Start with what visitors actually feel
Speed work should protect conversions, not just improve a lab score. Measure Largest Contentful Paint, Interaction to Next Paint, and Cumulative Layout Shift on the pages that bring in leads or sales.
Fix the homepage, key service pages, and checkout or contact templates first. Those pages decide whether someone stays long enough to take action.
Speed work should protect conversions, not just improve a lab score.
A Core Web Vitals checklist that stays safe
Use this sequence so optimization does not break layout, forms, or WooCommerce:
- Compress and serve images in WebP or AVIF, with correct width and height attributes.
- Remove unused plugins, then delay non-critical JavaScript instead of stripping scripts the theme still needs.
- Cache HTML for anonymous visitors and keep cart, account, and form pages excluded.
- Preload only the hero font and the main image. Extra preloads can slow first paint.
- Test forms, menus, and checkout after every change, not only PageSpeed scores.
Keep the site maintainable
Document what you changed and why. A faster site that nobody can update safely is not a win. Re-test after plugin and theme updates so performance gains do not quietly disappear.
