Performance
How to improve website page speed
The changes that actually move Core Web Vitals on a small business website, in the order worth doing them.
Measure before you change anything
Use field data where you have it — Search Console's Core Web Vitals report reflects real visitors, while lab tools reflect one synthetic run. Fixing what a lab tool complains about while field data stays red is a common waste of a fortnight.
| Metric | Measures | Good |
|---|---|---|
| LCP | Largest element rendered | Under 2.5s |
| INP | Responsiveness to input | Under 200ms |
| CLS | Unexpected layout shift | Under 0.1 |
Server response time
If the first byte takes over 600ms, nothing you do in the browser will rescue the page. Check PHP version, database queries, plugin count and whether the host is oversubscribed. A UK-hosted site serving UK customers also avoids a transatlantic round trip on every request.
Images
Image checklist
- Serve WebP or AVIF with a JPEG fallback
- Resize to the largest size actually displayed
- Set width and height so nothing shifts as it loads
- Lazy-load anything below the fold, never the hero
- Keep hero images under roughly 200 KB
Caching
Page caching turns a database-backed render into a file read. Object caching helps dynamic pages that cannot be cached wholesale. A CDN then puts the cached copy nearer the visitor. These are cumulative, not alternatives.
Fonts and scripts
- Self-host fonts, subset them and use font-display: swap
- Load no more than two families and two weights each
- Defer third-party scripts; audit chat widgets and tag managers ruthlessly
- Remove plugins that load assets on every page for one page's feature
Frequently asked questions
- Does page speed affect SEO?
- Core Web Vitals are part of Google's page experience signals. Speed rarely outranks relevance, but a slow page loses visitors and enquiries regardless of ranking.
- Will a CDN fix a slow website?
- Only partly. A CDN speeds up cached assets, but a slow server response or a heavy application still shows through on dynamic pages.
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