Load in under 2 seconds. Everywhere.
Core Web Vitals are a confirmed Google ranking signal — and not the lab-test kind. Google measures real visitors on real devices. We tune your site until the field data passes on every template, not just the homepage.
Core Web Vitals — the ones Google scores.
Three metrics. One pass/fail grade per URL. We move all three into the green on field data (CrUX) — not just on a lab synthetic test that looks good in a deck but ignores what real users experience.
How fast the hero image, H1, or largest block of text appears to the visitor. Usually fixed by shrinking the hero asset, preloading the right file, and cutting render-blocking CSS above the fold.
The new 2024+ metric. Measures how quickly the page responds to taps, clicks, and typing. Almost always a JavaScript problem — heavy third-party scripts, over-eager handlers, or a bloated framework runtime.
How much the page jumps around as it loads. Fixed by reserving space for images, ads, and fonts up front — and by banning the late-injected "we use cookies" banner that shoves the hero down 80px.
Three layers. Every one gets audited.
Most speed audits are a Lighthouse screenshot and a wishlist. We actually do the work across the three layers where time is lost.
Media pipeline
Images are 70% of page weight on most service sites. We compress, convert to AVIF/WebP, size correctly per breakpoint, and preload the LCP asset.
Render path
Kill render-blocking CSS and JS above the fold. Inline critical styles, defer the rest. Split heavy bundles so a homepage doesn't ship admin code.
Third-party audit
The single biggest INP killer is third-party tag bloat — old pixels, heatmap scripts, chat widgets loaded on every page. We audit what you keep and what gets cut.
Things we get asked first.
Short, honest answers. If yours isn't here, book a call — we'll run a live CrUX pull on your domain and tell you exactly what's failing.
Why does this matter — is site speed actually a ranking factor?
Yes, confirmed by Google multiple times. Core Web Vitals are part of the page-experience signal, and the 2024 addition of INP made the bar higher. On top of that, faster pages convert dramatically better — so even if it weren't a ranking signal, the ROI is there.
Lighthouse says I'm at 95. Why are you saying I'm failing?
Lighthouse is a lab test run on a simulated device. Google ranks based on CrUX — real data from real Chrome users. It's common to see Lighthouse 95 and CrUX "Poor" on the same URL when a heavy third-party script tanks INP. We work against CrUX, not Lighthouse.
Will this break my site or my analytics?
No. We stage every change on a preview deploy and verify core tracking (GA4, ad pixels, form submits) before pushing to production. Nothing goes live until your analytics match.
What if my site is on Wix / Squarespace / a locked template?
You'll be capped by what the platform allows. We'll still squeeze what we can out of images and third-party tags, but the ceiling is real. If site speed is critical to your rankings, we'll recommend a move — and SEO Website Design can rebuild it for you.
How long do the gains stick?
Indefinitely, unless someone loads a new plugin or heavy script. We include a post-launch monitoring window and a quarterly re-audit option for clients who keep adding third-party tools.
See your real-user scores.
Book 15 minutes. We'll pull live CrUX data on your top 10 URLs and show you exactly which metric is holding back which template.