Overview
Artnet News is one of the world’s largest online platforms for art market news, criticism, and culture. The site attracts millions of monthly visitors and serves a global audience of collectors, galleries, artists, and art professionals.
My role
Ongoing freelance engineering over 5+ years. I work directly with the Artnet team on WordPress core development, performance optimization, ad infrastructure, plugin development, and production stability for a high-traffic publishing platform.
Challenge
A media platform at this scale faces constant pressure: millions of page views, complex ad monetization, AMP compliance, database performance under heavy editorial load, and the need to ship features without breaking a live site that can’t afford downtime.
What I built and improved
- Database optimization — query tuning, indexing, and MySQL performance work to keep the site fast under millions of monthly requests
- Google Ads integration and ad rotation — custom plugin development for ad placement, rotation logic, and revenue optimization across desktop and AMP
- AMP implementation — building and maintaining AMP-compatible templates for faster mobile delivery and better search performance
- Custom WordPress plugins — editorial workflow tools, content management improvements, and integrations with external services
- PHP and JavaScript code optimization — reducing server response times, cleaning up legacy code, and improving frontend performance
- Infrastructure work with Docker, Google Cloud, and Kubernetes — supporting a production environment that handles traffic spikes reliably
Stack
WordPress, PHP, MySQL, JavaScript, CSS, Docker, Kubernetes, Google Cloud, Google Ads, AMP, REST API
Impact
- 5+ years of continuous freelance collaboration on a platform serving millions of monthly readers worldwide
- Measurable improvements in page load performance and database response times
- Stable ad revenue infrastructure supporting complex rotation and targeting requirements
- AMP pages driving better mobile search visibility and user experience
- Reliable production environment across Docker and Google Cloud/Kubernetes
- Clean, maintainable codebase that supports rapid editorial publishing at scale
