This guide explains how to optimize a website managed on a Web Hosting to make it faster and offer smooth navigation to all your visitors, regardless of their connection speed.

The role of the host

1. Your hosting server is functioning normally and has not encountered any incidents in the last 48 hours.
2. The network infrastructure has not experienced any disruptions during this same period.

The role of the site owner and the webmaster

Infomaniak does not intervene on the content of the servers or on the development of the sites. The creation and maintenance of a site are distinct professions, although they use the tools and services provided by the host.

Analyze the cause of the slowness

Here are the actions to take if you notice slowness on your site:

1. Apply the Google PageSpeed Insights recommendations. These points concern the design of the site and not the server configuration. Refer to this other guide if the test recommends enabling resource compression.
2. In case of slowness noticed from abroad, activate the DNS Fast Anycast.
3. Install a caching system to reduce redundant database access and speed up display.
4. Consider using a CDN.
5. Test the server response time or TTFB.
6. Scan your hosting to detect any potential viruses.
7. Purge your databases regularly by deleting unnecessary entries.
8. Use the latest PHP version compatible with your site or CMS.
9. Avoid images, counters, or media hosted on external servers: if they are unreachable, your site will appear slow.
10. Disable unnecessary or resource-intensive WordPress extensions.
11. Keep your CMS and web applications up to date regularly.
12. Limit the impact of overly aggressive indexing robots by configuring a Crawl-delay.
13. Analyze the error-logs: correcting the errors generated by your site improves its performance.
14. Check the slowlogs to identify SQL queries taking more than 5 seconds to execute and optimize them (optimization examples).
15. Add a server cache engine like Memcached (available on Cloud server only).
16. Increase the max_children value (only on Cloud server).

If the problem persists

If you or your webmaster cannot find the source of the slowdowns, contact Infomaniak support in writing, providing the following information:

1. Name of the hosted site.
2. Exact dates and times of the slowdowns.
3. Name of the database or FTP account possibly involved.
4. Your public IP address during tests (visible on https://www.infomaniak.com/ip).
5. Type of slowdown (display, FTP transfers, etc.).
6. Indicate if you can normally access the Infomaniak site during these episodes.
7. Complete result of a traceroute to 84.16.66.66.
8. Result of a speed test on speedtest.net by selecting Infomaniak as the destination server.

If your needs evolve

If shared hosting is no longer sufficient, consider switching to a Cloud Server. Your site can be easily migrated to benefit from dedicated resources and advanced caching technologies.