Fast Websites Matter

Graham Slater • May 19, 2021

Fast Websites Convert Better

Google Core Web Vitals & Site Speed

kapowwebdesign.com | (03) 8601 1124 | support@martialartsaustralia.com


What is covered below:
Why fast websites matter to business

Google Core Web Vitals

What is a good website performance score?

How you can make your site fast

How we can help



Fast Websites Convert Better

  • Conversions drop by 2% to 4% for every second it takes a website to load
  • The first five seconds of page load time have the highest impact on website conversion rates


Fast Websites Provide a Better Experience for Users

  • Users won't wait for a slow web page to load, since there are many other options available that are just a click away
  • Web pages that don’t provide a good experience will turn off site visitors
  • Visitors abandon sites at 10x rate when a web page goes from 2sec to 10sec load time


New in 2021:

Google Core Web Vitals

Google’s new metrics for quickly summarizing the user experience performance of a website. 

Three important metrics:

Loading Speed - LCP (Largest Contentful Paint)

Interactivity - FID (First Input Delay)

Visual Stability - CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift)



User Experience Matters

Google is measuring not only performance or speed, but they’re measuring for best practices related to the entire website experience. 


Web Vitals as a Ranking Factor

  • Web Vitals will join the other experience metrics as a Google ranking signal in summer 2021. 
  • This is Google’s most specific performance metrics to date — we’ve never had anything close to this level of detail related to performance. 
  • Note that this is a signal, not the only defining ranking factor. 

Measuring Site Scores

Google Page Speed Insights

  • Measures a variety of website performance metrics
  • Lab Data* and Field Data**

* Lab data is only an estimate.

** Field data looks at prior 28 days of actual website activity, and reports for higher-traffic sites. Field data is more accurate and more representative.


What is a Good Score on Pagespeed Insights?

Anything above 70 on Pagespeed Insights is a very strong score.

(Fun fact: Google.com itself typically scores in the upper 60s to low 70s.)


What is a Good Score for Core Web Vitals?

According to a recent study by HTTPArchive, only 20% of websites across the web score “good” on all three Core Web Vitals metrics on mobile devices



Things That Can Slow Your Site Down...

  • Home pages with unoptimized images or unoptimized videos above the fold
  • Third-party tracking pixels / analytics
  • Externally hosted embeds
  • Heavy 3rd party widgets above the fold Eg. Facebook, Map, Video, Image slider/gallery, above the fold. 
  • Custom code at top of page
  • Pages with multiple instances of large media objects (images, sliders, videos, etc.)
  • Excessive font usage


What We Can Help You With

  • Performing a performance audit of your website
  • Improving your website performance based on that audit
  • Getting you results!