Improving Site Performance With Asset CleanUp – A Quick Guide

There are many good WordPress plugins for improving site performance out there and quite a few of them work in a similar way. Many of these extensions are promoted as all-in-one solutions. This means that they try to offer a little bit of everything to users. However, not all of them have the same levels of success.

Asset CleanUp is one of our favourite WP plugins at Ditto Digital because it focuses on doing one task well. Improving speed performance. And since good speed performance impacts SEO rankings, it’s no surprise that this is an area we’re constantly working on improving for all our clients.

Asset CleanUp works by removing any unwanted CSS files, JavaScript libraries and HTML code. It works across a website and on individual pages. WordPress is great in so many ways but one of it’s downsides is that when you use a plugin to implement a particular feature, the code from that plugin is loaded onto every page. So if you need, for example, a form on just a few pages, the code for that form appears on every page. Multiply that a number of times for all the different features you want on a website and it’s not difficult to understand how plugin code bloats a website and slows it down.

These are also sections of code that as well as being unnecessary on every page are larger in size than they need to be. Usually because they have been inefficiently configured.

Essentially, what Asset CleanUp does is make sure that your site only loads code that is required.

Exactly what is Asset CleanUp used for?

In its most basic sense Asset CleanUp is a WordPress performance plugin. Its function is to help increase the performance of a WordPress website through a series of simple optimisations. The increased efficiency that this provides clearly shows through better, i.e. shorter, loading times. This, in turn, can result in higher rankings and traffic.

Asset CleanUp is essentially a tool to manage resources (aka “assets”) – in particular JavaScript and CSS files – that are not necessary on every page.

Because of the structure of the CMS, WordPress allows users to integrate both customisations through plugins and themes. With the use of CSS and JavaScript files these customisations deliver real visual and functional benefits. But at the expense of performance. These files are integrated everywhere and always, even where there is no need for them on a page. This is the problem that Asset CleanUp was designed to resolve. It can remove any unnecessary files, and also reduce the size of a page, often by a significant amount. All without impacting the tailored functionality that you need on other pages. The value of the optimisation usually depends on how many plugins are used.

Use PageSpeed Insights to check speed performance

Before starting the performance improvement process check the performance of you web pages in Google’s free PageSpeed Insights tool. Keep a record of what they are so you can measure improvements afterwards.

How to use Asset CleanUp

We highly recommend that installation and configuration of the Asset Cleanup plugin is done by a web developer. Disabling Java scripts and CSS may have unintended consequences.

Create a backup

Before you do anything else it is a good idea to make sure you have a backup of your website. This means you will be able to disable certain Java scripts and CSS without worrying about unintended consequences. If you have a backup, you can always revert to a previous version.

Installing

It is worth noting before you install Asset CleanUp that it recommends using a caching plugin alongside it. When you combine tools in this way, your website speed increases and is more efficient.

Install by clicking on Plugins, select “add new” option on the admin panel on the left side of the screen. If you look for Asset CleanUp in the search box you will see those additional plugins you might find useful. When you find Asset CleanUp, click to install and then activate the plugin.

Using Asset CleanUp

In the setting screen there are several options to choose from. What you need to do will depend on the site you have and what you need to do.

It’s important to take your time when making any adjustments. It is all too easy to “break” a site when you are trying to increase speed and enhance your performance. This is a particular risk if you are not sure what a setting does.

Asset Cleanup settings

• Plugin Usage Preferences – manages overall behaviour in Asset CleanUp. This is things like the front end, dashboard, usage tracking, and Asset List layouts
• Test Mode – here you can enable the debugging feature which is useful if you are wanting to pinpoint the java script or CSS you want on your site.
• Optimise CSS – this gives you the opportunity to combine any stylesheets in order to reduce total page size, it has deferring, minifying, and combining as options.
• Optimise JavaScript – this works just like the CSS function above, allowing you to combine, minify and inline, when necessary. In the pro version, however, you will find inlining is locked.
• Site-Wide Common Unloads – this allows you to unload any elements that are not necessary for your site including things like emojis and oEmbeds.
• HTML Source CleanUp – allows you to remove tags on the website like RSD tags and WordPress version tags
• Local Fonts – these can be set to preload, which will cut load time depending on the fonts used
• Google Fonts – these can add style to your website but in some cases slow it down. Here you can combine, preload and preconnect in order to improve your performance.
• Disable XML-RPC – if you need to disable this then Asset CleanUp makes it a very easy task. You can use it, disable only pingbacks or disable XML-RPC completely.
• CSS and JS Load Management – you can click Asset CleanUp on the left-hand admin panel and select CSS/JS load manager. This allows you to disable scripts

Re-checking performance

Once you have configured Asset CleanUp you can check your speed performance again to see any improvements. Once you have used PageSpeed Insights you will not only have an idea of speed but also other factors that impact both SEO and user experience.

If you need help with improving the performance of your website then our full Technical SEO Audit will check for issues across your website, make detailed recommendation for improvements and then implement those recommendations.