Performance Optimization Sprint
WordPress speed rescue: from 32 to 96 PageSpeed score
LCP
Performance Score
Page Weight
Requests
Project Screenshots & Results
Before: PageSpeed score 32/100 with all Core Web Vitals failing
After: PageSpeed score 96/100 with all Core Web Vitals passing
Project Overview
A WordPress business site was hemorrhaging conversions due to abysmal loading times. Users on mobile were waiting 4+ seconds for the main content to appear, and Google was flagging the site with "Poor" Core Web Vitals in Search Console. The client needed an emergency speed rescue.
Challenges Faced
Plugin Bloat: 38 active plugins, many loading assets on every page. 95 HTTP requests per page load.
Unoptimized Images: No compression, no WebP, no lazy loading. Hero images were 3MB+ PNGs.
No Caching: Zero caching strategy — every page request hit the database 200+ times.
Bad Hosting: Shared hosting with PHP 7.2, no object caching, 1.8s TTFB.
Render-Blocking Resources: 12 CSS files and 18 JS files loading in the head, blocking rendering entirely.
My Approach
Day 1-2: Hosting Migration
Migrated to Cloudways (DigitalOcean) with PHP 8.2, Redis, and Nginx FastCGI caching. TTFB dropped from 1.8s to 180ms immediately.
Day 3-5: Plugin Audit
Deactivated and tested each plugin individually. Removed 16 unnecessary plugins, replaced 5 with lighter alternatives. HTTP requests dropped from 95 to 28.
Day 6-8: Image Optimization
Bulk-compressed 200+ images with ShortPixel. Converted to WebP. Implemented responsive images with proper srcset. Added native lazy loading.
Day 9-11: Caching & CDN
Installed WP Rocket with optimized settings. Set up Cloudflare with full-page caching, Brotli compression, and HTTP/3. Configured browser cache TTLs.
Day 12-14: Code Optimization
Removed unused CSS (60%+ was unused). Deferred non-critical JavaScript. Inlined critical CSS for above-fold content. Minified remaining assets.
Results & Impact
Performance Metrics:
- PageSpeed: 32 → 96
- LCP: 4.2s → 1.1s
- INP: 320ms → 65ms
- CLS: 0.18 → 0.01
- TTFB: 1.8s → 180ms
- Page weight: 5.8MB → 1.2MB
- HTTP requests: 95 → 28
Business Impact:
- Bounce rate: -38%
- Average session duration: +45%
- Conversion rate: +22%
- Organic ranking improvement visible within 4 weeks
All Core Web Vitals went from "Poor" (red) to "Good" (green) in Google Search Console within 28 days of the assessment period.
Skills Used
Tools Used
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