When a pipe bursts, nobody waits for a slow website. They hit back and call the next company. Speed matters most on phones, and that's where most home-service searches happen.
#Test your site for free
Go to pagespeed.web.dev, paste your homepage address, and run the test. Then do the same for your most important service page. Look at the mobile results first.
#What the numbers mean
Google measures three things it calls Core Web Vitals:
- Largest Contentful Paint (LCP): how long the main content takes to show. Google's "good" mark is 2.5 seconds or less.
- Interaction to Next Paint (INP): how fast the page reacts when someone taps. "Good" is 200 milliseconds or less.
- Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS): how much the page jumps around while loading. "Good" is 0.1 or less.
You don't need a perfect 100. You need a site that loads fast and doesn't jump.
#The usual problems on contractor sites
- Huge photos. A 5 MB job photo straight from a phone. Resize and compress images before uploading.
- Too many plugins on WordPress, each adding its own code.
- Sliders and auto-playing videos at the top of the page.
- Chat widgets, pop-ups and tracking scripts that all load at once.
- Cheap or overloaded hosting.
#Quick wins
- Compress every image, and use modern formats like WebP.
- Remove plugins and scripts you don't use.
- Replace the homepage slider with one strong photo and a clear call button.
- Make sure the phone number is a tap-to-call link at the top.
#Speed isn't everything
A fast site with thin content still won't rank. Speed removes a reason to leave. Clear service pages, reviews and a strong Google profile are what bring people in.
Speed checks are part of the website work in every local SEO plan. Want a technical look? See our all services page for a technical SEO audit.