Upgrading a WordPress tech stack for improved CWV and CRO.
Services
The Challenge
Meier Clinics, a nationally recognized Christian mental health nonprofit, faced critical challenges with their 14-year-old WordPress website. Outdated infrastructure led to severe technical debt, including a Google PageSpeed score of 32, nonexistent schema markup, and an SEO health score of 19 (Ahrefs), resulting in a 22% YoY organic traffic decline. The site’s disjointed architecture caused 68% of users to abandon forms mid-process, while incompatible plugins created security risks. Mobile responsiveness gaps and poor content siloing further exacerbated visibility issues for their nine-state service network, undermining patient acquisition efforts.
The Solution
Our agency executed a phased rebuild prioritizing technical stabilization before UX modernization. Phase 1 eliminated legacy risks by migrating to a modern WordPress architecture, establishing custom post types for therapist profiles, locations, and treatment services. We implemented JSON-LD schema for all locations/services and rebuilt the sitemap to align with priority conversion paths. We also accounted for an ADA-compliant interface with anxiety-friendly design principles, including session preparation checklists and a discreet emergency exit button. Future-state plans for a dynamic insurance verification module to reduce form fields by 43%, while leveraging Redis caching and critical CSS injection achieved near-instant load times.
The Results
The results are stellar. An achieved 98/100 Google PageSpeed Score with consistent ≤1s load times. Increased SEO Health Score from 19 to 87 (Ahrefs), driving 41% more organic sessions. 68% reduction in form abandonments through progressive profiling. Secured first page rankings for multiple, unbranded priority keywords including “faith-based trauma therapy”. Enabled zero-dev content updates via custom Gutenberg blocks in conjunction with Bricks Builder.