Attention skeptics: Web Performance Optimization works!
May 14th, 2011 | by Sajal Kayan | TweetToday, I was looking into web performance issues for a new client who wishes to remain anonymous and saw an interesting example of value provided by improving performance.
One of the first things I do when looking into a new site is look at Google Analytics to understand a little about the sites visitors. This helps in prioritizing changes which affects the majority of users.
An interesting observation :-
Pageviews for all visitors
Average Pageviews for all visitors
Adsense revenue also followed a similar path. — Screenshot not available
The reason for this effect was a simple database indexing tweak which sped up the backend performance of a very important action page on the site.
The site in question is a web application where user inputs something and gets some result. It is not a content site where pageview/user could have increased due to some interesting content being added or something. The only change was indexing of a column which should have an index right from the start.
DISCLAIMER: I did not have any role in the above improvement. This was done before my involvement. Perhaps this convinced the client to hire me. Screenshots/info shared with clients permission.
