On WordPress, the free Arva SEO Connector plugin (from version 1.3.0, now called Arva SEO – Speed Booster & SEO Connector) can fix several of the problems Google’s PageSpeed test finds. In WordPress, open Arva SEO → PageSpeed fixes. Each fix names the PageSpeed problem it addresses, worded as the report shows it.
Try first, then turn on
- Choose Try it. Only you see the change while you’re signed in to WordPress; visitors see your site as before. The toolbar says how many fixes you’re trying.
- Open your website and check the pages that matter: the homepage, your contact or booking form, the checkout if you sell online, and menus on a phone.
- Choose Turn on for everyone, or Stop trying if something looks wrong. Turn off puts your pages back as they were at any time.
If you use a page cache, clear it after changing a fix. Then run a new PageSpeed test in Arva SEO to see the change.
The fixes
| Fix | What it does | PageSpeed problem |
|---|---|---|
| Show the main image first | The featured image loads straight away, with a high priority; on the homepage, so does the image your latest PageSpeed test named | Largest Contentful Paint image was lazily loaded |
| Lazy-load images, videos and maps | Things further down load when visitors scroll near them | Defer offscreen images |
| Load styles faster | The styles for the first screen go straight into the page; stylesheets stop holding it up | Eliminate render-blocking resources |
| Remove unused CSS | Each page gets only the styles it uses; the rest loads on the first tap | Reduce unused CSS |
| Defer scripts | Scripts in the page’s head load in the background | Eliminate render-blocking resources |
| Add missing image sizes | Media-library images get a width and height, so the page stops jumping | Image elements do not have explicit width and height |
| Add the mobile viewport tag | Phones show the page at their own width (only when PageSpeed says it’s missing) | Does not have a viewport tag |
| Click-to-play videos | YouTube videos show a picture and load the player on play | Lazy load third-party resources with facades |
| Faster Google Fonts | Text shows straight away while fonts load; it can also serve the fonts from your own site | Ensure text remains visible during webfont load |
| Browser caching and compression | Browsers keep your images, fonts, styles and scripts for a year, and pages are sent compressed | Serve static assets with an efficient cache policy |
| Delay chat widgets and trackers | Chat boxes, heatmaps and social widgets load on the visitor’s first scroll, tap or key press | Reduce the impact of third-party code |
| Remove unused WordPress extras | Emoji, embed discovery and other extras you choose are switched off | Reduce unused JavaScript |
| New uploads as WebP | New images also get smaller WebP copies, and it can convert the ones you already have | Serve images in next-gen formats |
Defer scripts, Click-to-play videos and Remove unused WordPress extras can affect how some sites work. Defer scripts can only be turned on after you’ve tried it and ticked off your important pages. jQuery and consent or cookie tools are never deferred.
Critical and unused CSS
From version 1.6.0, Load styles faster and Remove unused CSS use CSS that Arva SEO works out on its own servers. When the site is connected, Arva SEO loads one page of each type (your homepage, a page, a post, a product, a category and so on) as a phone and as a computer, sees which styles it uses, and sends the result back to the plugin. Choose Optimize now on either card to start with your main page types; others follow as they’re visited.
Each page type uses one WordPress page optimization of your plan: Free includes 50 a month, Starter 100, Professional 500 and Agency 1,000, and the add-on gives 15,000 more for $5 a month. A page type is worked out again only when its stylesheets change, after a theme or plugin update for example; clearing your cache costs nothing. If the month’s page optimizations run out, page types whose styles haven’t changed keep their optimized CSS, and the others load their normal stylesheets until next month.
Switch fixes from Arva SEO
From version 1.7.0, you can try, turn on and turn off the fixes from the PageSpeed results in Arva SEO, which is handy when you look after several websites. A WordPress administrator allows it once: in Arva SEO → PageSpeed fixes, tick Let Arva SEO switch these fixes. Then each finding the Connector can fix shows Try it, Turn on and Turn off for people who manage the website’s integrations.
The rules are the same as in WordPress: a fix that can affect how a site works goes on for everyone only after it’s been tried, Defer scripts goes on only in WordPress (after its checklist), and turning a fix off always works. WordPress makes the change within a minute or two, and its Activity Log shows who asked.
Fixes that add files
From version 1.5.0, Browser caching and compression adds rules to your site’s .htaccess file (Apache and LiteSpeed servers). Right after adding them, the plugin checks your homepage from your server and takes them out again straight away if it doesn’t answer normally, so your site is never left showing an error. Turning it off, or deactivating the plugin, removes them. On nginx servers, the card shows the rules to give your host.
Convert your existing images too (under New uploads as WebP) makes WebP copies beside your images, a few at a time, and keeps only the ones that are smaller. Your originals stay, and Undo removes every copy. Serve them from your site (under Faster Google Fonts) keeps copies of your fonts in your uploads folder.
If something stops working
From version 1.4.0 you can leave part of your site alone instead of turning a fix off everywhere. The choices are at the end of the PageSpeed fixes page, under Leave things alone.
- A page: tick Leave this page alone when you edit it in WordPress, choose Leave this page alone under the Arva SEO item in the toolbar while you view it, or list its address under Pages:
/contact/, or/shop/*for every page under /shop/. Defer scripts already leaves WooCommerce and Easy Digital Downloads cart, checkout and account pages alone. - A script: on the Defer scripts card, choose Leave alone next to a script it deferred, or list a script name, part of its file address (such as
booking.js) or a whole plugin. - An image, video or map: list its CSS class (
.hero-slider), its id (#clinic-map) or part of its file address (team-photo.jpg) under Images, videos and maps. A block’s Additional CSS class counts for everything inside the block. - A slider at the top that shows its slides late: raise Images loaded straight away (3 unless you change it).
Another speed plugin?
If WP Rocket, LiteSpeed Cache, Perfmatters, FlyingPress or a similar plugin can already do a fix’s job, the fix shows Done by another plugin and stays off, so your pages aren’t processed twice. Arva SEO’s PageSpeed page names the setting to change in the plugin you have.
In Arva SEO
On a WordPress website, each PageSpeed finding the Connector can fix shows the switch to use, whether it’s on, and Open in WordPress. When the site is connected, the plugin’s page also lists the fixes your homepage’s latest phone test asks for.
Page caching, removing unused CSS and minifying files need a caching plugin; the PageSpeed page says which setting to use. In an emergency, adding define( 'ARVASEO_CONNECTOR_DISABLE_SPEED_FIXES', true ); to wp-config.php switches every fix off.