SEO & Performance
Website Speed Optimization
Speed work starts with measurement, not assumptions — the actual bottleneck on a given site could be an oversized hero image, an unoptimized third-party script, or slow server response time, and they each need a different fix. I profile first to find what's actually slow before touching anything.
This covers both one-off audits with a prioritized fix list and hands-on implementation of the fixes themselves.
Where I Start
- Run Lighthouse and WebPageTest to get both lab metrics and a visual waterfall of what's loading and when
- Check Search Console's field data for how real visitors are actually experiencing the site
- Identify the single largest contributor to slow load — usually images, JavaScript bundle size, or third-party scripts
- Fix the biggest issue first, then re-measure before moving to the next
Frequent Culprits
- checkUnoptimized, oversized images served at far larger dimensions than displayed
- checkThird-party scripts (analytics, chat widgets, ad tags) loaded synchronously and blocking render
- checkWeb fonts loaded without proper preloading or fallback strategy, causing layout shift or invisible text
- checkServer response time (TTFB) slow due to unoptimized backend queries or no caching
- checkExcessive JavaScript shipped for interactivity the page doesn't actually need
Frequently Asked Questions
How much can speed realistically improve?add
Depends entirely on the starting point and what's causing the slowness — a site with clear, fixable bottlenecks (unoptimized images, blocking scripts) usually sees substantial, measurable improvement; a site that's already reasonably optimized has less low-hanging fruit left.
Is a CDN necessary?add
For static assets, generally yes — serving images, CSS, and JS from a CDN edge close to the visitor reduces latency meaningfully. Most modern hosting platforms (Vercel, Netlify) include this by default.
Do you optimize images automatically?add
For Next.js sites, next/image handles resizing and format conversion automatically. For other stacks, this is set up as part of the build pipeline or a CDN-level image transformation service.