Web Performance
Query Monitor, WordPress plugin to monitor website performance
Query Monitor is one of those WordPress plugins that can make the difference in optimizing every detail of your digital project. We know that to improve the performance of a website – in terms of loading speed – you need constant, continuous, complete work. It is not enough to upload light images, buy a high-performance hosting and install plugins to manage the cache.
These are the basic elements, the starting point. Then you need to intervene on the details . This is why it is useful to exploit the capabilities of Query Monitor, a WordPress extension ( you can find it here ) designed to analyze and identify errors in the various applications that make up a website, e-commerce or blog.
Table of Contents
What is Query Monitor and what is it used for?
How Query Monitor Works
How to Use Query Monitor for a Slow Site
Is this WordPress plugin essential?
What is Query Monitor and what is it used for?
Query Monitor is a WordPress plugin for debugging activities. This means that it allows you to analyze all the aspects and components that define the structure of the portal. The goal is to identify errors that can lead to malfunctions, slowdowns and bottlenecks.
So, we can define this extension as a utility to improve the overall look of your website. And, as a consequence, also the speed of execution of the pages. Once installed , it presents itself as a dashboard that you can reach in the backend and that allows you to analyze the results.
Finally, remember that Query Monitor also offers several basic information about the website. For example, you can find all the necessary data about PHP, database, WordPress version and server used.
Must Read: How to Use Google's Pagespeed Insight Tool
How Query Monitor Works
Let's simplify the technical explanation as much as possible. The website applications make requests to the database. The plugin in question supervises the progress of this flow and organizes everything. Indicating any errors to be corrected but also execution times of the various elements.
dashboard query monitor wordpress
The plugin we are analyzing oversees the debugging of database queries , but also PHP errors, problems related to scripts and CSS style sheets, incompatibilities with other plugins and templates, HTTP API calls and Ajax for the advanced version. But the possibilities offered are also others.
One of the most interesting aspects of this plugin so loved by WordPress developers and web performers ? The organization of the results. You have your dashboard organized in tables that facilitate the reading of the data. So you can immediately identify what works and what needs maintenance.
monitor query menu
After installing the plugin you can already notice the presence of a new element in the dashboard. I'm talking about a menu entirely dedicated to the optimization carried out by Query Monitor where you can identify a series of useful metrics to evaluate performance. For example, you have numbers that indicate:
Seconds needed to generate the web page.
Kilobytes of maximum memory usage.
Seconds used by SQL queries.
Total number of SQL queries.
This is the starting point. Then, if you want to analyze the single web page to get answers in specific terms you have to click on the various items. But if there are emergencies the plugin highlights them. So you can decide how to intervene to correct or eliminate the problematic component.
Sure, this WordPress plugin is essential for fully debugging a website, but it is clear that one of the main reasons to install this add-on is to be able to fix the elements that slow down your project's pages. How? There are a few key elements to highlight.
Query of the various elements
This section Query By Componentshows information about the calls made by all plugins and the theme to the database during page loading. What is this step for specifically? Simple: you can find out what is causing poor performance.
database query component
The query dashboard is sorted by the total time Peru Phone Numbers spent by requests for each component. So if an extension is causing a lot of queries, and is running very slowly, you can make a decision: remove, replace, or maybe optimize.
PHP Errors
The panel dedicated to well-known people PHP Errorsappears with red or orange alerts (warning or notice) only if there are problems in this sense. This type of event identifies a possible malfunction on the website but also a node that can cause its slowdown.
Template
You can imagine how important it is to have a debugging tool to evaluate the efficiency of the template. With Query Monitor you can also get valuable information on this element, especially to discover any problems loading the sections.
wordpress template speed problems
Query Monitor analyzes the condition: it shows the file name and line number where the failed call was made. So you can intervene in the best way to make the WordPress theme work at its best. Both from the performance point of view and to correct graphic errors.
Scripts and styles
The heart of the plugin aimed at programmers and those who want to optimize the website to make it fast and snappy. If the portal in question loads many JavaScript or CSS files you may notice an increase in the page loading time. This can be a problem: how to solve it? You have a plugin like WP Rocket that helps you in this sense but for more in-depth work you need to analyze the detail.
The Scriptand sections Stylesin the Query Monitor navigation menu explain this condition so you can decide what to do: whether or not to install a plugin to compress and combine these elements and whether the one you already have installed is doing a good job.
HTTP Requests
The section HTTP API Callsin the control panel shows the information logged about the server-side HTTP requests made during page loading . And it is a fundamental resource because often these steps are what slow down the website after you have compressed the images, enabled the cache, compressed everything and purchased quality hosting.
http request control
Each HTTP request increases the time needed to load the site and the presence of poorly performing components from this point of view can be evaluated thanks to Query Monitor.
Must Read: What is Gtmetrix and How to Use it
Is this WordPress plugin essential?
It depends. As always, every WordPress plugin seems indispensable if you analyze it in depth. Query Monitor can also be included in the list of extensions that make the difference. Because it allows you to optimize very specific aspects, difficult to spot with the naked eye. But is it useful?
Yes, but you have to include its use in a strategy. That is, in a Deming cycle capable of continuously optimizing the portal and not only when it is published or a restyling of the website is carried out . Only in this way does it make sense to download Qu
