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Performance


Introduction
Cache
Hosting
More
Support
Frequently Asked Questions

Introduction

In this document we cover several topics related to the performance of your GeoDirectory site.

Images

Read more about GD Post Meta and Images here: https://wpgeodirectory.com/docs-v2/integrations/images/

Gd Post Images – Single

Your pages will load faster if you load only single or gallery using GD Post Images.

GD Post Meta Image Size

If you want to improve page performance for listing/archive or other pages you can make sure your archive item is using GD Post meta for single image and that the image is set to thumbnail.

Cache

Cache is an important factor in your site speed. We consider server resources to be the determining primary factor, but cache can be an important part of the overall solution for maintaining a site that is quick and responsive your clicks from your site visitors.

GD Booster

GD Booster should only be used with GeoDirectory V1. GeoDirectory V1 used PHP Sessions and required special cache settings that were covered in GD Booster. GeoDirectory V2 does not use PHP Sessions, and so it can work with any cache plugin.

WP Super Cache – Recommended Cache Solution

You can use any cache plugin you like with GeoDirectory V2. While we do not provide support for 3rd party plugins, we do recommend WP Super Cache because it is:

Clear Cache with WP Super Cache
You can find the button to delete the current cache at:

WordPress – Settings – WP Super Cache – Delete Cache

If you need some help with setup of WP Super Cache you can:

Autoptimize – Recommended Minify Solution

Other Cache Plugins

Some members have reported success with other cache plugins, though your results may vary. Again, we do not provide support for 3rd party plugins.

  • Comet Cache – Free
  • WP Rocket – Premium

Clearing Cache

In some cases you may not see changes on your site because your device is showing you an old version of the page.

Make sure you know how to clear any cache solution that is being used on your site. For example,

  • Clear Plugin Cache
  • Clear Server Cache (Varnish, etc)
  • Clear Browser Cache

If you do not know how to clear cache, then contact the author of the plugin, or your hosting company.

To clear your browser cache you can do a Google search for the browser you are using like “Chrome Clear Cache” or you can check out this site which covers most major browsers.

Notes about use of cache plugins

Disable while developing the site

  • Disable the cache plugin while you are developing the site. Before you disable it, make sure you clear it first.
  • If the plugin is enabled, you may not see changes to your site immediately
  • Changes you might not see include changes to page content or Custom CSS

Host Cache

  • Your host may already offer a form of server side cache.
  • Check with your host to see if this applies to your site.
  • Check to make sure you know how to clear or disable your server cache if needed.
  • Some hosts do not allow the use of one or more cache plugins Because they only support the cache solution that comes with their package offering. You will need to check with your host to find out if this is the case. GoDaddy, for example, does not allow WP Super Cache or other cache plugins because they provide a cache system for their managed WordPress sites.

Maps

Map Cache – Turn on the cache option for the map in GD – Settings – General – Show advanced – Enable map cache

Marker Clusters – Loading lots of markers? Enable marker clusters for your maps with the Marker Cluster Addon.

Minification and Aggregation

We recommend that you consider minification and aggregation for your site performance strategy. While we do not provide support for any 3rd party plugins, we do have a recommendation for minification and aggregation.

Autoptimize works alongside WP Super Cache to minify and aggregate your sites files.

You can find our recommendation for Autoptimize settings here. If you need support with the plugin, please contact the Autopimize author for support.

Hosting

Th single biggest factor determining the speed of your site is the resources of the server. Specifically, if the server is under-powered, no amount of effort will improve the performance. Find out more about our recommended hosting here: https://wpgeodirectory.com/docs-v2/server-requirements/

WordPress Requirements

Don’t forget that WordPress has recommendations and requirements, too. Take a look here at their notes: https://wordpress.org/about/requirements/

Multisite

Another strategy for improving the performance of a site is to split the site into two or more sites using multisite. Instead of installing 100 plugins on one site, using a multisite strategy you could have one site focused on your directory, another be your “brochure” or sales site, and then another as your groups or social site.

More about Performance

Read our SATIRE about “How to make your site slow”: https://wpgeodirectory.com/making-your-wordpress-site-slow/

Support

Get support on our forum, find out more here: https://wpgeodirectory.com/docs-v2/geodirectory/support/

Frequently Asked Questions

How can I exclude pages from cache?

GeoDirectory has several features that deliver customized content. Specifically the “Near Search” and “Near Me” features offer a very personalized view of site content that is specific to the user or searched location. More specifically the content on the /search/.. and location/near/me/… pages is different for almost every user interaction and can even show different data in the posts returned like the “DIstance to Post” field, which changes based on the user’s reported location.

These pages should probably be excluded from your cache settings. To do so you will want to exclude the URLs and any URL using the same slug. IN most cases a good cache system will allow for the use of wildcards. Here is an example for exclude the search and location/near/me with wildcards.

/search/*
/location/near/me/*

You will need to contact your cache system supplier for information about how to do exclusions, and also adjust the rules to match the search and location slugs used on your site.

How can I exclude pages from indexing?

noindex
See: https://moz.com/learn/seo/robotstxt .

Remove GD Booster Files

To clean GD Booster data manually:
– Delete file WORDPRESS_ROOT\wp-content\advanced-cache.php
– Delete directory WORDPRESS_ROOT\wp-content\cache\geodir-gd-booster\
– Delete directory WORDPRESS_ROOT\wp-content\booster_cache\

Scripts?

Can we make fontawesome load only on Geodirectory pages and not on all the pages.

Via 

wp_dequeue_script() & wp_dequeue_style()

you can remove loading of fontawesome or any other script on some pages, but it will create an issue if a GD shortcode is used on a page where the script isn’t available.

Can I dequeue GD scripts?

GeoDirectory scripts load on all pages because the page might use GD Elements, and the scripts would be needed to run them.

This snippet will dequeue core scripts and styles on non-GD pages; use at your own risk!


/**
 * Dequeue core scripts & styles on non GD pages.
 *
 * Note: This may cause JavaScript errors when page contains widget/shortcode from GD.
 */
function gd_snippet_dequeue_scripts() {
	if ( class_exists( 'GeoDir_Frontend_Scripts' ) && ! geodir_is_geodir_page() && !is_front_page() ) {
		remove_action('wp_footer', array( 'GeoDir_Frontend_Scripts', 'js_location_functions' ));
		remove_action( 'wp_enqueue_scripts', array( 'GeoDir_Frontend_Scripts', 'load_scripts' ) );
		remove_action( 'wp_print_scripts', array( 'GeoDir_Frontend_Scripts', 'localize_printed_scripts' ), 5 );
		remove_action( 'wp_print_footer_scripts', array( 'GeoDir_Frontend_Scripts', 'localize_printed_scripts' ), 5 );
	}
}
add_action( 'wp', 'gd_snippet_dequeue_scripts', 100 );

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