Real Test of WP Rocket with Third-Party Video Ads

You can rely on a cache plugin only after a real test. WP Rocket is one of the best speed tools for WordPress optimization. Lots of other cache tools are either difficult to operate or need manual filling of data. 

WP Rocket does most of the optimization, compression and minification in the background. Its settings are simple to understand and configure. 

Also Read – Why Rocket.net is Best WordPress Hosting in 2021? Simple Features

One thing I like about WP Rocket is the settings. They are very minimal and easy to understand.

WP Rocket Plugin Features

Sufficient guides, tutorials, videos and helpful pointers are provided at each step. Even a novice can understand its features, and there are no advanced settings. 

CSS and JS Minification is a breeze. We have already shown that WP Rocket and Autoptimize do a great job at caching and minifying. But, if you want to save some DB resources by reducing one more plugin, you can purely use WP Rocket. 

Also Read – WPMU DEV Benefits – Plugins and Hosting, Connect WordPress Site and Cancel Membership (if required).

It has all the minification features of Autoptimize and can defer CSS, JS scripts without much intervention.

One-time paid service per year. Instead of purchasing a separate tool like criticalcss.com, you can save money with all the features in one cache and minify plugin. 

Performance Test Review

In this scenario, we used the same test site as used in the FVM case study to analyze speed, user experience and performance. Same plugins, themes, and settings used. FVM and Autoptimize disabled but not removed. 

Note: A small mistake was done during the test. WP Rocket recommends using Incognito mode of Chrome. But we tested in the normal browser version. I later checked the results. But not much were different. 

Also Read – We Tested Autoptimize with 3 PageSpeed Tools – Our Results

Related plugin cache cleared. After the previous configuration of WP Rocket and Autoptimize plugins together, we removed the OPCache and other cache for both the plugins. Same web page used for this test also. 

WP Rocket Plugin Settings

Autoptimize and WP Rocket case-study options kept the same. Only the minification features changed a bit. 

Following File Optimization settings enabled. 

CSS Files

1. Minify CSS files. 
2. Combine CSS files (Enable Minify CSS files to select).
3. Optimize CSS delivery. 

Javascript files

1. Minify Javascript files. 
2. Load Javascript deferred. 
3. Delay Javascript execution. 

Cloudflare’s CDN cache is also cleared. 

GTMetrix Test with WP Rocket

Google’s PageSpeed Insights Test with WP Rocket

WebPageTest with WP Rocket

Conclusion

After going through the above results, we could see that the scores were not that great. You could obtain the exact optimal settings without using the caching plugin. 

WebPageTest reports that cache static content is not 100%.

What went wrong? Some things have spoiled a perfect score.

1. Video ads were executing JS and loading for a long time.
2. Test not conducted in incognito mode could have impact.
3. Advanced settings configuration needed to cache third-party ads.

Though it has something to do with the video ad code scripts, performance metrics are still low. I checked the results with minification of CSS and JS.

Another important observation is that time to first byte (TTFB) time is quicker on using DreamPress plan of DreamHost. Varnish cache helps in this metric.

We are going to test another test site with WP Rocket plugin and Adsense ads only. You can see the results in another case-study.