Performance for Content Sites, Done Properly
Speed work specific to publishers, blogs and content-heavy sites.
Marcus Adeyemi
What is at stake
Content sites carry advertising, embeds and images, which is a different performance problem from applications.
The playbook
- Reserve space for ads and embeds to prevent shifts
- Lazy load images and embeds below the fold
- Measure the performance cost of ad partners
- Serve modern image formats
- Monitor field metrics per template
Where it goes wrong
Avoid:
- Ads inserted without reserved space
- Full-size images in articles
- Embeds loading on every article
- Performance measured only on the homepage
The numbers behind it
| Measure | Figure |
|---|---|
| Advertising | ad scripts are often the heaviest element |
| Images | article imagery dominates page weight |
| Embeds | social and video embeds add significant weight |
| Layout shift | late-loading ads cause visible shifts |
Getting outside help
When to hand it over: Bring in help when advertising and speed conflict.
Where this comes from
The figures and practices above come from the sources listed.
Working on something like this?
We take on Performance & Accessibility work for teams who want it done once, properly. Tell us what you are building and we will tell you honestly whether we are the right studio for it. Start a project.
Where to go next
Spotted something wrong? Report an error on this page. We correct on the page and say what changed.
