Web performance consultant for Akamai
Pull maximum performance out of Akamai CDN
A default Akamai configuration covers the technical basics. To turn LCP green and stabilize TTFB, you need to optimize the cache, leverage ImageManager and work the critical path. I work directly in Property Manager to ship measurable gains.
They trust me
Symptoms justifying an Akamai audit
The CDN is rarely the sole cause of a red LCP, but it remains an underleveraged angle on most configurations.
📦 Cache hit ratio stuck under 90%, TTFB drifting
Cache key too specific, Cookie headers breaking the cache, marketing parameters forcing every visit through the origin. Each hit ratio point gained drops perceived TTFB.
🖼️ Images killing mobile LCP
ImageManager can serve AVIF, WebP, resized per request. If images account for more than 50% of page weight without ImageManager active, you're leaving seconds of LCP on the table.
⚡ Critical path not prioritized via the CDN
Resource Hints, Early Hints (HTTP 103), asset priority: Akamai can push them at the edge. Well-calibrated, LCP gains 200 to 500ms on mobile connections.
🌍 Geographic latency variance
Adaptive Acceleration, SureRoute, mPulse: Akamai's enterprise features exist for this. Still, they need activation and calibration for your traffic profile.
🧹 Property Manager piled up over years without audit
Obsolete rules canceling each other, undocumented bypass behaviors, Cookie exclusions breaking the cache. A Property Manager audit typically frees 30% additional hit ratio.
💰 CDN bill climbing without performance gain perceived
Bad cache configuration, overly permissive Vary, too-frequent purges: Akamai charges heavily for every miss. Optimizing the cache drops the bill and accelerates the site in the same move.
Akamai optimization methodology
4 steps to transform your performance
1. Performance-oriented Property Manager audit
Read rules through a web performance lens: cache, headers, ImageManager, prioritization. Identify the underleveraged levers weighing on LCP and TTFB.
2. Cache and hit ratio optimization
Recalibrate cache keys, exclude non-discriminating headers and cookies, configure Stale-While-Revalidate and Stale-If-Error. Goal: reduce perceived TTFB.
3. ImageManager for LCP
Activate next-gen formats (AVIF, WebP), per-section policies, LCP image prioritization via fetchpriority and Resource Hints. Typical gain: 30 to 50% on image weight.
4. Measurement via mPulse and Search Console
Validate LCP, INP and TTFB gains on real traffic through mPulse. Track Search Console recovery (origin going green on Core Web Vitals).
1. Performance-oriented Property Manager audit
Read rules through a web performance lens: cache, headers, ImageManager, prioritization. Identify the underleveraged levers weighing on LCP and TTFB.
2. Cache and hit ratio optimization
Recalibrate cache keys, exclude non-discriminating headers and cookies, configure Stale-While-Revalidate and Stale-If-Error. Goal: reduce perceived TTFB.
3. ImageManager for LCP
Activate next-gen formats (AVIF, WebP), per-section policies, LCP image prioritization via fetchpriority and Resource Hints. Typical gain: 30 to 50% on image weight.
4. Measurement via mPulse and Search Console
Validate LCP, INP and TTFB gains on real traffic through mPulse. Track Search Console recovery (origin going green on Core Web Vitals).
Mission commitments
Frequently asked questions
How does Akamai improve website performance?
Is Akamai worth the cost for my site?
Akamai vs Cloudflare vs Fastly for web performance?
How are your Akamai engagements structured?
Turn your LCP green via Akamai
Data 2023-2026
What my clients say
Excellent work.
Paul has significantly improved the site's speed and perfectly aligned it with Google's recommendations.
Professional, thorough, and efficient, I highly recommend.
Nicolas - April Moto
Digital & E-commerce Director
We are very satisfied with Paul's work. He is quick, available, and particularly effective. Since his arrival, very good results have been observed, both in terms of performance and responsiveness. A real asset for our team.
Léo - Luxury brand
E-commerce Product Owner
I don't know if we've said it enough.
But if you want to improve your loading speed,
Make Google happy and get your Core Web Vitals in the green,
Contact Paul Delcloy.
Florian Darroman - Les Makers
Co-founder
Akamai, a major lever for LCP and TTFB
Akamai ranks among the most complete CDNs on the market in terms of features. A default configuration covers the technical basics (static caching, TLS, routing), but it leaves significant performance on the table. On missions where Akamai is already in place, I systematically identify 200 to 500ms of mobile LCP to recover and 10 to 30 cache hit ratio points to claw back.
Levers vary across sites, but recurring attack angles remain: Property Manager poorly optimized for performance, ImageManager disabled or uncalibrated, critical path not prioritized via Resource Hints and Early Hints, Adaptive Acceleration left at default settings. An Akamai webperf mission walks through them one at a time, with mPulse measurement at every step.
Property Manager, the nerve center
Property Manager concentrates all of Akamai's edge logic. Without regular auditing, you accumulate canceling rules, contradictory behaviors, unjustified CDN costs. On a webperf mission, I read each rule with a performance lens: cache key, Vary headers, Cookie exclusions, bypass behaviors, asset prioritization.
The goal is threefold: lift cache hit ratio (which drops perceived TTFB), clean up obsolete rules, and activate the performance levers ignored so far (Stale-While-Revalidate, Stale-If-Error, SureRoute, Adaptive Acceleration).
ImageManager for LCP
On most sites, images account for 50 to 70% of page weight. ImageManager can serve AVIF, WebP, resize on the fly, prioritize the LCP image via fetchpriority. Activated and calibrated, it gains 200 to 500ms of mobile LCP without touching application code. That's the lever with the best effort × gain ratio in an Akamai mission.
This intervention pairs well with a broader web performance audit, where Akamai is just one lever among many (frontend, backend, third-party scripts).
Other expertise CDNs
Angular
Angular optimized: lazy modules, OnPush change detection, SSR Universal or Analog, signals, zone.js elimination. Stable Core Web Vitals on enterprise SPAs.
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Astro
Astro optimized: islands architecture, image optimization, view transitions, content collections. Near-static sites with green Core Web Vitals.
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Drupal
Drupal optimized: Render API and cache contexts, Dynamic Page Cache + BigPipe, Views performance, MySQL tuning. Core Web Vitals green on strategic templates.
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