joomla_optimizations.txt

Go to Global Configuration and turn off Session handling. This requires extra queries to
the database on each page load. Only turn it back on if you really need it.

Install JotCache
Set it to the bottom of the plugin order.
Disable the built-in Joomla cache mechanism.
Go to the JotCache settings and set these settings:
Use browser caching: No
Cache Lifetime: 10080 (one week for sites that don't get so much traffic, can use 1440 for daily cache expiration)
Mark Caching: Yes
Cache auto clean: Same number as Cache Lifetime +1
Autoclean mode: Fast
Clean Log: No
Save


Install JCH Optimize
Enable:
Combine CSS
Combine Javascript
Minify CSS
Minify Javascript
Minify html
defer javascript
Position combined javascript: Last found javascript tag
Lifetime 30

Save


Go to main page(s) that should be responding quicker such as the homepage and any user-facing sites and refresh the page with CTRL+F5 (Command+R on Mac), wait for it to come back up, then do it one more time to prime the cached pages.