Website Speed Checklist: 10 Fixes That Make a Real Difference
Slow pages cost visitors and rankings. Use this practical checklist to improve Core Web Vitals on your website.
Speed is one of the easiest ways to improve both user experience and SEO. Google's Core Web Vitals measure how fast your main content appears, how quickly the page responds and how stable the layout is. Here are ten fixes we apply to almost every project.
Images and media
1. Serve modern formats
Convert images to WebP or AVIF. They are much smaller than JPEG or PNG at the same quality.
2. Size images correctly
Don't send a 3000-pixel image to a phone. Use responsive images (srcset) so each device downloads the size it needs.
3. Lazy-load below the fold
Images and videos that aren't visible on load should only download when the user scrolls near them. Keep the hero image loading immediately.
Fonts
4. Limit font files
Every weight and style is another download. Two families with a few weights is usually plenty.
5. Avoid invisible text
Use font-display: swap or a framework that self-hosts fonts, so text appears immediately while fonts load.
Code
6. Ship less JavaScript
Remove unused libraries and split code by page. Heavy scripts are the most common reason pages feel slow to respond.
7. Audit third-party scripts
Chat widgets, trackers and embeds add up. Remove what you don't use and load the rest after the page is interactive.
8. Reserve space for content
Set width and height on images, embeds and ads so the layout doesn't jump while loading. This directly improves layout stability.
Delivery
9. Use a CDN and caching
Serve pages and assets from servers close to your visitors, with long cache times for files that rarely change.
10. Pre-render where possible
Static or pre-rendered pages load fastest. Frameworks like Next.js can pre-render most pages and only fetch fresh data where needed.
How to measure
Run your key pages through PageSpeed Insights and look at real-user data, not just the lab score. Check mobile first — that's where most performance problems show up.
A faster site isn't just a technical win. It means more visitors stay, read and convert.
Want us to audit your site? Get in touch for a free performance review.