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Performance

Why Website Speed Matters, and How to Fix a Slow Site

Nobody waits around for a page that's taking its time. They go back to the search results and click the next one. Search engines notice that, too. The good news is that speed is one of the few parts of a website you can measure and fix without being technical.

By the ideas2pixels team

5 min read

A speedometer dial pointing to fast, showing website loading speed.

01

What Google looks at

Google uses a set of measurements it calls Core Web Vitals. Three are worth knowing. Largest Contentful Paint is how fast the main content shows up, and 2.5 seconds or less counts as good. Interaction to Next Paint is how quickly the page reacts when you tap something, with 200 milliseconds or less being good. And Cumulative Layout Shift is how much the page jumps around while loading, where 0.1 or lower is good.

02

Why sites end up slow

Usually it's photos. Someone uploads a 6 MB picture straight off a phone and puts it at the top of the homepage. After that come plugins and widgets nobody remembers adding, extra tracking scripts, heavy sliders, autoplaying video, and cheap, overcrowded hosting.

03

What to do about it

Resize and compress images before you upload them. Delete the plugins and scripts you don't use. Swap autoplay video for a still image with a play button. Make sure images have a set size so the layout doesn't leap about as they load. And choose hosting that's fast and looked after for you, rather than the cheapest shared box you can find.

04

Check your own site

Google has a free tool called PageSpeed Insights. Paste in your address and it'll show how the page performs on a phone and a computer and tell you what to fix first. Test your homepage and a couple of other key pages, then test again after you make changes.

05

Don't obsess over the score

A perfect 100 isn't the point. What matters is that the page feels quick to a real person on a normal phone connection. Fix the big problems, then stop and get on with your day.

Common questions

Does speed affect my Google ranking?

It's one of many signals. It won't rescue weak content, but a very slow site can hold you back.

What's a good loading time?

Aim for the main content to show within about two and a half seconds on a typical phone connection.

Is it mostly down to hosting?

Hosting matters, but oversized images and extra scripts are usually the bigger problem. Fix those first.

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