A Free Tool to Make Your Website Better

Website performance plays a critical role in driving business success and shaping user experiences.

Some important numbers:

• ‍‍‍53% of users leave a website that loads longer than 3 seconds
• 5 seconds load time increases bounce probability by 90%‍

A slow-loading site = missed opportunities, wasted ad budget, and lost revenue.

How do you fix that?

Google PageSpeed Insights.

It’s a free tool that gives you a clear picture of your website's performance and what holds it back.

We at Digital Era Advisor always use it in our process.

It doesn’t just check speed.

It evaluates four critical areas of your site:

• Performance: How fast your site loads.
• Accessibility: How usable your site is for everyone.
• Best Practices: How secure and up-to-date your site is.
• SEO: How easy it is to find your site on Google.

For each area, it gives a score from 0 to 100.

A score above 90 is considered Good.

Based on my experience, getting your website above 90 in the Performance area and 100 in the other three is totally doable.

Let’s break down each metric and what to do with the results.

For each category, I’ll give the top 3 action points your marketing agency or website developer can work on to improve the score.

1. Performance

Website performance is crucial for user experience. A slow-loading website frustrates visitors and makes them less likely to engage and convert into clients.

Why it matters:

• As mentioned, if your site takes too long to load, many visitors will leave before seeing your content.
• For Google, website performance is a ranking factor. Slow sites don’t appear at the top of search results. Click-through rates drop sharply after the top positions, with the tenth position receiving only about 2.5% of clicks. This makes it harder for clients to find you.

How to fix it:

1. Compress images to reduce file sizes and improve load times. I recommend tools like TinyPNG or ImageOptim.
2. Switch to faster hosting providers or use a Content Delivery Network (CDN) like Cloudflare to reduce latency.
3. Enable Gzip or Brotli compression.
4. Remove third-party code that you don’t use.

2. Accessibility

An accessible website is a website that’s easy to navigate and read for people with disabilities.

Why it matters:

• More than 15% of the population has some form of disability. Don’t lose this part of the audience to a bad website. More eyes on your offer = more revenue for you.
• An inclusive site shows you care about your audience, building trust and goodwill.
• In the U.S., websites that aren’t accessible may be at risk of violating the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Non-compliance has led to lawsuits across industries, including financial services.

How to fix it:

1. Every image should have descriptive text so screen readers can interpret it.
2. Make text readable against the background for users with visual impairments. Use tools like WebAIM Contrast Checker.
3. Assistive technologies rely on clear and descriptive labels for form fields, so label form fields correctly.

3. Best Practices

Best Practices focus on the technical health of the website.

A poor score deters users and makes them wary of trusting your services.

Why it matters:

• Visitors trust secure websites. Many browsers now warn users about unsecured sites.
• Outdated code, broken links, or unnecessary scripts create a frustrating experience for users.
• Old plugins and libraries make your site vulnerable.

How to fix it:

1. Install an SSL certificate to give it the "padlock" symbol in browsers.
2. Update all plugins and libraries. Ensure all frameworks and third-party tools are current to prevent vulnerabilities.
3. Implement lazy loading for images. Load images only as users scroll the page. This improves both speed and user experience.

4. SEO

A great website is only helpful if people can find it. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) ensures your site ranks well in Google search results, driving traffic and potential leads.

Why it matters:

• The top three results on Google get 75% of all clicks. If your site isn’t optimized, it’s unlikely to appear in this prime real estate.
• Mobile devices generate over half of website traffic. Google prioritizes mobile-friendly websites in its rankings.
• A well-optimized site signals professionalism to both users and search engines.

How to fix it:

1. Make your site fully responsive. Test it on all screen sizes.
2. Use SEO tools like Screaming Frog to identify and remove broken links.
3. Write keyword-rich meta descriptions for each page to improve search engine click-through rates.

Good SEO isn’t just about getting found—it’s about ensuring the right clients find you at the right time. Share your PageSpeed results with your developer to ensure your website aligns with best SEO practices.

What’s Next?

1. Run your website through Google PageSpeed Insights.
2. Share the results with your developer or agency.
3. Ask them to focus on the top fixes for Performance, Accessibility, Best Practices, and SEO.
4. If you need a new, fast, and conversion-optimized website - let’s see if we can help you. Schedule a call with us.