How to Optimize the Performance of Your Web Site

There are several ways you can improve the performance of your account. Generally, a combination of all methods should be used.


CHANGE TO A FASTER VERSION OF PHP (such as PHP 7)

More recent versions of PHP often operate faster than older versions. We recommend your change the version of PHP of your account to use PHP 7 (or newer). PHP 7 includes several default optimizations that can result in performance increases up to 30% without any other change. Please note that some older applications or codebase may not be compatible with PHP 7, so make sure to test your website after changing versions, and revert back if you notice any errors.


DISABLE UNNECESSARY PLUGINS OR COMPONENTS

Keep your account lean by removing unnecessary plugins and components, which can each add extra loading time to your website. By disabling plugins one after the other and testing throughout, you might be able to identify a specific plugin causing a slowdown. For Wordpress, we recommend the P3 Plugin Performance Profiler plugin to help identify the plugins causing the biggest slowdowns on your website. Always only install trusted plugins and themes to avoid badly optimized code.

If you have multiple applications installed on your hosting account, try to perform a full cleanup to ensure that no single installation is outdated or unnecessarily using your account resources.


UPGRADE TO A MORE POWERFUL HOSTING PLAN

Your web hosting plan includes a certain number of resources. You can review the resource usage of your account by logging in to the cPanel and clicking on the CPU & Concurrent process Usage icon. This will show you if you are hitting your account limits at any time. If you are, you should consider upgrading to a greater plan from your Client Area. In some cases, a regular web hosting plan may no longer meet your needs. At this point, you may consider upgrading to a Cloud server or to a dedicated server.


ENABLE WEBSITE COMPRESSION

The mod_deflate and gzip compression modules are available on all our servers and can accelerate the performance of your web site as well as reduce the bandwidth consumption by as much as 81%. This setting compresses your files at the server level before transferring them to the visitor, effectively increasing speed.

To activate mod_deflate with gzip compression:

1- Log in to the cPanel
2- Under Software/Services click Optimize Web Site
3- Select Compress all content
4- Click Update Settings

And you're done!


CONTACT SUPPORT

In some cases, websites that were otherwise fast and suddenly perform slowly may be symptomatic of a performance issue on the system hosting the website, rather than the website itself. If you believe this to be the case, contact the Web Hosting Canada support team via support ticket and one of our technical support agents will investigate the issue for you.
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