If you’ve ever run a website speed test and been underwhelmed by the results, you’re not alone. For WordPress agencies, maintaining top-tier performance across dozens of client websites isn’t just a bonus—it’s essential. A sluggish site translates to lost conversions, poor UX, and failing Core Web Vitals.
But achieving the elusive 97+ Google website performance score—a benchmark that happyplankton, a digital marketing agency from New Zealand, will fix everything.
So, how did they do it? And more importantly, how can you do it too?
In this guide, we’ll break down the practical strategies that helped happyplankton boost their website performance score and give you a repeatable blueprint to do the same for your agency clients.
Table of Contents
Why Aim for a 97+ PageSpeed Score?
Many agencies settle for “good enough” when it comes to site performance—maybe a score in the 80s or a loading time under 3 seconds. But good enough is no longer good enough in today’s hyper-competitive digital landscape. If you want to stand out, retain clients, and drive measurable business results, you need to aim higher—97+ higher.
Here’s why:
1. Google Rewards Speed
Google’s PageSpeed Insights score is based on Core Web Vitals, which are a direct ranking factor in search. A 97+ Google website performance score tells Google that your site is not only fast but also user-friendly, giving you an edge in organic search rankings.
Fast sites rank better. Period.
2. Better User Experience = Better Conversions
The difference between a 3-second and a 1-second load time can result in a 32% increase in conversions. People don’t just prefer faster websites—they expect them. A high performance score ensures that users can interact quickly and smoothly, whether they’re browsing, buying, or booking.
Great UX is built on great speed.
3. Agency Credibility & Client Retention
Imagine delivering a 99 performance score during a client handoff. That’s not just a win—it’s a proof point. Agencies that can consistently hit high website performance metrics build trust, command higher fees, and reduce churn.
Speed is a deliverable your clients can feel.
4. Long-Term Cost Savings
Higher scores mean fewer support tickets, fewer bounce-rate issues, and less need for performance patching down the line. A site that scores 97+ is already optimized for scale, traffic surges, and mobile performance—cutting down on firefighting and refunds.
Meet happyplankton: From Chaos to 97+ Scores Across 14 Sites
When Matthew Hancock, BDM of happyplankton, was forced to migrate dozens of client sites in under 72 hours due to a hosting crisis, he turned to InstaWP Live.
What started as an emergency solution turned into a game-changing hosting ecosystem that dramatically improved his agency’s performance metrics.
Here’s what changed (and why it worked)
✅ 60% Faster Load Times
With InstaWP Live’s edge caching, global CDN, and optimized WordPress hosting stack, happyplankton’s average site load time dropped dramatically. For agencies, this means faster sites without extra plugins or manual tuning.
This directly boosted their Google website performance scores—since load time is a critical Core Web Vitals factor.
✅ 97–99 Google Website Performance Scores
PageSpeed Insights tests showed that all 3 benchmarked sites scored between 97–99. Metrics like Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) were under 1.1s, Total Blocking Time was 0ms, and Cumulative Layout Shift was near-zero.
These aren’t flukes—they’re the result of a hosting environment optimized specifically for WordPress speed and stability.
✅ Zero Downtime During Migration
InstaWP’s one-click deployment system allowed Matthew to move from staging to live instantly, without disrupting clients’ websites. With built-in migration tools and external DNS support, he skipped the messy downtime that often comes with hosting changes.
That reliability builds trust with clients—and saves agencies from after-hours panic calls.
✅ 20% Reduction in Operational Workload
Manual site setup, plugin installation, staging environment setup—all of that was streamlined. With pre-installed templates, team collaboration tools, and automation, Matthew’s team was freed up to focus on strategy and delivery instead of technical firefighting.
✅ Higher Client Satisfaction
Faster sites. No downtime. Consistent delivery. Clients noticed—and stayed. Higher website performance scores translate to lower bounce rates, better SEO rankings, and a smoother user experience.
That’s a win for client retention and referrals.
Read the full case study here.
If you’re managing multiple client sites and juggling unreliable hosting setups, this is your blueprint for hitting 97+ performance scores without burning out your team.
Read here to know why many other agencies are in love with InstaWP Live.
How To Achive 97+ PageSpeed Score
Matthew’s journey proves that performance isn’t just about caching or compressing images—it’s about choosing tools that simplify and scale your workflow. InstaWP Live gave happyplankton a full-stack solution to host, stage, deploy, migrate, and optimize WordPress sites—all under one roof.
Want similar results? Let’s break down how you can replicate them.
Step 1: Start with a Solid Website Speed Test
Before you optimize, you need to benchmark. Tools like Google PageSpeed Insights, GTmetrix, and Pingdom are your best friends. Here’s what you should look at in your website speed test:
📊 Key Website Performance Metrics:
Knowing where you stand helps you build a precise optimization plan.
Step 2: Choose Hosting Built for WordPress Performance
This is where most agencies go wrong.
You could build a lightning-fast site—but if your hosting is slow or unstable, it doesn’t matter. happyplankton tried shared hosting and VPS before switching to optimized WordPress hosting of InstaWP —but both lacked scalability, support, and performance guarantees.
InstaWP Live made a significant difference because of its certain traits:
- Edge Caching & CDN: Speeds up load times globally.
- Data Centers Worldwide: Minimal latency regardless of location.
- One-Click Staging to Production: No downtime, ever.
- Built-in Core Web Vitals Optimization: You get 97+ scores out of the box.
💡 Tip: Always ask your hosting provider how they optimize for Google website performance score—not all managed hosts are created equal.
Step 3: Use Lightweight Themes and Clean Code
Bloated themes are the enemy of performance. While they may look beautiful, many come with unnecessary CSS, JavaScript, and poorly optimized templates.
To improve the Google PageSpeed score of client sites, try to:
- Use themes built for speed: Kadence, GeneratePress, or custom-built themes.
- Minimize plugin usage: Only install what’s absolutely essential.
- Use Elementor smartly: happyplankton uses Elementor but relies on pre-configured templates via InstaWP to reduce bloat.
Pro Tip: Use tools like WP Rocket or Perfmatters to remove unused CSS/JS and defer scripts. This helps reduce Total Blocking Time (TBT)—a key website performance metric.
Step 4: Optimize Images and Assets
High-resolution images can tank your website speed test results. Matthew’s design-heavy sites previously struggled to stay under the 1-second load time mark—until he adopted these practices:
- Convert images to WebP: 25–35% smaller than JPEG/PNG
- Lazy load media: Load only what’s needed
- Use SVGs for icons and simple graphics
Install the best WordPress image optimization plugin after testing it in a staging site.
Step 5: Deploy a Global CDN
Content Delivery Networks (CDNs) reduce latency and speed up asset delivery across the globe. happyplankton’s sites load blazing fast—even in image-heavy layouts—thanks to InstaWP Live’s built-in global CDN.
Don’t want to set up your CDN? Choose a host like InstaWP Live that includes one.
Step 6: Monitor Core Web Vitals Continuously
If you’re not measuring, you’re guessing. Use Google Search Console and tools like Lighthouse or WebPageTest.org to monitor:
- LCP (Largest Contentful Paint)
- CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift)
- FID (First Input Delay)
Even a minor script update can throw your Google website performance score off. Keep tabs and fix early.
Step 7: Use Staging Environments to Test First
Never optimize live. Use a staging site to run your changes safely.
happyplankton uses InstaWP’s one-click staging environment to test new designs, plugins, and updates—then pushes them live with a single click. No downtime. No rollback nightmares.
Watch the video below to learn more about staging sites and how to create one.
Step 8: Streamline Team Collaboration
Your devs, designers, and SEO folks shouldn’t be working in silos. happyplankton used to juggle separate logins and disconnected workflows.
With InstaWP Live, they now collaborate from a single dashboard—reducing back-and-forth and aligning everyone on performance goals.
Step 9: Fast, No-Code Migrations
Manual site migrations are time-consuming and risky. happyplankton migrated 14 sites to InstaWP Live without a single second of downtime using InstaWP’s built-in migration tool.
Whether it’s from shared hosting, cPanel, or VPS—smooth migration means your performance gains start immediately.
Step 10: Invest in Customer-Centric Hosting Support
This one’s underrated. happyplankton credits InstaWP’s support team for fast resolutions and real answers—no canned responses or support tickets lost in limbo.
When your hosting team actually understands WordPress, you resolve performance bottlenecks before they snowball.
🎯 Results: From Good to Outstanding
happyplankton didn’t reinvent the wheel—they just optimized the entire workflow:
If you’re looking to elevate your PageSpeed score website setup, follow these exact steps.
Your WordPress Performance Toolkit
Here’s a quick cheat sheet to improve your website performance metrics:
✅ Use InstaWP Live for hosting
✅ Choose fast-loading themes
✅ Minify CSS/JS and defer loading
✅ Compress & lazy load images
✅ Run a performance scan monthly
✅ Use staging environments before making any changes to the live site
✅ Monitor Core Web Vitals regularly
✅ Use CDN + edge caching
✅ Avoid plugin bloat
✅ Collaborate through centralized dashboards
Final Words from happyplankton
“Let me tell you, InstaWP Live has been a complete game changer for me in managing my workflow. Earlier, managing staging sites and hosting was such a hassle. I had to manually migrate websites, configure DNS, and spend hours setting up everything.
Now, I just log in to my dashboard, select the staging site, click a button to move it to live, choose the hosting plan, and the system handles the rest. All I need to do is update the DNS records, and voilà—it’s done!” — Matthew Hancock, happyplankton
Ready to Hit 97+ Scores?
Matthew’s journey proves that performance isn’t just about caching or compressing images—it’s about choosing tools that simplify and scale your workflow. InstaWP Live gave happyplankton a full-stack solution to host, stage, deploy, migrate, and optimize WordPress sites—all under one roof.
If you’re serious about improving your website performance score and giving your clients blazing-fast, high-converting WordPress websites, it’s time to make the switch.
InstaWP Live isn’t just hosting—it’s the engine behind high-performing agency workflows.
👉 Start your free trial today and see how effortless 97+ performance can be.
