From Grade D
To Grade B
Aminu's homepage was slow and scoring poorly on GTmetrix. We ran a full audit, cleared the dead weight, and delivered a 20-point performance gain without touching the design.
GTmetrix Performance Score
The Result, At A Glance
Before
D
60%
GTmetrix performance score
After
B
80%
GTmetrix performance score
Before — GTmetrix Report
After — GTmetrix Report
Client
AMINU
Scope
GTmetrix Optimisation
Timeline
7 Days
Result
D → B · +20 pts
The Problem
A Homepage That
Kept Visitors Waiting
Aminu's website was loading slowly and grading C–D on GTmetrix. For visitors, this meant a noticeably sluggish experience — especially on mobile. For the business, it translated to higher bounce rates and weaker search visibility.
The culprits were buried in the codebase: bloated JavaScript loaded before any content, uncompressed images that dwarfed their display size, CSS filled with rules no page was using, and plugins silently adding weight to every request.
Initial GTmetrix Snapshot
GTmetrix · Desktop · Cold load · Pre-optimisation
The Audit
Finding The Real Culprits
We started with a full GTmetrix scan and crossed it with a manual code inspection. The waterfall chart told the story clearly: render-blocking scripts were delaying the first paint, images were arriving three times heavier than they needed to be, and the stylesheet was carrying hundreds of unused rules from old theme versions.
Rather than chasing every minor issue, we ranked each problem by its direct impact on the GTmetrix score — and worked down the list in order. Five fixes accounted for the full 20-point gain.
What We Did
Five Targeted Fixes,
One Week
We worked through the codebase systematically — no redesign, no infrastructure changes. Every fix earned its place by directly improving the GTmetrix score.
JavaScript Cleanup
Removed unused scripts, deferred non-critical JS, and eliminated render-blocking code in the <head> — the single biggest drag on first paint.
Image Optimisation
Compressed all hero and content images, converted to WebP where supported, and added lazy loading to every off-screen asset on the page.
CSS Purge
Scanned all stylesheets with Coverage tools and stripped out unused rules left behind by old theme versions — hundreds of lines of dead CSS removed.
Plugin Removal
Identified and deactivated plugins that were silently loading assets on every page request while serving no visible function on the site.
Manual Code Inspection
Reviewed rendered HTML end-to-end to catch inline styles, duplicate resource loads, and redundant third-party embeds not flagged by automated tools.
Timeline
Seven Days,
Start to Finish
Audit & Diagnosis
Full GTmetrix scan, DevTools profiling, plugin inventory, and manual HTML review. Issues ranked by performance impact.
JavaScript & Plugin Cleanup
Non-critical scripts deferred, unused plugins removed, render-blocking resources eliminated from the critical path.
Image Compression
Bulk-compressed all images, converted to WebP where supported, and added lazy loading to off-screen assets.
CSS Purge & Code Review
Unused styles removed, stylesheets minified, inline style clutter cleaned up across the codebase.
Testing & Final Report
Cross-browser and mobile regression testing, then the final GTmetrix run confirming 80% and Grade B.
Results
A Score You Can See —
And Feel
+20 pts
GTmetrix score gain
60% → 80%
D → B
Grade improvement
In 7 days
7 days
Time to completion
No redesign
GTmetrix Score Comparison
From Grade D to Grade B in One Week
No redesign, no infrastructure changes — just a disciplined audit and targeted fixes. Faster pages, lighter assets, and a cleaner codebase that's easier to maintain going forward.