# Slow website no more

![Site optimization pagespeed insights overview](https://static.supergeekery.com/jfm-site-assets/site-optimization-pagespeed-insights-overview.png)

A performance rescue for a Craft CMS site where some pages loaded so slowly the server would time out. After the work was done, PageSpeed scores went from the teens to 97.

-   **Role:** Solo developer — diagnostics, performance optimization, deployment, backups
-   **Stack:** Craft CMS, Vite, PHP, static page caching, server configuration
-   **Client:** Under NDA

## The Problem

A client came to me with a well-designed Craft CMS site that had become unusably slow. Some pages wouldn’t load at all — the server would time out before returning a response. PageSpeed scores were in the teens and twenties.

## What I did

The site was built with Craft CMS, which gave me a solid foundation to work with. I had the codebase and server access, so the diagnostic process was straightforward — identify every bottleneck and address them systematically:

-   **Image optimization** — reworked how images were processed and served
-   **Template and code cleanup** — updated legacy template code and eliminated inefficient queries
-   **Static page caching** — implemented a caching strategy that served most pages without hitting the application layer
-   **Modern build tooling** — configured Vite to replace the existing asset pipeline
-   **Zero-downtime deployment** — built a new deployment process so updates didn’t interrupt the live site
-   **Automated daily backups** — created a backup system that runs without manual intervention

## Outcome

Pages that used to time out now load instantly. The PageSpeed score went from the teens to 97. We stopped at 97, not 100 — knowing when to stop is part of the job.

## Why it matters

Performance rescue projects are a good test of diagnostic thinking. The site didn’t need a redesign or a platform change. It needed someone to methodically find what was slow, fix each issue, and set up infrastructure so the problems wouldn’t come back.

![Site optimization pagespeed insights details](https://static.supergeekery.com/jfm-site-assets/site-optimization-pagespeed-insights-details.png)

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