Tim's Severe Weather Australia: Turning a Passion Project Into a Traffic-Driving Authority Site
Tim's Severe Weather Australia is a long-running independent weather resource covering storms, cyclones and severe weather events across the country. The old site had genuine authority in the community but the platform underneath was slowing everything down — pages were heavy, updates were slow, and search visibility was flat despite thousands of loyal readers. We rebuilt it as a fast, schema-rich authority site so the content finally gets the reach it deserves.
The Results
Illustrative outcomes reported by the client following the redesign. Figures reflect first-party observations, not independently audited metrics.
The Challenge
- The old platform was slow — heavy pages, poor mobile performance and layout shift meant Core Web Vitals were failing across the board.
- There was no structured data, so Google couldn't recognise events, articles or authorship — killing rich-result eligibility.
- Publishing was cumbersome, so timely severe-weather updates (the whole point of the site) lagged the events themselves.
- Ad-serving was clunky and inconsistent, hurting both revenue and reader experience.
The Approach
- Rebuilt as a fast React frontend backed by Supabase for content, with a lightweight admin so timely updates take minutes, not hours.
- Added Article + NewsArticle + Event schema so Google can surface the site in Top Stories, news carousels and event-related SERP features.
- Optimised for Core Web Vitals from the ground up: AVIF/WebP imagery, preloaded LCP, minimal JavaScript, no layout shift.
- Rebuilt the ad slots with reserved layout so ads don't cause CLS, and tuned placement so they serve without hurting reader experience.
What We Built
Fast custom frontend
React + Vite with static delivery — pages load in under 2s on mobile even under high traffic spikes during severe weather events.
Lightweight admin
Publish an update in minutes — critical for a severe-weather site where timing is the whole product.
Article + Event schema
NewsArticle for updates and Event schema for named weather events — Top Stories and event-carousel eligible.
CLS-safe ad slots
Reserved layout for every ad slot so ads never cause layout shift — Core Web Vitals stay green.
Search-friendly IA
Category-per-region and category-per-event-type IA so both browsers and Google can traverse the archive.
Load-spike ready
Static frontend on a CDN — the site stays fast when traffic spikes 10× during major severe weather events.
"I can publish an update the moment the radar changes. The site is faster than my old CMS was on a good day, and Google's finally showing us where it should."
Key Takeaways
- For authority sites, page speed and schema together do more for rankings than any amount of new content on a slow platform.
- Reserved ad slots are the single biggest CLS win on ad-supported sites — worth doing before anything else.
- A publishing workflow that respects the pace of the topic is table stakes for news-adjacent authority sites.
- Static delivery on a CDN is the cheapest way to survive traffic spikes without over-provisioning.
Technologies Used
React
TypeScript
Tailwind CSS
SupabaseArticle SchemaNewsArticleEvent SchemaVite ImagetoolsFrequently Asked Questions
What makes an authority website rank in Google?+
Two pillars: content depth and technical health. Content depth means covering the topic comprehensively with clear expertise. Technical health means fast pages, valid schema (Article/NewsArticle/Event as appropriate), stable layout and a crawlable IA. Content alone can't overcome a broken platform.
How do you handle traffic spikes on a news-adjacent site?+
Static frontend on a CDN. Rendered pages are cached at edge, so a 10× traffic spike during a severe weather event is invisible to the origin. Dynamic bits (admin, ads) don't need the same treatment because they're behind the reader-facing surface.
Do ads always hurt Core Web Vitals?+
Only if the slots aren't reserved. Reserve the exact ad slot dimensions in the layout so the ad slot occupies its space whether or not an ad renders — that eliminates CLS. INP and LCP need the ad script deferred or loaded lazily below the fold.
How long does an authority-site rebuild take?+
Tim's shipped in about two weeks. Timeline depends mostly on how much archive content needs migrating and how many templates you need (article, event, category, home) — the platform underneath is fast to stand up.
What tech was used?+
React with TypeScript, Tailwind CSS, Supabase for content and admin, static edge delivery for reader pages, vite-imagetools for AVIF/WebP imagery. Article/NewsArticle/Event schema across the site.
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