website performance optimization list

A professional, interactive checklist to audit and improve your website's loading speed. Pass Core Web Vitals and boost your SEO rankings.

Performance Audit Checklist

Image Optimization

Compress all images

Reduce file size without losing visible quality using tools like TinyPNG.

Use Next-Gen Formats (WebP/AVIF)

WebP images are ~30% smaller than JPEGs at the same quality.

Implement Lazy Loading

Only load images when they enter the user's viewport.

Set explicit width and height

Prevents Layout Shifts (CLS) by reserving space for images.

Server & Delivery

Enable Browser Caching

Set Cache-Control headers for static assets (CSS, JS, Images).

Use a Content Delivery Network (CDN)

Serve files from servers closest to your users (e.g., Cloudflare).

Enable Gzip or Brotli Compression

Compress text-based resources (HTML, CSS, JS) at the server level.

Code & Scripts

Minify CSS, JS, and HTML

Remove whitespace, comments, and unused code blocks.

Defer non-critical JavaScript

Use 'defer' or 'async' attributes to prevent render-blocking.

Inline critical CSS

Put CSS needed for 'above the fold' content directly in the HTML.

Optimization Score

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Summary

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Impact Level Low

Pro Tip: Focus on items with high impact (Server Caching & Image Compression) first for the biggest gains.

Why You Need a Website Performance Optimization List

In the modern digital landscape, speed is not just a luxury—it is a requirement. A website performance optimization list serves as a roadmap for developers and site owners to ensure their pages load instantly across all devices. Google has explicitly stated that page speed is a ranking factor, and with the introduction of Core Web Vitals, metrics like Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) and Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) are more important than ever.

The Impact of Speed on SEO and Conversions

Research shows that a one-second delay in mobile load times can impact conversion rates by up to 20%. When a site is slow, users bounce back to the search results, signaling to search engines that your content might not be the best result for that query. By following a structured load time checklist, you can reduce bounce rates and improve the overall user experience (UX).

Using tools like our Page Size Checker alongside this checklist allows you to identify heavy assets that are dragging down your performance.

Key Areas of Website Optimization

Our checklist focuses on the four pillars of web performance:

  • Asset Optimization: Compressing images and minifying code to reduce the total number of bytes transferred.
  • Delivery Speed: Using CDNs and efficient server protocols (like HTTP/3) to deliver content faster.
  • Rendering Efficiency: Ensuring the browser can paint the page quickly by deferring non-essential scripts.
  • Caching Strategy: Storing static files locally so returning visitors experience near-instant load times.

How to Use This Page Speed Checklist

Start from the top. Image optimization is often the most significant win for most websites. Once you have compressed your media, move on to server-side improvements like browser caching. Finally, tackle the technical code optimizations like deferring JavaScript.

Don't forget to verify your technical SEO setup with our Meta Tag Generator to ensure that while your site is fast, it is also properly indexed and described for search engines.

Advanced Performance Tips

For those looking to go beyond the basics, consider implementing Resource Hints like rel="preload" for critical fonts or rel="preconnect" for third-party domains. Additionally, monitoring your Website Response Time (TTFB) can help you determine if your hosting provider is the bottleneck.

Page Speed FAQs

Ideally, your website should load in under 2 seconds. According to Google, the probability of bounce increases by 32% as page load time goes from 1 second to 3 seconds.

Core Web Vitals are a set of three specific factors Google uses to measure user experience: LCP (loading performance), FID (interactivity), and CLS (visual stability).

Yes, significantly. Your server's hardware, location, and configuration determine the Time to First Byte (TTFB). Shared hosting is often slower than VPS or Dedicated hosting.

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