My mods to functions.php
use at your own risk; search google for why/what/where any of this might be useful, or may not work at all
/*CHRISTOPHER'S CUSTOM MODS - 1.12.14 rev1 */
add_filter('the_generator', create_function('', 'return "";'));
remove_action('wp_head', 'rsd_link');
remove_action('wp_head', 'wlwmanifest_link');
remove_action('wp_head', 'wp_generator');
remove_action('wp_head', 'feed_links', 2 );
remove_action('wp_head', 'feed_links_extra', 3 );
add_filter( 'pre_comment_content', 'wp_specialchars' );
function no_errors_please(){
return 'GET OFF MY LAWN !! RIGHT NOW !!';
}
add_filter( 'login_errors', 'no_errors_please' );
/* Disable YOAST SEO Admin Bar. */
function mytheme_admin_bar_render() {
global $wp_admin_bar;
$wp_admin_bar->remove_menu('wpseo-menu');
}
// and we hook our function via
add_action( 'wp_before_admin_bar_render', 'mytheme_admin_bar_render' );
function delete_enclosure(){
return '';
}
add_filter( 'get_enclosed', 'delete_enclosure' );
add_filter( 'rss_enclosure', 'delete_enclosure' );
add_filter( 'atom_enclosure', 'delete_enclosure' );
function remove_cssjs_ver( $src ) {
if( strpos( $src, '?ver=' ) )
$src = remove_query_arg( 'ver', $src );
return $src;
}
add_filter( 'style_loader_src', 'remove_cssjs_ver', 10, 2 );
add_filter( 'script_loader_src', 'remove_cssjs_ver', 10, 2 );
add_filter( 'jpeg_quality', create_function( '', 'return 50;' ) );
function remove_pingback_url( $output, $show ) {
if ( $show == 'pingback_url' ) $output = '';
return $output;
}
add_filter( 'bloginfo_url', 'remove_pingback_url', 10, 2 );
Hi,
you may want to read through the entire pagespeed topic (big sticky top of the forum), as all of this has been well covered there.
Generally you can’t do anything about things like addthis (although I did post a hack to load that in async mode), or jetpack – as those load on other servers and will show up as errors when you run pagespeed analytics. If it’s not loading off your site, it will likely show up as an error of some kind – this includes recaptcha, adsense ads, etc.
Not sure what you mean about looking at source code of theme vs source code of the page — the theme code is not rendered while the code on your site is rendered with all the stuff coming from dbase and external and queries, etc. If you’re trying to compare the “demo” to your pages, that may not work either. You should follow the instructions to setup the cache (remember you need to CLEAR cache every time you change things like htaccess, new plugin, etc.), the speed booster, the page expires time.
For realistic speed – test without addthis, adsense, or jetpack. Then put that stuff back and decide how much impact you want to have on your site. I use addthis for social buttons on one site, and then the theme stuff on another. I don’t use jetpack as it’s slow and I hate loading stuff from a mothership that isn’t my own. I limit number of ads on page (4 ads will be slow if images!) – try loading text only ads, to speed up page!
But a *lot* of this, if not all, has been covered in the pagespeed topic. So, best to start there, and remember it’s virtually impossible to get above 91-93 in desktop with a busy site, lots of pix, wordpress theme, external stuff. Mobile will be slower, no matter what you do. 76+ isn’t too awful right now. 80+ is goal. 65 would be awful. To really optimize for mobile requires making a version of page which most newspaper sites won’t do, and that is mostly text, one picture, minimal navigation, etc.
Google sadly doesn’t differentiate from “tablet friendly” and “iphone friendly.” SO, I’ve stopped crying over trying for a perfect score on phones — it’s not my primary audience. Tablets are, then desktop.
Anyway… that might not help. But
1) set cache to page cache ONLY
2) don’t use any minification stuff until you have speed booster plugin working right
3) make sure your htaccess has expires headers
4) make sure your web server is doing gzip/deflate
5) optimize your images prior to upload; if possible use my hack to increase compression level for thumbnails (or use smush.it or similar; I prefer to edit my functions.php file to change compression to “50”)
6) run your speed tests
7) turn off anything you don’t absolutely NEED if you’re seeking highest score
8) test and retest
THEME UPDATES:
I find it’s best to fully over-write the old theme with NEW theme folder each time, via FTP. I’ve had mixed results with “patching” over the past 10 years with WP sites, and more often than not they break somewhere due to permissions.
Frankly, it’s good habit, since you can also download a full snapshot via FTP before you do an update, to ensure you have a full snapshot. I date and RAR mine here for archival purposes.
Basically Google is against ANY “text link” advertising or text linking networks… however, if you are adding rel=nofollow you’re likely fine, but many sponsors want dofollow “pretend organic links” …. you will have to research that. Best to fully read and digest Google’s official webmaster guidelines on text links:
https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/66356
Webmaster guidelines – current:
https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/35769
Everybody on this forum should likely have read this SEO guide already (2010 version):
http://www.google.com/webmasters/docs/search-engine-optimization-starter-guide.pdf
However, be aware they are “whacking” major “link selling” networks, which has been a major effort since last Summer, including the TLA (Text Link Ads) folks.
ref
http://searchengineland.com/google-busts-yet-another-link-network-anglo-rank-179296
TO CLARIFY:
organic links to things mentioned in an original article are organic – linking to GoDaddy if you mention them in tutorial on how to use their mod_pagespeed settings, for example. So, just linking to Apple’s website page about their new Mac, in doing review would not be spammy.
ALL sponsored links on pages and in articles should be rel=nofollow or you will be bitten! Linking to GoDaddy or “domain registration” with a dofollow sponsored link in an article is spammy.
HI
fyi, the theme installs a meta field for post views and starts counting once the story is viewed once theme is installed. There is no way for this new data field to count OLD reads from existing content, such as a year ago as the meta field didn’t exist.
On our sites we were using a very old and respected “view counter” and this used the meta field of “views” — so each update we actually have to hack the theme file to change the theme meta field to use our existing views data field.
If you have an existing view counter meta field, you can switch to use that existing field which was counting reads/views (or ‘hits’ as some might call them erroneously).
If no tracking meta field existed in the past – there is no way for the theme to “read” that field to display the number of reads “in the past.”
MORE SPECIFICALLY HOWEVER:
since I don’t use jetpack, and if all your views are stored in jetpack, then obviously the connector needs to ping that datafield stored “in the cloud” on Automattic’s servers where that data lives. But, check your meta (custom fields, if you prefer) for an older post. If there is a data field showing 4,000 reads for that post in your local dbase then all you’d need to do is change the hit counter module to use that existing data field by name and NOT use the one created by the theme.
Ideally – it would be wonderful to have an option to “use existing hit counter data field” option in the admin panel, particularly for a “newspaper” theme where this might be tracked more seriously that a parakeet blog. Or, a custom config file to specify that sort of thing vs hacking the theme each time.
custom-config.php
> use custom read counter field
> turn off hit counter on indexes and home page
> turn on author byline on home page and indexes
> turn on author byline on posts (should be default “on”)
(etc)
This may be useful, it shows which Twitter APIs are having technical problems:
https://dev.twitter.com/status
(may not be related to your issue; but I always check this FIRST when I see some weirdness with Twitter on our sites …)
