Score 100 in PageSpeed Insights (2025)

How briskly your web site masses is a large a part of a consumer’s expertise in your weblog. That’s why having a quick web site is important to success if you happen to’re going to start a blog within the first place. Enter: this Google PageSpeed optimization information from my pal and proficient developer, Andy Feliciotti.

Google additionally ranks web sites based mostly on their velocity utilizing their PageSpeed rating. It’s no simple job to get your web site an ideal 100 rating on Google’s PageSpeed take a look at.

However I’m right here to assist!

Regardless of in case you have a weblog, brochure, or eCommerce web site we’ll go over step-by-step how one can get your Google PageSpeed rating to 100 on this velocity optimization information.

Google PageSpeed Optimization: The way to Rating 100 in PageSpeed Insights

1. What is Google PageSpeed?
2. Why Does Google PageSpeed Matter?
3. How to Test Your Website Speed
4. Google PageSpeed Best Practices
5. Google PageSpeed Optimization & Insights FAQs

Disclosure: Please observe that among the hyperlinks under are affiliate hyperlinks and at no further value to you, I’ll earn a fee. Know that I solely suggest services I’ve personally used and stand behind. While you use considered one of my affiliate hyperlinks, the corporate compensates me, which helps me run this weblog and preserve my in-depth content material freed from cost for readers (such as you).

Able to Begin Your Weblog Immediately?

Take a look at my final information How to Start a Blog (on the Side) that’s been featured on Forbes, Inc and Entrepreneur.

First let’s go over the fundamentals of Google PageSpeed then we’ll dive into dashing up your weblog.

What’s Google PageSpeed?

Web page velocity is the period of time it takes your web site’s content material to succeed in a consumer’s browser.

That is so vital since customers visiting your web site don’t wish to have to attend in your content material. You already know the sensation, you discover a solution to your query on Google, click on a hyperlink, and find yourself giving up when the web page by no means masses.

Google is aware of this too; which is why your web site’s velocity is a serious rating issue. The most well-liked instrument to check your web site’s velocity is the Google PageSpeed Insights instrument. That is one of the best ways to know precisely what Google thinks of your web site when it comes to web page velocity.

Notable Google PageSpeed Metrics:

• Largest Contentful Paint (LCP): Measurement of the perceived web page load velocity to customers. Primarily when above the fold content material has completed loading.
• First Enter Delay (FID): Measurement in seconds of the delay till a consumer can work together with the web site.
• Cumulative Format Shift (CLS): Measurement in seconds till the web page’s format has stopped “shifting”. For instance a picture loading might trigger format shifts in your web site. That is vital since a consumer might wish to click on a component in your web site earlier than it’s completed loading the a shift could trigger them to click on one thing else.
• First Contentful Paint (FCP): Measurement of the time when something is rendered on display.
• Interplay to Subsequent Paint (INP): Interplay to Subsequent Paint observes the latency of consumer interactions made with a web page. For instance if a consumer clicks an accordion and there may be an surprising delay when it opens.
• Time to First Byte (TTFB): Measurement of the time till the browser receives a response from the server.

You’ll see these phrases used typically in Google Search Console (Core Internet Vitals report), PageSpeed Insights, and Chrome Person Expertise Report.

Why Does Web page Pace Matter?

Web page velocity is vital as a result of it instantly will have an effect on how much traffic and how much money your blog can make.

Studies have proven that web site velocity instantly impacts conversion fee. The information from Portent exhibits that having a 1 second web page load velocity vs 5 seconds will almost have a 50% drop in conversions. Not solely will your web site’s load time have an effect on your Google rating but it surely’ll additionally have an effect on your conversion fee.

Out of your place in Google search outcomes to buyer’s persistence your web site’s web page load time impacts each facet of a consumer’s expertise. Since customers are totally on cell gadgets each kilobyte your web site masses needs to be intentional.

The longer a consumer has to sit down and look forward to a web page to load the upper your bounce fee will likely be as nicely. Your web site’s velocity doesn’t simply have an effect on Google’s SERPs however most search engines like google think about web page velocity. That is why having a web site that masses quick is important in immediately’s internet.

Fortunately it isn’t too arduous to make a quick web site if you happen to’re utilizing fashionable instruments and know what to do.

The way to Take a look at Your Web site Pace

In case you aren’t conversant in Google PageSpeed it’s a collection of checks that Google runs in your web site to find out how briskly your web site masses. When a consumer on Google clicks a search end result they anticipate it to load quick. That is why Google created the Google PageSpeed Insights take a look at.

This provides web site house owners the instruments to know precisely what’s slowing down their web site and how one can repair it. Plus it offers Google the information to appropriately rank an internet site of their search engine algorithm.

Utilizing the instrument is as simple as getting into your web site’s URL and clicking analyze. The take a look at will run rapidly and also you’ll be given loads of key metrics. Moreover if you wish to run an area take a look at you should use Google’s open-source Lighthouse to provide comparable outcomes proper in your browser. However needless to say utilizing the PageSpeed Insights take a look at from Google will give you metrics from all of their consumer knowledge. So, whereas your pc may have the ability to deal with your web site rapidly, a consumer with a weaker pc could expertise slowdowns, and their instrument will seize this.

One other place to check web site efficiency is a instrument like GTmetrix.

Seemingly you received’t want to repair every little thing pay attention on this article however I’ll be going over the most typical PageSpeed points and how one can repair them.

PageSpeed Finest Practices: Widespread Google PageSpeed Points and The way to Repair Them

A lot of the recommendation on this part will assume you’ve a WordPress weblog. I’ve additionally included extra detailed directions for builders to repair points manually.

By far one of the best ways I’ve discovered to enhance your WordPress web site loading velocity is to make use of WP-Rocket. WP-Rocket is a paid plugin however nicely value it because it does lots of the greatest efficiency practices proper out of the field. To repair most web page velocity points I’ll spotlight if WP-Rocket will help and provides a free various if out there.

Your WordPress theme will even play an enormous half in core internet vitals.

Pace Up Server Response Time

Quick server response time is important to an ideal Google PageSpeed rating. Principally your server response time is how lengthy it takes in your web site’s server to generate the webpage for the consumer. This is without doubt one of the best issues to repair if you’re seeing the warning in your PageSpeed report. The most typical solution to eradicate this problem is to make use of web page caching. This implies your web site will serve the online web page from cache so the server itself has to do little to no work.

• Allow Web page Caching: When a consumer requests a web page out of your web site it must be rendered and served. This course of will be fully skipped with web page caching. Principally when a consumer visits a web page in your web site it’ll be saved for the subsequent consumer in cache so it may be immediately returned. Many WordPress hosting companies have in-built web page caching however if you’re seeing a excessive server response time it’s doubtless not enabled. The very best WordPress web page caching options embrace WP-Rocket, W3 Total Cache, and Cache Enabler. One other fashionable choice for web page caching is to make use of CloudFlare’s Automatic Platform Optimization for WordPress. This makes use of CloudFlare’s
• Use a Fashionable Stack: The model of PHP and MySQL your internet host makes use of play an enormous half in web page velocity. High quality web hosting companies ought to have you ever lined on this one. In case you’re a developer this implies holding updated with the most recent model of PHP and Database options.

Allow Compression

Your web site can compress its content material and web page dimension earlier than sending it to the consumer’s browser with Brotli (newer, supported by Chrome) or GZIP compression. These compression strategies haven’t any have an effect on in your web site’s show since consumer’s browsers robotically deal with the compressed content material.

Hottest WordPress hosting companies will robotically apply compression for you. If you wish to verify {that a} compression methodology is enabled in your web site you should use an online GZIP compression test.

Common efficiency WordPress plugins will robotically GZIP compress for you together with WP-Rocket, WP Super Cache (have to be enabled in settings) and W3 Total Cache (have to be enabled in settings). WP-Rocket will robotically apply GZIP compression in your web site if you happen to’re utilizing Apache with out anybody configuration.

For Builders: To allow Brotli or GZIP compression your server you’ll have to know if you happen to’re utilizing Apache or Nginx. Here’s a guide to enabling Brotli on Apache and a guide to enabling Brotli on Nginx. As an alternative of coping with server configuration I’d suggest opting in to make use of CloudFlare. Free of charge CloudFlare will apply GZIP and Brotli compression relying on what the consumer’s browser helps and what content material is served robotically.

Minify CSS, HTML and JavaScript

HTML, CSS, and JavaScript all have an effect on your web page load velocity. Whereas writing code most builders will embrace tabs, areas, and different non-essential code to make it human readable. All of those unused characters add up and might barely decelerate your web site.

Fortunately all of those belongings can simply be minified with out affecting the consumer’s expertise. WP-Rocket affords a file optimization web page with minification choices for CSS and JavaScript. Moreover if web page caching is enabled in WP-Rocket HTML minification will likely be utilized to pages. A free choices is to make use of the Autoptimize plugin to minify CSS/JS/HTML.

Remember the fact that if you minify JavaScript it might trigger points with performance so make sure to take a look at when enabling.

For Builders: There are many developer instruments that enables devs to compress their information throughout their workflow. Node.js packages like Clean CSS will be added to a workflow to compress minify information whereas engaged on them. Moreover for smaller initiatives there are many on-line instrument that can compress CSS, JS, and even HTML. In case you’re utilizing WordPress you’ll doubtless wish to simply opt-in to make use of a plugin since they’ll obtain the identical outcomes with rather a lot much less effort.

Scale back Unused CSS

Eradicating unused CSS will be tough. CSS guidelines that your web page has that aren’t used for the web page model are thought-about unused CSS. Most frameworks, themes, and plugins will depart your web site with unused CSS.

For instance, your WordPress theme might comprise styling for a contact web page but it surely’s unused on all different pages of your web site however nonetheless exists within the stylesheet.

Fortunately if you happen to use WordPress there are a few plugins that can robotically cut back unused CSS. WP-Rocket and Perfmatters will do an ideal job at eradicating unused CSS out of your weblog. These plugins will load your pages and be certain that it solely has the CSS wanted to appropriately show your web page leaving you with a smaller CSS file.

For Builders: To do that course of manually builders can work on dequeuing stylesheets from a WordPress web site. It will mean you can manually choose CSS you wish to be added to your theme’s stylesheet. There are additionally on-line instruments to find unused CSS in your web site however doubtless aren’t sustainable to make use of for giant websites.

Leverage Browser Caching

When customers go to a number of pages in your web site they doubtless will likely be utilizing the identical assets. Usually pictures, CSS, and JavaScript are shared throughout your total web site. That is the place browser caching is available in, you possibly can inform a consumer’s browser to save lots of belongings for later use. Most efficiency plugins for WordPress will add browser caching guidelines out-of-the-box.

For Builders: Relying on if you happen to’re utilizing Apache or Ngnix you possibly can add server configuration to inform consumer’s browsers to cache specific content. Sometimes these browser caching strategies are utilized to CSS, JS, and pictures since they’re static and don’t must be dynamically loaded.

Remove Render-Blocking Sources

As an online browser reads your site’s code it determines what to obtain and render. JavaScript and CSS information in your <head> tag are thought-about render-blocking assets. Because the browser tries to return the web page to a consumer it has to cease, obtain the file, and total will delay the web page from rendering.

In case your web site had render-blocking assets Google PageSpeed Insights will you present you the most important information and potential financial savings.

Fortunately most efficiency plugins for WordPress will enable you to defer or inline JavaScript and CSS. WordPress plugins will even enable you to transfer non-essential stylesheets and JS to load on the backside of your web page. WP-Rocket, Autoptimize (free), and Perfmatters all do a job at eliminating render-blocking belongings.

For Builders: Builders can benefit from a number of browser capabilities to assist enhance asset loading. This consists of utilizing the defer attribute on scripts, shifting CSS/JS to the footer, and solely together with vital CSS within the header. Google’s guide to render-blocking resources.

Effectively Encode Photos

Picture compression algorithms have unbelievable outcomes at compressing pictures with no perceived loss in high quality. Photos are such an vital a part of your web site so having photos that load fast is important.

Sometimes JPG and PNG pictures can use further compression when exported. Imagify, ShortPixel, and Smush are all nice WordPress plugins for compressing pictures robotically. Principally these plugins will compress your pictures as you add them resulting in quicker web page load speeds. You may as well choose how a lot compression is utilized to photographs.

Because it prices processing energy to compress pictures many of those plugins can have a price for a considerable amount of pictures. ShortPixel additionally affords a plugin to compress pictures on the cloud utilizing their content material supply community & API. In case your web site is already utilizing CloudFlare you possibly can join their Pro plan to optimize pictures on the fly.

For Builders: There are many instruments for picture optimization together with on-line instruments like Crush Image, HEIC to JPG which converts any HEIC pictures to JPG information, and desktop apps like compresto. Seemingly you’ll wish to compress pictures at scale so I desire to make use of a CDN that robotically compresses pictures. My private favourite is the CloudFlare Pro ($20/m) plan that can robotically compress and even server webp pictures. You may as well transfer to utilizing SVG for graphics like your web site’s brand. Additionally a great rule of observe is to make use of JPEG information for precise photographs and SVG/PNG information for graphics. Utilizing a PNG file for a photograph will end in an unnecessarily massive file.

Correctly Dimension Photos

An instance of improperly sized pictures is a big 2000px by 2000px picture in a 800px extensive div. Since solely 800px is seen the browser needed to load the bigger picture for no cause. This results in a slower web page load velocity and worse expertise for customers. Most nicely designed WordPress themes received’t have this problem.

For Builders: In case you’re creating a WordPress theme you possibly can set default WordPress image sizes to appropriately match your theme’s width. You’ll have to regenerate WordPress thumbnails after altering picture sizes. Remember the fact that if you wish to serve pictures for a retina show you must use the srcset attribute. WordPress also has built-in functions for serving pictures on a high-pixel density show.

Defer Offscreen Photos

When an internet site is loaded if it incorporates pictures all of them will likely be loaded, even ones under the fold. It is a waste of assets and community utilization because the pictures are viewable. Fortunately deferring offscreen pictures is less complicated than ever now that each one main browser assist lazy loading.

By default, WordPress will apply the loading=”lazy” attribute to photographs to robotically defer offscreen pictures so that you doubtless received’t see this error. WP-Rocket will even apply lazy loading to photographs, iFrames, and YouTube embeds. Alternatively you should use the free a3 Lazy Load plugin to use lazing loading to off-screen parts. In case your web site has a variety of picture information and gifs that is vital facet of enhancing web page load.

For Builders: The simplest approach so as to add lazy loading to a picture is to incorporate the loading=”lazy” attribute within the <img> tag. There are additionally loads of JavaScript libraries to lazy load content material.

All Textual content Stays Seen Throughout Webfont Hundreds

When webfonts had been launched it was widespread follow to cover textual content earlier than the font loaded. It is a massive no-no since customers wish to immediately begin studying your web site. WP-Rocket will robotically optimize webfont show when CSS optimizations are enabled. The free WordPress plugin Swap Google Fonts Display will even add the proper parameter to Google Fonts in your WordPress web site.

For Builders: Seemingly you’re utilizing Google Fonts which is sort of easy to resolve this discovering. All you need to do is add the “&show=swap”question string to your Google Font URL; more details from Google.

Keep away from A number of Web page Redirects

In case your web site has a variety of redirects these will slowly enhance web page load velocity. For instance in case your homepage / goes to /dwelling.html it will trigger a delay in response to your customers. You might even see this error in case you have CSS or JS information that result in a redirect as nicely.

One other instance is that if a URL in your header navigation goes to a URL that redirects. It’s probably your web site received’t be flagged for this if you happen to’re utilizing WordPress.

Google PageSpeed Optimization & Insights FAQs

Listed here are the most typical questions on Google PageSpeed. If there’s something lacking ask within the feedback on the finish of this text.

Closing Ideas on Google PageSpeed Optimization for Your Weblog

I hope these tricks to nailing your Google PageSpeed optimization will assist enhance the efficiency of your weblog & result in will increase in natural visitors over time. As the online evolves and instruments get simpler to make use of it’ll be simpler and simpler to speed up WordPress websites.

There are tons of issues you are able to do to enhance a Google PageSpeed rating however I’d suggest on getting a passing take a look at.

Having a passing take a look at (rating above 90) will play a big half in rating your content material within the high spots for natural Google search outcomes. Don’t overlook although, attaining an ideal 100 rating can find yourself being an infinite job as internet requirements change, so attempt to remaining in that 90+ vary and also you’ll be simply nice.

Able to Begin Your Weblog Immediately?

Take a look at my final information How to Start a Blog (on the Side) that’s been featured on Forbes, Inc and Entrepreneur.