We’ve just finished updating all of our client websites to WordPress 6.8, along with all active plugins and themes. This release comes with a handful of behind-the-scenes improvements that make your website faster, safer, and easier to manage. You won’t see these changes—but you’ll feel them.

Here’s what we think you’ll appreciate most.

1. Faster Page Loads (Yes, Even With a Page Builder)

WordPress now uses something called speculative loading—which basically means it starts preloading pages when someone hovers over a link. So when they click, the next page appears almost instantly.

It’s a small tweak that adds up to a smoother experience, especially on modern browsers.

If your website uses Elementor or Beaver Builder, this feature should still work for most standard links. However, some custom layouts or buttons may not fully benefit from this unless they use regular link structures—which we’re happy to help check.

2. Stronger Password Protection, Just in Time

We’ve had a noticeable increase in hacking attempts across WordPress websites—many of which are aimed at impersonating businesses, stealing personal data, and even helping with identity theft. So the timing of this next improvement couldn’t be better.

WordPress now uses bcrypt, a much stronger method of securing passwords. It’s significantly harder for hackers to crack and helps protect your users—and your business—without you needing to lift a finger.

3. A Faster, Smoother Experience for Your Visitors

WordPress 6.8 also includes general performance upgrades to speed things up across the board. That means faster browsing, quicker interactions, and less waiting around—especially for mobile visitors.

You don’t need to understand the technical side. Just know that things should feel smoother and more responsive, and that’s by design.

4. Less Strain on the Database (Especially If You Get a Lot of Traffic)

This one’s big for overall website health.

WordPress has made improvements to how it handles and stores data, which reduces the load on your site’s database. For busier websites, this helps everything run more efficiently. It’s also a welcome change for us—we’ve had to manually clean up bloated databases recently just to keep things manageable.

We already perform regular database optimizations on every site we manage, but this core improvement adds another layer of stability and performance.

Final Note

If you’re on one of our care plans, there’s nothing you need to do. Your site is already running WordPress 6.8, and we’ve confirmed all other key plugins and themes are updated too.

If you ever have questions about your site’s performance, security, or anything else—reach out. We’re always happy to help.