Hi,
The overall response time highly depends on the server performance, but there are a few things in the configuration to maximize the performance. In your case the database size is not the issue, it is more likely the large number of active plugins. I reset the performance tracker, it reports an execution time of around 0.06 seconds, the rest of the excution time is taken by loading the wordpress core, plugins etc..
Because you provided access, I logged in changed a few options to maximize performance:
– I noticed that the index table engine was not in use, so I enabled it: https://i.imgur.com/hGkhGsL.png
– I also enabled the custom ajax handler: https://documentation.ajaxsearchpro.com/performance-tuning/fine-tuning-the-search-configuration#2-1-enabling-the-custom-ajax-handler
This has the greatest effect on performance in your case – as it tries to bypass as many plugins as possible from loading up while doing the requests for better response time.
– I turned off the autocomplete keyword suggestions: https://documentation.ajaxsearchpro.com/performance-tuning/fine-tuning-the-search-configuration#1-2-disable-autocomplete-or-use-only-google-as-autocomplete-source
This runs a parralel process along with the search request, and since you are using the “Post titles” as the source, it runs on the local database, that may delay the search suggestions.
– The cache is also enabled now: https://i.imgur.com/G68ZumU.png
This should do a posititve impact on repetitive search phrases.
Now I am looking at response times around 1.2 – 1.6 seconds, which is around 40% better as the previous 1.8 – 2.2 seconds I measured.
On our demo site we are using an unmanaged hosting package (15$/month VPS from digital ocean), we are using around 16 active plugins and running PHP 7.4. Unmanaged hosts are usually much faster, however need some linux command line knowledge to set up properly.