Yoast SEO 27.8 Update Improves Performance for Large Websites

Performance enhancements — Image credit: Yoast

Yoast SEO released version 27.8 on Tuesday, significantly optimizing performance for large websites by reducing sitemap generation and admin page loading times.

The update specifically targets sites with extensive content and numerous users, addressing previous bottlenecks that led to slow rendering and sitemap generation.

Root sitemap loading times saw a dramatic reduction from more than 300 seconds to just 25 milliseconds on sites with many users, according to Yoast.

This optimization stemmed from refining how eligible users for author sitemaps are calculated. Instead of checking user capabilities, the system now identifies users with published posts, leveraging existing database indexes.

Author sitemap loading times also improved through the removal of an unnecessary INNER JOIN query, which was associated with the deprecated ‘user_level’ framework within WP core, Yoast reported.

Furthermore, the update prevents expensive daily database queries that previously slowed down admin page rendering on large sites. This was achieved by optimizing the Limited_Indexing_Action_Interface::get_limited_unindexed_count() function.

Yoast stated that these changes aim to provide a smoother experience for administrators and improve overall site performance, particularly for platforms managing a high volume of content and user interactions.

Source: Yoast