Visitors decide very quickly whether to stay on a page, and Google uses page experience signals called Core Web Vitals as part of its ranking. The good news: most slow websites are slow for the same handful of reasons.

First, measure

Run your homepage and one important inner page through PageSpeed Insights and note three numbers:

• LCP (Largest Contentful Paint): how quickly the main content appears. Aim for 2.5 seconds or less.
• INP (Interaction to Next Paint): how quickly the page responds when someone clicks or types. Aim for 200 ms or less.
• CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift): how much the layout jumps around while loading. Aim for 0.1 or less.

Now work through the checklist below and measure again.

The checklist

1. Resize and compress images

Large photos are the most common cause of a slow LCP. Export images at the size they are displayed, and use modern formats like WebP or AVIF.

2. Lazy-load images below the fold

Add loading="lazy" to images further down the page, so the browser loads what the visitor sees first. Do not lazy-load the main hero image.

3. Always set image width and height

When the browser knows an image's size in advance, it reserves the space, and the layout stops jumping. This alone often fixes CLS.

4. Load fewer, lighter fonts

Every font weight is another download. Keep to two or three weights, use font-display: swap, and preload the main font file.

5. Remove unused scripts and plugins

Old sliders, chat widgets and tracking scripts add up. If a script does not earn its place, remove it. Load the rest with defer.

6. Enable caching

Use page caching on the server and long cache lifetimes for static files like CSS, JavaScript and images, so returning visitors load the site almost instantly.

7. Use a CDN

A content delivery network serves your files from a location close to each visitor. Cloudflare's free plan is a good start for most small sites.

8. Turn on compression

Gzip or Brotli compression shrinks HTML, CSS and JavaScript before they are sent. It is usually a single setting on the server or CDN.

9. Speed up the server and database

Use a recent PHP version, add database indexes to columns you search or filter on, and cache expensive queries. In Laravel, php artisan optimize and route/config caching help in production.

10. Keep the main thread free

Heavy JavaScript makes clicks feel slow and hurts INP. Break up long tasks, avoid loading large libraries for small effects, and load non-critical widgets after the page is interactive.

Tip: fix the biggest problem first. One oversized hero image can cost more than everything else on this list combined.

Key takeaways

• Measure before and after with PageSpeed Insights.
• Images, fonts and third-party scripts are the usual culprits.
• Caching, compression and a CDN are quick wins on any site.

Want me to look at your site? Send me the link and I will tell you what is slowing it down and what to fix first.