WooCommerce speed, the quick wins

Cart safe caching, the foundation

Use full page caching for anonymous traffic, then bypass cache for cart and checkout. Exclude cart fragments, account pages, and query heavy endpoints. Regenerate the cache when you deploy, and seed key pages so the first visitor does not take the hit.

• Page cache at server level or with a well known plugin.
• Object cache with Redis to reduce repeated queries.
• Do not cache cart, checkout, and account, keep those dynamic.

Images that stay light by design

Start with correct dimensions, switch to WebP or AVIF, and provide responsive sizes. Lazy load below the fold, but keep the main product image available without delay.

• Generate product image variants that match your theme sizes.
• Serve WebP or AVIF where possible, keep PNG for transparency only when needed.
• Reserve image space to avoid layout shift, set width and height.

Reduce render blocking assets

Keep CSS and JS lean, only load what a view needs. Defer third party scripts, and avoid heavy all in one bundles.

• Inline only tiny critical CSS, load the rest without blocking.
• Dequeue scripts and styles not used on product and checkout templates.
• Load analytics with defer, respect consent settings.

Checkout polish that lifts conversion

Short, clear checkout flows are faster by default. Remove non essential fields, delay non critical scripts, and avoid popups during payment.

• Reduce fields, keep autofill, and validate inline.
• Use AJAX add to cart on product grids to cut page loads.
• Load fraud checks and marketing pixels after primary input is ready.

Hosting and PHP runtime

Run a current PHP version with OPcache, enable HTTP/2 or HTTP/3, and keep TLS and compression modern. Monitor object cache hit rate, and make sure your CDN is serving the heavy files.

• Track TTFB and LCP in both lab and field data.
• Alert when page weight or request count grows after a release.

A quick checklist to apply this week