Why speed matters
People are impatient on mobile. Every extra second of loading gives them a reason to hit back and pick the next result. Speed is also part of how Google judges page experience, so a faster site supports your rankings as well as your conversion rate.
What are Core Web Vitals?
Core Web Vitals are Google's measurements of real-world user experience. There are three:
- Largest Contentful Paint (LCP): how long the main content takes to appear. Google's "good" threshold is 2.5 seconds or less.
- Interaction to Next Paint (INP): how quickly the page responds when someone taps or clicks. Good is 200 milliseconds or less.
- Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS): how much the layout jumps around while loading. Good is 0.1 or less.
You can check your scores free with Google PageSpeed Insights or in the Core Web Vitals report in Google Search Console.
The most common causes of a slow site
Huge images
Photos straight off a phone or camera can be several megabytes each. Resize them to the size they display at, compress them and use modern formats like WebP or AVIF.
Too many plugins and scripts
Every chat widget, slider, tracking pixel and plugin adds code the browser has to download and run. Remove anything you don't use.
Cheap or overloaded hosting
Shared hosting packed with thousands of other sites can be slow to respond. A content delivery network (CDN) serves your site from locations near each visitor. Read how to choose web hosting.
Heavy page builders and themes
Drag-and-drop builders are convenient but often load far more code than a page needs. Lean, hand-built pages are usually much faster.
Web fonts and layout jumps
Loading many font weights slows things down, and images without set dimensions make the layout jump. Limit fonts and always give images a width and height.
Quick wins you can do today
- Run your home page through PageSpeed Insights on mobile and note the biggest issues.
- Compress and resize the images on your home and service pages.
- Delete unused plugins, widgets and tracking scripts.
- Make sure caching is turned on.
- Check your hosting includes a CDN.
When to rebuild instead of patch
If your site is built on a heavy theme with dozens of plugins, you can spend a lot of time patching and still score poorly. Rebuilding as a lightweight site often fixes speed for good, and makes updates easier. If you're planning that, use our website redesign checklist so you keep your rankings.
The sites we build are fast by design: lean code, optimised images and global hosting. See our web design and hosting services, or book a free call.
Frequently asked questions
Does website speed affect Google rankings?
Yes. Page experience signals, including Core Web Vitals, are part of how Google ranks pages. Relevance still matters most, but a faster site helps, especially when competitors are close.
How fast should my website load?
Aim for the main content to appear within 2.5 seconds on mobile, which is Google's 'good' threshold for Largest Contentful Paint.
How do I test my website speed?
Use Google PageSpeed Insights for a single page, and the Core Web Vitals report in Google Search Console to see results across your site.