Published 22 July 2026 — 6 min read
The three numbers
Largest Contentful Paint measures how long the main thing on screen takes to appear — aim for under 2.5 seconds. Interaction to Next Paint measures how quickly the page responds when someone taps — aim for under 200 milliseconds. Cumulative Layout Shift measures how much the page jumps about while loading — aim for under 0.1.
The fixes that actually move them
In our experience most small business sites are fixed by the same short list, applied properly rather than partially.
- Serve modern image formats at the size they are displayed, and give every image explicit width and height.
- Render the page on the server so the first view does not wait on JavaScript.
- Load fonts with a fallback that does not shift the layout when the real font arrives.
- Defer anything below the fold — chat widgets, maps, video embeds and tracking scripts especially.
- Delete the third-party scripts nobody looks at. This is usually the biggest single win.
Measure on a real phone, on real data
Lab scores on a desktop connection flatter every website. Test on a mid-range Android over mobile data, and keep an eye on field data over time rather than chasing a single Lighthouse number.
Next step
We build, rebuild and look after websites for businesses across the UK.