A slow website costs you customers. Studies show 40% of visitors abandon sites that take more than 3 seconds to load. This month’s newsletter gives you the tools and checklist to audit your own site speed—and understand when you need professional help.
Understanding Core Web Vitals
Google uses three metrics to measure user experience. Here’s what they mean in plain English:
LCP (Largest Contentful Paint)
What it measures: How long until the main content of your page is visible.
Good score: Under 2.5 seconds
What causes problems: Large images, slow server response, render-blocking JavaScript
INP (Interaction to Next Paint)
What it measures: How quickly your site responds when users click or tap.
Good score: Under 200 milliseconds
What causes problems: Heavy JavaScript, too many scripts running at once
CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift)
What it measures: How much the page jumps around while loading.
Good score: Under 0.1
What causes problems: Images without dimensions, ads loading late, fonts swapping
Free Tools to Test Your Site
Google PageSpeed Insights (pagespeed.web.dev)
The official Google tool. Enter your URL and get a detailed report with scores and specific recommendations. Test both mobile and desktop versions.
GTmetrix (gtmetrix.com)
Provides waterfall charts showing exactly what’s loading and how long each element takes. Great for identifying specific bottlenecks.
Google Search Console
The Core Web Vitals report shows real-world performance data from actual visitors. This is what Google actually uses for rankings.
DIY Site Speed Audit Checklist
Run through this checklist to identify common speed issues:
Images
☐ Are images compressed? (Use TinyPNG or Imagify)
☐ Are images sized appropriately? (Don’t upload 4000px images for 400px displays)
☐ Are you using modern formats? (WebP loads faster than JPEG/PNG)
☐ Do images have width/height attributes? (Prevents layout shift)
Hosting & Server
☐ Does your server respond in under 200ms? (Check in GTmetrix)
☐ Is caching enabled? (Check for cache headers)
☐ Are you using a CDN? (Especially important for images)
Code & Scripts
☐ Are CSS and JavaScript files minified?
☐ Are unnecessary plugins/scripts removed?
☐ Is JavaScript deferred or loaded asynchronously?
Fonts
☐ Are you using font-display: swap? (Prevents invisible text)
☐ Are fonts hosted locally or preloaded?
☐ Are you limiting font weights and styles?
Quick Wins You Can Do Today
- Compress your images: Run your largest images through TinyPNG.com. This alone often improves LCP significantly.
- Remove unused plugins: Every WordPress plugin adds load time. Deactivate and delete anything you’re not actively using.
- Enable caching: If you’re on WordPress, install a caching plugin like WP Rocket or WP Super Cache.
- Lazy load images: Enable lazy loading so images below the fold don’t load until needed.
💡 TIP: Test your site on your actual phone, not just desktop. Mobile performance is usually worse and matters more for Google rankings.
When to Get Professional Help
DIY optimization can only go so far. Consider professional help if:
- Your scores remain poor after implementing quick wins
- You’re not comfortable editing code or server settings
- Your hosting environment is the bottleneck
- You need significant performance improvements quickly
Featured Service: GrowthSITES
Our GrowthSITES service includes managed hosting with built-in performance optimization. We handle server-side caching, free CDN, image optimization, and ongoing performance monitoring—so you can focus on running your business. For sites that require even more performance, you can upgrade to our performance hosting plan, which includes NitroPack caching.
