Why website speed matters (and how to improve it)

A slow website frustrates visitors and can hold back your visibility in search. The good news is that most speed problems have simple fixes.

What Google measures

Google's Core Web Vitals look at three things, and publishes thresholds for what counts as "good":

• Loading (LCP): the main content should appear within 2.5 seconds.
• Responsiveness (INP): the page should react to taps and clicks within 200 milliseconds.
• Visual stability (CLS): the layout should not jump around while it loads, with a score of 0.1 or less.

Quick wins

• Compress and resize images. Large photos are the most common cause of slow pages. Modern formats such as WebP help.
• Load images below the fold lazily, so they only download when needed.
• Limit plugins and scripts. Every extra one adds weight.
• Use quality hosting with caching so pages are served quickly.
• Keep fonts light. Use one or two font families and only the weights you need.

How to measure

Test your key pages with Google's PageSpeed Insights, and check the Core Web Vitals report in Search Console. Always test on mobile, because that is where most visitors are.

Keep it fast

Sites slow down over time as content and plugins are added. Excelsites websites launch with speed optimisation and mobile responsiveness in place, and ongoing maintenance helps keep them that way.