{"id":63971,"date":"2023-04-07T15:30:00","date_gmt":"2023-04-07T12:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/themeisle.com\/blog\/?p=63971"},"modified":"2023-04-07T15:30:00","modified_gmt":"2023-04-07T12:30:00","slug":"remove-unused-css","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/themeisle.com\/blog\/remove-unused-css\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Remove Unused CSS in WordPress (2 Easy Methods)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Every theme and plugin you install can add unnecessary CSS to your WordPress site. This could lead to slower loading times. Typically, these stylesheets aren\u2019t needed for rendering the content on a page, yet they are still present in the code. Therefore, you may be looking for an easy way to remove unused CSS in WordPress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Fortunately, the process is simpler than you might think. \ud83c\udf1e Once you\u2019ve identified the unnecessary code on your site, you can use a plugin to delete it and improve your site speed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\ud83d\udcda In this post, we\u2019ll take a closer look at unused CSS<\/a> and why you should get rid of it. We\u2019ll also show you how to identify this code<\/a> on your site. Then, we\u2019ll walk you through two effective ways to remove it<\/a>. Let\u2019s get started!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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\n\t\t \t\tHow to remove \ud83d\uddd1\ufe0f unused #CSS in #WordPress<\/a>\n\t\t \t<\/div>\n\t\t \t
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Why you should remove unused CSS<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Unused CSS is code that isn\u2019t actually needed to load a page. When it comes to WordPress, it\u2019s usually found in themes and plugins that you install on your site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then, when a user accesses your website, the browser will still need to download and render this unused CSS. This can contribute to longer loading times, which will have a negative impact on your site\u2019s overall performance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In fact, unused CSS can lead to a poor Largest Contentful Paint (LCP)<\/a> score in Core Web Vitals<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n

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Largest Contentful Paint is a metric that measures the time it takes for a page to fully load the largest item on the screen. This is usually a visual element, such as a hero image.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To put it simply, unused CSS code adds bloat to your page. As a result, it will take longer for content like images to load.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If your site is slow, you could be losing out on potential conversions. Plus, it might lead to lower rankings in search results. Therefore, it\u2019s important that you take the proper measures to remove unused CSS and speed up your site.<\/p>\n\n\n

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How to identify unused CSS on your site<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The good news is that identifying unused CSS on your site is an easy task. You can start by running a performance test on PageSpeed Insights<\/a>. All you have to do is enter your URL and click on Analyze<\/em><\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n\n

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Once the test is ready, navigate to the Opportunities<\/em><\/strong> section and look for the Reduce unused CSS<\/em><\/strong> tab. If you click on it, you\u2019ll see more information about this code:<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Reduce<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

It will also show you which CSS files and plugins are affecting your loading times:<\/p>\n\n\n

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An orange square for Remove unused CSS<\/em><\/strong> means \u201cNeeds Improvement,\u201d while a red triangle represents a very poor score. If you can\u2019t see this section in your test results, it means that you don\u2019t have any significant CSS problems on your site (or at least on the specific page that you tested – you might want to test other pages to make sure<\/em>).<\/p>\n\n\n

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How to remove unused CSS in WordPress<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

If PageSpeed Insights has flagged unused CSS on your site, you’ll want to remove it to optimize your site’s performance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can do this by using a WordPress plugin that does all the heavy lifting for you. Alternatively, you can use a different plugin that will require some manual labor on your part, but as a reward you’ll get more control over the process. In this section, we\u2019ll walk you through both methods, starting with the easier one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n