Unbearably long loading times on WordPress backend.

  • Noah

    (@noahsbarks)


    6 months ago

    I’ve been having loading time problems interrupt my workflow for weeks now. I spent the previous week talking with my host, who were unable to diagnose my problem and had to throw their hands up.

    Now I’m reaching out to the public’s knowledge. Bear with me as I try to give as much detail as possible.

    When working or browsing on my site while logged in, I inconsistently experience extremely long load times. When I say “long,” I mean (at times) over five minutes to load even the simplest of pages.

    I can find no pattern for when these load times appear, or even their length. What typically happens is, after the arbitrary load time is complete, the site will operate at normal speeds again until the next instance. If I attempt to open another tab, refresh the page, etc., I’m met with the same long load time. There’s no way to circumvent it; I just have to wait out this “tantrum.”

    That is, unless I use incognito mode. It seems that the frontend of the site loads rather fast. I’ve heard no complaints about speed from anyone attempting to use my site. Granted, the inconsistency of the load times means that they could have just not happened to have been on the site during one of its “episodes.” Speed tests always look good, too.

    At my host’s recommendation, I installed WP Query Monitor (QM) and had it up for a few days. I’d say 1/5 pages would have either a yellow/red warning marker from QM. Examining these, the output was rarely identical. WP Core was a consistent name, but my host reinstalled my Core files and it solved nothing. Otherwise, I’d see various plugins named, but even after deactivating all plugins and mixing and matching their presence, I could not isolate a single one as being the problem.

    I have dozens upon dozens of screenshots of QM’s output, and I’d be happy to share those, if it might help. My host seemed to have nothing to say about any of it. The last thing they did was the server I was on, but it had no effect.

    My currently enabled plugins:
    Archive Control (SwitchWP)
    Broken Link Checker (WPMU DEV)
    Burst Statistics (Burst Statistics)
    LuckyWP Table of Contents (LuckyWP)
    WP Super Cache (Automattic)
    Yoast SEO (Team Yoast)

    So… any ideas for where to start? Any information I could provide?

    I’m only a year into developing my own site, so I’m very inexperienced. I’d appreciate any patience and understanding in regards to terminology, coding, etc.

    Having my work routinely interrupted for 5-20 minutes at a time is devastating to my productivity. It’s extremely important that I solve this, and I hope it’s okay that I attempt to keep this thread active until I do. Thank you for reading all of this, and for any advice.

    The page I need help with: [log in to see the link]

Viewing 6 replies - 1 through 6 (of 6 total)
  • Moderator threadi

    (@threadi)

    6 months ago

    On the subject of optimizations, see also this article: https://developer.wordpress.org/advanced-administration/performance/optimization/

    I suspect that if you deactivate the WP Super Cache plugin you are using, you will also experience long loading times when you are not logged in. This plugin helps to reduce them.

    Take a look at the Query Monitor to see which queries are taking a long time. I’m not sure how to interpret your description exactly. If these are queries of central data, it could be that the database contains too much data and/or is responding slowly. How large is the database itself?

    If it is the database, there are several options:

    Also test whether disabling plugins improves delivery times.

    Thread Starter Noah

    (@noahsbarks)

    6 months ago

    Hi, @threadi. Always great to see you!

    I don’t think Super Cache is related to the speeds. I’m sure it helps site speed generally, but my load times are irregular. The site can load quick on the backend for a while, then the same page(s) will suddenly take 5-20 minutes to load for a period. There should be no change to what’s being loaded, so times ought to be consistent. That is, if I’m understanding how this all works!

    Could you go into more detail on the database point? How do I check its size, for instance? I’m not sure how to answer your questions in general. My inexperience is showing. Query Monitor doesn’t have completely consistent, slow queries showing up. Some show up more than others, but not every time. I’ve inlined four screenshots of QM’s output. I have dozens more. I don’t know if this helps you at all.

    As for a persistent object cache, my host said redis or memcached aren’t available, but SQLite Object Cache would be an option. Do you think that’s still worth trying? I’m not sure what the difference would be compared to redis/memcached.

    View post on imgur.com
    Moderator threadi

    (@threadi)

    6 months ago

    You can check the database size in your hosting account. It is often specified there or can be read using tools such as phpmyadmin. I think it is also displayed in the WordPress backend under Tools > Site Health > Info.

    Your screenshots show database statements, but they are still fast if you say you are waiting for minutes. You can also click on the column with the time at the top in Query Monitor to sort it. You may then notice a statement that runs for several seconds.

    I don’t have any experience with SQLite Object Cache, but give it a try. Alternatively, I would recommend APCu, which only needs to be activated as a PHP module and then you can use it with this plugin here in WordPress: https://wordpress.org/plugins/apcu-manager/

    Thread Starter Noah

    (@noahsbarks)

    5 months, 3 weeks ago

    Hi, @threadi. Sorry for the slow reply. I’ve been very busy. I still need to look into those things you mentioned, but I noticed something that might narrow down the issue.

    During these long load times, I’ve tried to access my site in incognito mode, where it typically loads at normal speeds. Recently, I’ve attempted to actually log in in incognito mode, which also loads at normal speeds. This means I can receive a minutes-long load time in my normal setup, then copy and paste the exact same editing URL into incognito mode, log in, and continue to work even before the original page has loaded!

    Does this point to what might be going wrong?

    Moderator threadi

    (@threadi)

    5 months, 3 weeks ago

    Maybe you just need to change your browser. If that’s the problem, you might need to clear the cache and all cookies for your site in your original browser.

    Thread Starter Noah

    (@noahsbarks)

    5 months, 3 weeks ago

    I’ve tried clearing my cache and cookies, but it doesn’t seem to affect anything. After a while of working in incognito mode, that will have the same long load times. At that point, I need to do a new incognito mode, or return to my non-incognito window, which has hopefully returned to normal speed at that point.

Viewing 6 replies - 1 through 6 (of 6 total)

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