidentally losing your work data, but if you're writing a long post that contains a lot of media, such frequent saves can slow down your site's backend.

Some web hosting services set the auto-save interval to be longer to avoid this problem.

You can add the code define('AUTOSAVE_INTERVAL', 300). Go to the wp-config.php file and adjust the autosave interval (in seconds) yourself. There are also plugins likeUnbloaterThis will make it easier for you to manage this setting.

<code>define('AUTOSAVE_INTERVAL', 300);</code>
<code>define('AUTOSAVE_INTERVAL', 300);</code>
define('AUTOSAVE_INTERVAL', 300);
define('AUTOSAVE_INTERVAL', 300);
define('AUTOSAVE_INTERVAL', 300);

10. Restrictions on article revisions

When you save or update posts and pages, WordPress automatically creates a version history so you can go back to previous versions. However, these version history versions are saved in MySQL.

If you just write your own blog, this may not be a big problem. But if your site has a lot of authors and a lot of posts, this can make your database large and may slow down the backend of the site.

The solution is to limit the number of historical versions saved by WordPress. You can do this by adding a line of code to the wp-config.php file define('WP_POST_REVISIONS', 3). to do this so that WordPress will only keep the latest three versions of each post. This simple step will help keep your database tidy, which will improve site speed and the efficiency of your backend.

<code>define('WP_POST_REVISIONS', 3);</code>
<code>define('WP_POST_REVISIONS', 3);</code>
define('WP_POST_REVISIONS', 3);
define('WP_POST_REVISIONS', 3);
define('WP_POST_REVISIONS', 3);

11. Perform database clean-up

Knowing how the database affects the speed of a WordPress website (including the backend), we know that it is very important to keep the database tidy. The more information you have in your database, the longer it will take for your website to load. If you have WooCommerce on your site, the problem may be even more pronounced because WooCommerce holds a lot of temporary data.

However, you don't need to manually clean the database yourself. Some plugins, such asWP-Optimize, can help you do this automatically. It helps you delete unwanted old versions, spam comments, and other data.

Before you start cleaning up your database, remember to make a backup. You certainly don't want to accidentally delete something important and then wish you could go back and get it back.

12. Check if the WordPress theme affects the site speed

WordPress themes are not just for aesthetics. Some themes can slow down websites and backends due to bloated code or redundant features.

Want to know if your theme is affecting speed? Start by setting a baseline. Switch to the default WordPress theme, such asTwenty Twenty-Three, take a look at how well a clean, optimized theme will make your site run.

After switching to the default theme, use something likeLighthouseTools like this test the speed of your website's backend. These tools can tell you load times, page sizes, and what the theme is loading. Since testing the backend of your website requires a login, an external tool won't come in handy in this case.

Once you've gotten the baseline speeds, switch back to your previous thread and do the same test again, then compare the results. Pay special attention to whether the files are large or if there are too many HTTP requests, as this can mean problems.

13. Using the Heartbeat Control plug-in

The Heartbeat API for WordPress allows your browser to communicate with the server in real time. This is helpful for automatically saving posts or displaying notifications from plugins, but it also increases the burden on the server.

For example, this API sends a request to the server every 15 seconds when you are editing a post, and every 60 seconds on the dashboard. If you often need to use the WordPress backend for long periods of time, these requests can build up and put a strain on the server.

To speed up WordPress administration, you can use theHeartbeat ControlThe plugin tweaks Heartbeat performance moderately, and by reducing the frequency of requests, you can lighten the load on your servers and make the dashboard run faster.

14. Adjustment of screen options

When you find that WordPress dashboard is slow because of too many widgets and modules, don't worry.

WordPress has a feature called "Screen Options" that lets you tweak your admin pages to show less content, which makes the backend run faster. You can find this feature at the top of most pages in the dashboard.

Clicking on "Screen Options" brings up a menu that lets you choose which modules or widgets you want to display on this page. For example, on the Articles page, you can choose whether or not to display information such as author, date, category, tags and custom fields.

By reducing the amount of content displayed on the admin page through "screen options", you may be able to make the overall speed of the WordPress backend faster.

15. Upgrade your hosting

Your web hosting service can have a big impact on the speed of managing your pages. Shared hosting, while cheap, has limited resources and may slow down the dashboard.

But before you consider switching web hosting, make sure you have tried all the optimization methods mentioned earlier. If the admin page is still slow, then it's crucial to find out what the problem is. Use an optimization tool likeWP BenchmarkSuch tools can help you check the performance of your server.

Pay special attention to the server's Time to First Byte (TTFB), Google recommends a TTFB of less than 200 ms, if the TTFB is higher then the problem may be on your server.

Then it is necessary to look for a hosting company that offers extended services according to your needs, has strong security and has a proven track record of reliable service.

Summary: Accelerate WordPress background operation

The WordPress backend is at the heart of your website management, and a slow running WordPress backend can affect your productivity. But there are now many ways to make the dashboard run faster - such as checking your internet connection, updating the PHP version, cleaning up the database and adjusting the display settings.