Find It and Fix It: Practical Web Performance Optimisation

Web performance is a broad and complex topic, and one of the most difficult tasks is simply working out where to start! On sites with potentially thousands of different pages, how do we know which ones to work on first?!

In this highly practical workshop, we’ll use a variety of different services to find and fix existing site-speed issues that are impacting real users. By eliminating the guesswork, we’ll be well positioned to make meaningful changes from the very beginning.

Once we’ve gathered a list of key URLs, we’ll use a combination of different power tools to begin auditing and fixing the most pressing, user-facing issues. Not only will we learn everything (and more!) about web performance, we’ll begin putting it into practice immediately.

Then, as well as solving our current problems, we’ll look to the future, and the different APIs and features we can begin making use of today to prepare for tomorrow. Opportunistic upgrades and ahead-of-the-curve optimisations to stay faster for longer.

Finally, we need to monitor these improvements. We’ll round the day out by looking at different methods and approaches for tracking site-speed over time. From off-the-shelf metrics such as Core Web Vitals, to custom metrics designed specifically for our website, everything will come together to enhance both the user experience and SEO alike.

Expect to learn fundamental theory, fascinating trivia, real-life case studies, and practical tooling and workflows in this all-encompassing, intensive masterclass.

Prerequisites and preparation

• Up-to-date Chrome
• A live site to audit
  • 3–5 key pages to audit on that site
  • (no need to be able to deploy to this site)
• The Google Search Console account for this site
• A WebPageTest account