Web Platform Performance: Practical Guide

Google uses Core Web Vitals as a ranking factor: LCP (Largest Contentful Paint) < 2.5s, FID (First Input Delay) < 100ms, CLS < 0.1. Monitor these metrics regularly. Tools: Lighthouse, PageSpeed Insights, Web Vitals Library for production monitoring.

Images are the largest bandwidth consumers. Use modern formats (WebP, AVIF), lazy loading and responsive images. Compress images during build (Sharp, ImageOptim) and serve via CDN.

Use aggressive caching for static assets and smart caching for dynamic content. CDN distributes content geographically closer to users. Cloudflare, AWS CloudFront and Fastly are popular CDN options.

Reduce bundle size: tree shaking, code splitting, route lazy loading. Remove dead code and unnecessary dependencies. Meta-frameworks like Nuxt and Next do automatic optimizations — take advantage of them.

Optimize database queries: add indexes, use EXPLAIN ANALYZE to identify slow queries, implement query caching. Avoid N+1 queries in ORMs. Use connection pooling (PgBouncer, HikariCP) to manage connections efficiently.

Monitor performance in production with Real User Monitoring (RUM). Collect Core Web Vitals from real users to identify issues that lab testing doesn't capture. Configure alerts for performance degradation. Response time > 500ms or error rate > 1% should generate immediate notification.

Web performance is a continuous responsibility, not a one-time project. Measure, optimize and monitor regularly. Companies that need help with web performance can rely on specialized consulting.