Why speed matters
Slow pages frustrate visitors and make a business feel less reliable. Speed also forms part of how search engines evaluate page experience. Improving it is one of the few changes that benefits every visitor on every page.
The three Core Web Vitals
Largest Contentful Paint (LCP)
LCP measures how long the main content, often a large image or headline, takes to appear. Heavy, unoptimised hero images are the most common cause of poor LCP.
Interaction to Next Paint (INP)
INP reflects how quickly a page responds when someone taps or clicks. Large amounts of JavaScript are the usual culprit.
Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS)
CLS captures unexpected movement, such as text jumping when an image or banner loads late. Declaring image dimensions and reserving space for embedded content prevents most shifts.
Start with images
Serve images in modern formats such as WebP or AVIF, size them appropriately for each screen with responsive image markup, and lazy-load images that appear further down the page. Always include width and height attributes so the browser can reserve space.
Reduce JavaScript and third parties
Every script, chat widget and tracking tag has a cost. Audit what is loaded, remove what is not used and defer what is not essential. Many marketing sites can work almost entirely without JavaScript.
Load fonts efficiently
Limit the number of font families and weights, use font-display: swap and preconnect to font providers. System fonts are a valid, very fast option.
Measure on real devices
Lab tools are useful for diagnosis, but real-user data shows how visitors actually experience your site. Test on a mid-range phone over a mobile connection, not only on a fast office computer.
Next steps
If you would like help applying these ideas to your own website, request a free consultation or explore our services.