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    Performance Monitoring

    Track and optimize your website's speed and performance.

    Table of Contents

    Why Performance Matters

    Website performance directly impacts user experience, search engine rankings, and conversion rates:

    SEO

    Google uses page speed as a ranking factor

    User Experience

    53% of users abandon sites that take over 3 seconds to load

    Conversions

    Every second of delay can decrease conversions by 7%

    Revenue

    Amazon found 100ms delay costs 1% in sales

    Monitoring Tools in cPanel

    CPU and Memory Usage

    Go to Metrics → CPU and Concurrent Connection Usage

    • • CPU usage percentage
    • • Physical memory
    • • Virtual memory
    • • Entry processes
    • • I/O usage

    Bandwidth Usage

    In cPanel, go to "Bandwidth" in Metrics section to view current month's data transfer, breakdown by protocol, and trends over time.

    Visitors Statistics (AWStats)

    Go to "AWStats" or "Visitors" to view unique visitors, page views, most visited pages, geographic distribution, and more.

    External Performance Testing Tools

    GTmetrix

    Comprehensive performance analysis

    • • Page load time
    • • Total page size
    • • Waterfall breakdown
    • • Optimization recommendations

    Google PageSpeed Insights

    Google's official tool

    • • Mobile and desktop scores
    • • Core Web Vitals
    • • Field data from real users
    • • Specific suggestions

    Pingdom

    Simple speed testing

    • • Load time from different locations
    • • Performance grade
    • • Content size breakdown

    UptimeRobot

    Free uptime monitoring

    • • Check every 5 minutes
    • • Email/SMS alerts
    • • 50 monitors on free plan

    Key Performance Metrics

    Core Web Vitals (Google)

    LCP (Largest Contentful Paint) - Loading

    Good: <2.5sNeeds Improvement: 2.5-4sPoor: >4s

    FID (First Input Delay) - Interactivity

    Good: <100msNeeds Improvement: 100-300msPoor: >300ms

    CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift) - Visual Stability

    Good: <0.1Needs Improvement: 0.1-0.25Poor: >0.25

    Other Important Metrics

    • TTFB (Time to First Byte): Server response time. Good: <200ms
    • FCP (First Contentful Paint): When first content appears
    • TTI (Time to Interactive): When page becomes fully interactive
    • Total Page Size: Target under 1-2MB for fast loading
    • Number of Requests: Target under 50 requests per page

    Monitoring Resource Usage

    Via SSH (if available):

    top                    # Real-time process monitoring
htop                   # Enhanced version of top
free -m               # Memory usage
df -h                 # Disk space usage

    Signs of Resource Issues:

    • • Slow page loading times
    • • "508 Resource Limit Reached" errors
    • • Intermittent site unavailability
    • • High CPU usage alerts from host
    • • Database connection errors

    Optimization Strategies

    Enable Caching

    • • WP Super Cache or W3 Total Cache
    • • Configure page caching
    • • Enable browser caching
    • • Set up object caching

    Optimize Images

    • • Compress before uploading
    • • Use WebP format
    • • Implement lazy loading
    • • Use responsive images

    Minify CSS/JS

    • • Remove whitespace and comments
    • • Combine multiple files
    • • Use Autoptimize plugin

    Use a CDN

    • • Cloudflare (free tier available)
    • • BunnyCDN (affordable)
    • • Faster global delivery
    • • Reduced server load

    Database Optimization

    • • Regularly optimize tables
    • • Remove post revisions
    • • Clean up transients
    • • Use WP-Optimize plugin

    Optimize PHP

    • • Use latest PHP version (8.x)
    • • Enable OPcache
    • • Adjust memory limits

    WordPress-Specific Monitoring

    Query Monitor Plugin:

    Install Query Monitor to debug database queries, PHP errors, HTTP API calls, hooks and actions, and scripts/stylesheets loaded.

    Performance Plugins:

    • WP-Optimize: Cache, compress, clean database
    • Asset CleanUp: Disable unused CSS/JS
    • Perfmatters: Comprehensive performance tweaks

    Setting Up Alerts

    Uptime Alerts:

    1. Sign up for UptimeRobot or similar
    2. Add your website URL
    3. Configure check interval (5 minutes)
    4. Set up email/SMS notifications
    5. Add multiple alert contacts

    Performance Alerts:

    • • Set baseline performance metrics
    • • Alert when page load exceeds threshold
    • • Monitor from multiple locations
    • • Track performance trends

    Troubleshooting Performance Issues

    Slow Page Loads

    Diagnosis: Run GTmetrix test, check waterfall chart, identify largest/slowest resources

    Solutions: Enable caching, optimize images, reduce server response time, use CDN

    High CPU Usage

    Common causes: Poorly coded plugins/themes, inefficient database queries, bot traffic, lack of caching

    Solutions: Identify resource-intensive plugins, implement caching, block malicious bots, optimize queries

    Memory Exhausted Errors

    Solutions: Increase PHP memory limit (if allowed), disable memory-intensive plugins, optimize images and uploads, consider upgrading hosting plan

    Regular Monitoring Schedule

    Daily:

    • • Check uptime status
    • • Review error logs for critical issues
    • • Monitor traffic spikes

    Weekly:

    • • Run speed tests
    • • Review resource usage in cPanel
    • • Check for slow queries

    Monthly:

    • • Comprehensive performance audit
    • • Database optimization
    • • Clean up unused files

    Performance Best Practices

    • • Establish baseline: Know your normal metrics
    • • Test regularly: Weekly speed tests minimum
    • • Monitor proactively: Set up alerts
    • • Optimize continuously: Not a one-time task
    • • Keep software updated
    • • Use caching everywhere
    • • Optimize images before uploading
    • • Limit plugins to essentials
    • • Use a CDN for static assets
    • • Consider upgrading when needed