Oh can I relate Ade! I'm becoming more and more hesitant all the time! I'm kinda on a mission now to reduce the number of plugins in each site and then actively pursue some decent loading times for each site. Hopin' things are truly blessed for ya'!

Thanks Randy! Many blessings to you as well.

Thanks much Abigail, sure appreciate ya' checkin' it out. Just seems like I'm hearing a lot now about page loading speed really affecting our Google rankings. Just another of a grip of stuff to be working out! Thank ya' again, Abigail!

Well, I do have more than a few that I'd like to try... I'll let ya' know if I get that close...LOL!

I'll definitely be lookin' at those John. I tried one of the 'Cache' plugins once during training and it annihilated my site... gotta admit I'm kinda hesitant about trying one again. I'm wishin' now that I could remember which one it was! Thank ya' partner.

I've been using WP Super Cache without issue for at least 4 months now.

Thank ya' Michael, I may just give it a whirl! Sure appreciate it!

Cache plugins could be tricky, yes. You might change something (widget, content, ..) and keep seeing old stuff and banging your head why is it not working... And you simply don't realize that cache is serving you old stuff :)

Never even thought about that Ervin. Think I'll wait til I get an overwhelming consensus here as to which one is the best and then possibly give it a go. Won't be without major hesitation, though. Thank ya' for the info!!!

Wow... now that's what I needed to hear! Thank you Jude, I'll be looking at each one of these... guess it's kinda obvious that I built this site while going through Cert. Training, ey? Sure do appreciate all your help here, Jude!!!

Jude, thank you for great tips.

Two questions:
- did Google really discontinue Authorship? Or simply change it (no image)?
- (backup plugins) what's your opinion about UpdraftPlus?

Google really did discontinue Authorship. First they got rid of the image. Then they got rid of the authorship - although I suspect down the track we may see it return in some revised format, perhaps even a paid option.

The UpdraftPlus plugin - unfortunately, it does not work with WA hosting - as I found out when I tried to install it. It has to do with WA hosting not enabling cURL. You can read Carson's response in this thread:

https://my.wealthyaffiliate.com/website-development-programming/curl-enabled-on-server

~Jude

Thanks for both replies. So it was a two step process with Google Authorship? I didn't follow it.

Too bad for UpdraftPlus. It is the best backup plugin in my opinion.

What about WPManage and its backup tools?

Google stopped showing authorship results in Google Search, and will no longer track data from content using rel=author markup.

I wouldn't rush to remove authorship codes form our sites, as it does not hurt anything. Let's wait to see what happens.

I'm not familiar with WPManage. You might consider asking about it in the general community for wider feedback. ~Jude

Excellent advice Carla. My site usually loads within 2 to 4 seconds so I guess I should be happy with it. I do have another site though with the same plugins and it loads terribly... however, I haven't really been working it for a while. When I get back into it, I'll do some heavy duty analyzing and see what's going on with it.

So far so good with this one though. Thank ya' Carla!!!

It could be the theme on your other site. One of mine doesn't like plug-ins and one doesn't seem to mind. :)

Your camping site? That one has really come a long! All the product videos! I like it:)

You could be on to something there Carla... the other site has always been like that no matter what I've done to correct it... right off the bat!

Well thanks my friend... the vids are pretty fun to do and gets some nice exposure on YouTube. Kinda nice getting some engagement from one of the medias anyway!!! Sure appreciate it, Rick! Sure am lovin' that site of yours too... talk about coming a long way!!!

Yah Rick, I use 'em but I think they're kinda simplistic in capabilities. I just put one small row of them at the end of each post or page. Setup is simple and quick... that was a real plus for me... (-;

Thanks for checking in Rick... always great hearing from ya'!

Dog gone Rick... I would love to know how ya' do that!!! Come on... throw me a clue... (-; !!!

Thankin' ya' RickyB... 'tis appreciated!

LOL
and I thought I am the funny guy here
John

Awe John... you know ya' are!!! (-:

oh the remark about his photo? :)

Nah, about your 16 and more

Yah, I'm thinking about dumping BackWPup also Kim. It worked great for me a couple years ago when I started my camping site but about 8 months into it, I started having problems with it automatically backing me up consistently. It hasn't been dependable since.

I've got a couple of plugins that I'd like to try but was thinking that I'd need to dump a couple in order to load a few new ones. So, I appreciate your input here.... thank ya', Kim... surely do appreciate it!

No problem, my pleasure.