Speed: what slows a page down
A slow page loses visitors before it loses rankings. The usual causes are large images, too many scripts from other companies and slow hosting. Google measures three things it calls Core Web Vitals: how quickly the main content appears (Largest Contentful Paint), how quickly the page responds when someone taps or clicks (Interaction to Next Paint) and whether the layout jumps while loading (Cumulative Layout Shift).
Google’s published thresholds for a good result are 2.5 seconds or less, 200 milliseconds or less and 0.1 or less. Search Console shows how your pages do for real visitors, and PageSpeed Insights tests one page at a time. A test on your own computer is a sample, not a verdict.
- Resize and compress images before you upload them.
- Remove scripts and plug-ins that nobody uses.
- Load video and maps only when a visitor asks for them.
- Ask your host how long a page takes to start responding.
Mobile: Google reads your phone version
Google mainly uses the phone version of a page to decide what it contains. Content that shows on a desktop screen but is hidden or missing on a phone may not count.
Open your main pages on a real phone. Text should be readable without zooming, buttons easy to tap, and nothing should slide off the screen.
Secure, clean addresses
Every page should load over HTTPS, with one version of each address. If the same page opens at http and https, or with and without www, Google has to choose and the signals split between them. Pick one version and send the others to it with a permanent redirect.
Status codes tell Google what happened. 200 means the page is fine, 301 means it moved for good, 404 means it is not there and 5xx means the server failed. A few 404s are normal. Many 404s on pages that used to get visits are worth fixing.
Sitemaps, robots.txt and structured data
A sitemap lists the pages you want found, and Search Console shows whether Google read it. The robots.txt file tells crawlers what to skip. Check that it does not block pages you want shown, because a rule left over from a test is a common cause.
Structured data is extra code that labels what a page is, such as a business, a product or an article. It helps Google understand a page and can make some features possible, but it guarantees none. Google’s Rich Results Test shows whether the code is valid.
What you can fix and what needs a developer
Usually you can fix image sizes, page titles, pages missing from the sitemap and old addresses that need a redirect, where your website tool allows it. A developer is usually needed for slow hosting, heavy scripts, layout jumps caused by the theme and structured data across many pages.
Bring the evidence. A page name, a number and a test result are enough for a developer to quote and fix.
Try this on your own site in 20 minutes
You need Google Search Console and a phone.
- Run your home page and your most visited service page through PageSpeed Insights. Note the three Core Web Vitals results for the phone.
- In Search Console, open Core Web Vitals and Pages. Note how many addresses are listed as poor, and the reasons given for pages not indexed.
- Type the http and the www version of your address into a browser. Both should end up at the same one.
- Open yourdomain.com/robots.txt and check that it does not block pages you want people to find.