A deals site moved 4 partners server-side — and pages loaded 300ms faster

A deals site moved 4 partners server-side — and pages loaded 300ms faster

Client-side means the auction runs in the reader's browser. Server-side means it runs on a remote computer, so the browser does less work.

What happened: a coupons site ran 8 partners client-side. Each one added weight in the browser; pages dragged.

What they did:
1. Kept their 4 strongest partners running client-side.
2. Moved the 4 weaker ones to a server-side auction.
3. Compared load time and revenue.

Result: pages loaded about 300 milliseconds faster, and revenue dropped less than 1% — a fair trade for speed.

In plain English: server-side moves the heavy lifting off the reader's device. Great for partners that don't win much anyway.