TASK

"GOOGLE PAGESPEED RACE" COMPETITION WITH AVON COSMETICS

Many AVON women and AVON enthusiasts use the AVON Beauty-Knowledge platform on a daily basis. Due to content written by content specialists and the use of poorly optimised images, as well as the underlying CMS, the performance of the site had measurably deteriorated over the months.

 

This deterioration could be verified using the following tools:

• Pagespeed Insights
• Webpagetest.org
• Lighthouse

SOLUTION

WHAT HAS BEEN CHANGED?

Google had announced the "Pagespeed Race" competition at just the right time, a competition with about 25 agencies took part. Netzeffekt ultimately launched this platform under the nickname 'White Chameleon' (a name assigned by Google).

 

Over a period of 6 weeks, Google calculated the scores of the individual pages (homepage, category, article) on a daily basis and ultimately assessed the best absolute improvement in the scores.

To increase performance, we proceeded as follows:

• Determine the individual scores (Pagespeed, Webpagetest, Lighthouse) for our internal protocol (Caution: Pagespeed Insight results can vary greatly! We recommend taking several measurements and using the average)

 

• Optimisation Webserver/nginx
  • Optimisation gzip-Settings
  • Optimisation of Cache-Settings
  • Additional fine-tuning of opcache
  • Targeted setting of location rules for cache handling

   

• CMS
  • W3C Total Cache Plugin with modules
    • HTML Minify
    • JS Minify
    • CSS Minify
  • W3C Total Cache Plugin with modules:
    • Page Cache
    • Database Cache
    • Object Cache

 

• Frontend
  • Manual optimisation of all theme images
  • Replacement of the slow home slider with a more performant self-made slider
  • Conversion and delivery of images uploaded by users in WebP format (if browser support is available)

RESULT

Gamechanger Pagespeed

We were able to achieve a significant improvement in the pagespeed score through the actions mentioned. This also has an effect on the "perceived page speed" from the user's perspective.

 

We were also able to secure first place in this competition together with our customer AVON!

 

In our view, it is extremely important, especially for platforms with dynamically growing content, to ensure that images are provided both in the correct formats and already compressed/optimised (WebP).

 

This, in combination with lean JavaScript, well-adjusted cache handling and a balanced web server, contributes to a very solid basic performance of platforms of this type.

MARTIN KYDD About NETZEFFEKT:

"We are delighted to have a partner in netzeffekt who understands how to combine the challenges of a dynamically growing platform with the demands of high performance, without losing sight of the users' requirements in terms of design and usability."

In the race for the top position on Google, the speed of the platform is an important success factor alongside relevant and high-quality content. A smart combination of content, brand, performance and analytics with a strong, committed team creates great things at AVON Germany.

Martin Kydd, Lead E-Marketing