Simplileap

// Scale

Performance improvements you can measure and ship

Page speed, Core Web Vitals, backend latency, database query optimisation, and CDN configuration. We profile before guessing, measure every change, and set up CI performance budgets so improvements do not regress with the next release.

// Standards

Performance engineering standards

Measure before optimising

We profile before recommending changes. Intuition about performance bottlenecks is wrong more often than right — measurement identifies actual hotpaths.

Field data, not just lab data

Lighthouse is a lab test. Real performance is measured in the Chrome User Experience Report (CrUX) — actual users on actual devices and connections.

Query analysis depth

EXPLAIN ANALYZE for every slow query. Covering indexes, query rewrites, pagination patterns, and connection pool sizing — not just index suggestions from automated tools.

No performance regression

Lighthouse CI budget enforcement in CI pipeline ensures optimisations hold. Performance budgets are checked on every PR, not just after quarterly audits.

CDN-first architecture

Static assets served from CDN edge nodes globally. Dynamic content cached at edge with stale-while-revalidate where appropriate. Reduced origin load and global latency.

Sustainable improvements

We fix root causes, not symptoms. Image compression on already-deployed images gives a one-time gain; fixing the upload pipeline prevents the problem permanently.

// Technology

Performance toolstack

Measurement

LighthousePageSpeed InsightsWebPageTestCore Web VitalsChrome UX ReportSpeedCurve

Frontend

Next.jsReactwebpackRollupViteesbuild

CDN & Edge

CloudflareVercel EdgeAWS CloudFrontFastlyAWS Lambda@EdgeBunny CDN

Caching

RedisMemcachedHTTP Cache-ControlStale-While-RevalidateCloudflare CacheVarnish

Database

PostgreSQL EXPLAINpgBadgerRDS Performance InsightspgvectorPgBouncerMySQL EXPLAIN

APM

Datadog APMNew RelicSentry PerformanceClinic.jspy-spypprof

// Process

From baseline measurement to CI-enforced performance budgets

01

Performance Baseline

1–2 days

Measure current performance with Lighthouse, WebPageTest, and real user data from CrUX or RUM. Establish P50/P75/P95 baselines for all key metrics before any changes.

// FAQ

Common questions about performance optimisation

What is a realistic Core Web Vitals improvement timeline?+

Most applications can reach passing Core Web Vitals (LCP < 2.5s, CLS < 0.1, INP < 200ms) in 2–4 weeks of focused work. The largest gains typically come from image optimisation, render-blocking resource elimination, and layout shift fixes — these are addressable quickly.

Does page speed actually affect SEO rankings?+

Yes — Core Web Vitals are a confirmed Google ranking signal since May 2021 (Page Experience update). LCP, CLS, and INP scores in the field data (CrUX) influence ranking. The effect is a tiebreaker at similar content quality levels, not an override of content relevance.

What is the difference between Lighthouse score and real user performance?+

Lighthouse is a lab test on a simulated mobile device on a throttled network. Real user performance (CrUX) varies by device capability, network speed, and geographic location. Lighthouse improvements must be validated against field data to confirm user-visible impact.

How do you find slow database queries?+

AWS RDS Performance Insights, Datadog APM, or pg_stat_statements logs slow queries. We EXPLAIN ANALYZE each to identify seq scans, sort spills, and hash join memory pressure. Index additions, query rewrites, and pagination patterns address the most common issues.

What is a performance budget and should I set one?+

A performance budget is a threshold (e.g., Lighthouse performance score > 85, Total Bundle Size < 200KB) enforced in CI. We strongly recommend it — performance degrades incrementally in ways that no individual PR feels responsible for, but accumulated in production.

Ready to make your app measurably faster?