Hiring
How to choose between web developers
Test their live work rather than reading their portfolio. Run three of their client sites through PageSpeed Insights, check whether content appears in view-source, and ask who owns the code. Measurements beat claims.
Before you start
- A shortlist with live client URLs
- PageSpeed Insights and a browser
The steps
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Step 1: Ask for live client URLs
Not screenshots. A portfolio image proves nothing about what was delivered.
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Step 2: Run each through PageSpeed Insights
Mobile tab. Three sites, so one bad result is not an accident.
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Step 3: Check view-source on each
Search for a sentence from the page. If it is absent, the content is client-rendered.
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Step 4: Ask the ownership questions
Who owns the code, whose name is on the domain, can you leave and take it.
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Step 5: Ask what happens after launch
Support, updates, monthly cost, and what leaving involves.
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Step 6: Compare quotes on scope
Not on price. A cheaper quote excluding content, hosting and support is not cheaper.
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Step 7: Ask about accessibility
Whether they test it, and how. Most cannot answer, which is itself informative.
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Step 8: Speak to a past client
Ask what went wrong and how it was handled. Every project has something.
What the measurements reveal
Three slow client sites is a pattern, not bad luck. A developer whose delivered work consistently fails Core Web Vitals will deliver you the same, regardless of what the proposal says.
The question that filters hardest
"If I leave in a year, what do I take with me?" A clear immediate answer — code, domain, content, all yours — is a good sign. Hesitation is the most useful signal in the whole conversation.
The background behind this
How to hire a web developer: measure the work, not the pitch covers the reasoning in about 4 minutes — free, ungated, written from client work.
Who wrote this
Anas Bin Masud builds e-commerce sites and does technical SEO for businesses in the UK, Canada, Ireland and Pakistan. These procedures are the ones I run on client work, written down rather than invented — including the ones where the honest answer is that the fix is not available on your current hosting.