Google has a free tool that tests your website for speed: PageSpeed Insights. It gives your page a score from 0 to 100 in several areas. For the mini audit we mainly look at the mobile score, because most visitors arrive on their phone.
What do the scores mean?
- 90 to 100: excellent. Google rewards speed with better rankings.
- 50 to 89: average. There is room for improvement.
- 0 to 49: poor. Visitors drop off and Google penalizes you.
Why is speed so important?
Every extra second of loading time costs an average of 7% in conversions. If your site currently takes 6 seconds and your competitors take 2, you are losing visitors without even knowing it. And Google knows this too. Since 2021, speed has been an official ranking factor.
What makes sites slow?
The most common problems:
- Huge images: a 5 MB photo that should have been 200 KB
- Too much JavaScript: plugins that load all sorts of things before the page becomes visible
- Slow hosting: budget hosting sometimes takes 2-3 seconds per page to respond
- External scripts: chat widgets, tracking pixels and embedded videos that slow everything down
- No caching: every visitor downloads everything again instead of using the browser cache
What can you do today?
Go to pagespeed.web.dev, paste in your URL and click 'Analyze'. Within 30 seconds you get a score plus concrete tips on what to improve. The biggest gains usually come from compressing images (you can do this yourself at squoosh.app) and upgrading to faster hosting.