Pagespeed

Pagespeed describes how quickly a website is fully rendered in the user's browser. The metric covers server response time, the size of delivered resources, the number of HTTP requests and the rendering effort in the browser. It is both a ranking factor at Google and a direct lever for conversion rate.

How pagespeed is measured

Common tools like Google PageSpeed Insights, Lighthouse and WebPageTest provide values for Core Web Vitals, namely Largest Contentful Paint, Interaction to Next Paint and Cumulative Layout Shift. Alongside these, classic metrics such as Time to First Byte and Time to Interactive matter. Measurements are taken separately for desktop and mobile, since mobile values tend to be worse.

Practice and optimisation

Fast pages reduce bounce rate and noticeably lift conversion rate. Typical measures are image compression, lazy loading, caching, a content delivery network, reducing render blocking JavaScript and using modern image formats like WebP or AVIF. Hosting also plays a role, because a slow server can undo every frontend optimisation.

Pagespeed in marketing

In performance marketing, pagespeed is critical, as slow landing pages drag down Google Ads Quality Score and push click prices up. In email marketing, the landing page load time after a click on a call to action counts, because every second of waiting measurably costs conversions. If you achieve high click through rates, make sure the destination page renders in under two seconds.