diff --git a/json_extractor.py b/json_extractor.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..950d4db
--- /dev/null
+++ b/json_extractor.py
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+
+class JsonExtractor:
+    """Provides the best available JSON module"""
+
+    def __init__(self):
+        try:
+            import simdjson
+            self.json = simdjson.Parser()
+            self.parse = self.json.parse
+        except ImportError:
+            import json
+            self.json = json
+            self.parse = self.json.loads
+    def parse(self, s, *args, **kwargs):
+        """High-performance parsing alternate to `loads` creating only necessary python objects when simdjson is installed.
+         Falls back to `loads` otherwise."""
+        raise NotImplementedError("JSON parser not initialized")
+
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index 091743d..d7434b9 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -22,4 +22,6 @@ lxml
 # to parse HTML (used in cc_index_word_count.py) using Resiliparse (https://pypi.org/project/Resiliparse/). Resiliparse requires compatible fastwarc version.
 #Resiliparse
 # (tested with)
-#Resiliparse==0.14.1
\ No newline at end of file
+#Resiliparse==0.14.1
+# Performant json parser. Comment out if not available for your environment.
+pysimdjson
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/server_count.py b/server_count.py
index 8901817..995deed 100644
--- a/server_count.py
+++ b/server_count.py
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 import ujson as json
 
+from json_extractor import JsonExtractor
 from sparkcc import CCSparkJob
 
 
@@ -10,6 +11,10 @@ class ServerCountJob(CCSparkJob):
     name = "CountServers"
     fallback_server_name = '(no server in HTTP header)'
 
+    def iterate_records(self, _warc_uri, archive_iterator):
+        self.json_extractor = JsonExtractor()
+        return super().iterate_records(_warc_uri, archive_iterator)
+
     def process_record(self, record):
         # Notes:
         # - HTTP headers may include multiple "Server" headers, often indicating
@@ -21,7 +26,7 @@ def process_record(self, record):
 
         if self.is_wat_json_record(record):
             # WAT (response) record
-            record = json.loads(self.get_payload_stream(record).read())
+            record = self.json_extractor.parse(self.get_payload_stream(record).read())
             try:
                 payload = record['Envelope']['Payload-Metadata']
                 if 'HTTP-Response-Metadata' in payload:
diff --git a/server_ip_address.py b/server_ip_address.py
index bf3f30c..91de004 100644
--- a/server_ip_address.py
+++ b/server_ip_address.py
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
 
 from pyspark.sql.types import StructType, StructField, StringType, LongType
 
+from json_extractor import JsonExtractor
 from sparkcc import CCSparkJob
 
 
@@ -23,13 +24,18 @@ class ServerIPAddressJob(CCSparkJob):
     response_no_ip_address = '(no IP address)'
     response_no_host = '(no host name)'
 
+
+    def iterate_records(self, _warc_uri, archive_iterator):
+        self.json_extractor = JsonExtractor()
+        return super().iterate_records(_warc_uri, archive_iterator)
+
     def process_record(self, record):
         ip_address = None
         url = None
 
         if self.is_wat_json_record(record):
             # WAT (response) record
-            record = json.loads(self.get_payload_stream(record).read())
+            record = self.json_extractor.parse(self.get_payload_stream(record).read())
             try:
                 warc_header = record['Envelope']['WARC-Header-Metadata']
                 if warc_header['WARC-Type'] != 'response':
diff --git a/wat_extract_links.py b/wat_extract_links.py
index 46c18b8..184e4db 100644
--- a/wat_extract_links.py
+++ b/wat_extract_links.py
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@
 
 from pyspark.sql.types import StructType, StructField, StringType
 
+from json_extractor import JsonExtractor
 from sparkcc import CCSparkJob
 
 
@@ -68,6 +69,7 @@ def _url_join(base, link):
 
     def iterate_records(self, warc_uri, archive_iterator):
         """Iterate over all WARC records and process them"""
+        self.json_extractor = JsonExtractor()
         self.processing_robotstxt_warc \
             = ExtractLinksJob.robotstxt_warc_path_pattern.match(warc_uri)
         for record in archive_iterator:
@@ -79,7 +81,7 @@ def process_record(self, record):
         link_count = 0
         if self.is_wat_json_record(record):
             try:
-                wat_record = json.loads(self.get_payload_stream(record).read())
+                wat_record = self.json_extractor.parse(self.get_payload_stream(record).read())
             except ValueError as e:
                 self.get_logger().error('Failed to load JSON: {}'.format(e))
                 self.records_failed.add(1)
@@ -188,9 +190,9 @@ def yield_links(self, src_url, base_url, links, url_attr, opt_attr=None):
         has_links = False
         for l in links:
             link = None
-            if url_attr in l:
+            if url_attr is not None and url_attr in l:
                 link = l[url_attr]
-            elif opt_attr in l and ExtractLinksJob.url_abs_pattern.match(l[opt_attr]):
+            elif opt_attr is not None and opt_attr in l and ExtractLinksJob.url_abs_pattern.match(l[opt_attr]):
                 link = l[opt_attr]
             else:
                 continue
@@ -422,9 +424,9 @@ def yield_links(self, src_url, base_url, links, url_attr, opt_attr=None,
         for l in links:
             if not l:
                 continue
-            if url_attr in l:
+            if url_attr is not None and url_attr in l:
                 link = l[url_attr]
-            elif opt_attr in l and ExtractLinksJob.url_abs_pattern.match(l[opt_attr]):
+            elif opt_attr is not None and opt_attr in l and ExtractLinksJob.url_abs_pattern.match(l[opt_attr]):
                 link = l[opt_attr]
             else:
                 continue