Many of you may be familiar with the popular GTmetrix tool that helps you to develop faster, more efficient websites by providing information about your site’s speed and performance. GTmetrix has recently released their official GTmetrix for WordPress plugin.

The new plugin puts performance information directly within your dashboard. It adds a widget to your dashboard that will display your Google page speed, Yahoo! YSlow grade, load time, page size, total number of requests, and a link to a full report. You can click through to the full report for a list of actionable recommendations to fix the issues that are slowing your site down.

GTmetrix for WordPress hooks you up to the GTmetrix API, giving you the ability to:

• Run analyses
• Schedule reports on a daily, weekly or monthly basis
• Receive alerts about the status of your site from within the WordPress admin

How to Get Started with GTmetrix for WordPress

This is an easy plugin to install, but it does require you to have a GTmetrix account.

• 1. Sign up for a GTmetrix account. Don’t worry, it’s FREE.
• 2. Generate an API key for your account.
• 3. Add the API key to the GTmetrix for WordPress plugin settings

Now you should be set up to start receiving information and scheduling tests for your website.

The dashboard widget is very handy, even if you add it just to remind you to check on your site’s performance every now and then. If you want to keep track of your site more regularly, you can schedule automatic reports. The plugin actively keeps track of your WordPress install and sends you alerts if your site falls below certain criteria.

If you want to get serious about your site’s speed and performance, download the GTmetrix for WordPress plugin from the WordPress plugin repository.