/ Web design
What is page speed and why does it matter?
Page speed is how fast your site loads. Under 2 seconds is the target. Every 1-second delay drops conversion rate by ~7%.
/ 01
The short version
Page speed affects conversion, SEO ranking, ad quality score and user perception of your brand. It's the single most under-invested-in area of most SMB websites.
/ 02
The metrics that matter (Core Web Vitals)
- • LCP (Largest Contentful Paint): under 2.5s
- • INP (Interaction to Next Paint): under 200ms
- • CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift): under 0.1
/ 03
What actually slows sites down
Massive unoptimised images. Too many third-party scripts (chat widgets, analytics, marketing pixels). Bloated WordPress themes with 40 plugins. Fonts loaded from 5 different sources. Auto-playing video on the homepage. Shared cheap hosting that maxes out under load.
/ 04
Quick wins
Compress every image to WebP (80% smaller). Lazy-load below-the-fold images. Cut third-party scripts to essentials. Use a modern host or CDN (Cloudflare, Vercel). Remove unused plugins. Upgrade to a modern theme or platform.
/ 05
Where RIOT fits in
We're a small Colchester studio helping UK SMBs get your page speed right without agency waste or freelancer flake. If you've read this far and you want a second opinion on your specific setup, book a 20-minute call and we'll tell you honestly whether it's worth doing anything at all.
We work with clients across Essex, Suffolk, London and the wider UK — and remotely with brands abroad. No lock-in, no monthly retainer minimums, no pretending your problem is bigger than it is.
/ FAQs
Common questions
How do I test page speed?
PageSpeed Insights, WebPageTest, and Google Search Console's Core Web Vitals report. Test on 4G mobile — that's what most users are on.
Does mobile speed matter more?
Yes. Google uses mobile-first indexing and 60%+ of UK traffic is mobile.
/ Related
Still not sure?
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