How to Speed Up Your Website and Pass Core Web Vitals
Speed affects user experience and search ranking. Google measures it with Core Web Vitals, which look at loading, interactivity and visual stability.
Make images lighter
Images are usually the heaviest part of a page. Compress them, use modern formats such as WebP and add width and height so the layout does not jump while loading.
Reduce code
Remove unused CSS and JavaScript, minify files and load scripts with defer. Fewer requests mean a faster page, especially on slow mobile networks.
Use caching and a CDN
Caching stores files in the visitor’s browser, and a CDN serves them from a nearby server. Test your pages in PageSpeed Insights and fix the biggest problem first.
What Core Web Vitals measure
Largest Contentful Paint measures how quickly the main content appears, and a good score is under two and a half seconds. Interaction to Next Paint measures how fast the page reacts when someone taps or clicks. Cumulative Layout Shift measures how much the page jumps around while loading. Together these numbers describe how the page feels to a real person, and Google uses them as a ranking signal.
Measure before you change
Run your page in PageSpeed Insights and Lighthouse and write down the scores. Test the mobile result first, since most visitors use phones. The reports list the biggest problems and the time you could save, so you can fix the largest ones first instead of guessing. After each change, test again to confirm it helped.
Optimise images and fonts
Resize images to the size they are shown, compress them and serve WebP or AVIF when possible. Use lazy loading for images below the first screen, but not for the main image at the top. Limit web fonts to one or two families and a few weights, and use font-display swap so text appears at once. Always include width and height on images to stop layout jumps.
Trim CSS and JavaScript
Remove code you do not use, minify files and combine small ones. Load non-essential scripts with defer or async, and delay chat widgets, analytics and ad scripts until after the main content appears. Third-party scripts are often the biggest cause of slow pages, so keep only those that really matter. Place critical CSS for the first screen directly in the page.
Server, caching and CDN
A slow server delays everything. Choose a host with good response times, enable compression such as Gzip or Brotli and use HTTP/2 or HTTP/3. Set long cache times for files that rarely change so returning visitors do not download them again. A content delivery network stores copies of your files in many countries and serves them from the closest one, which helps visitors everywhere.
Avoid layout shifts
Reserve space for ads, banners and embeds so the page does not jump when they load. This matters when you use an ad network, because late-loading ads are a common reason for poor stability scores. Give ad slots a fixed minimum height and avoid inserting new content above what people are already reading.
Keep your speed over time
Speed is not a one-time job. Each new plugin, image or script can slow the page again. Set a performance budget, for example a maximum page size, and test after every big update. Fast pages keep readers longer, earn more page views and give you a better chance of ranking well.