How to Improve CMS Website Performance
IntermediateQuick Answer
TL;DR
Start with a Lighthouse audit to identify your biggest bottlenecks. Then work through the highest-impact fixes: optimize images, implement CDN caching, choose the right rendering strategy (SSG or ISR over server-side rendering), minimize JavaScript, and reduce third-party scripts. Most CMS performance problems trace back to unoptimized images and too much JavaScript.
Key Takeaways
- Run Lighthouse before making changes — fix the highest-impact issues first
- Images and JavaScript are the two biggest performance drains on CMS sites
- Static site generation (SSG) or Incremental Static Regeneration (ISR) dramatically reduces TTFB
- CDN caching and a headless architecture compound all other optimizations