If you’ve ever run your website through Google PageSpeed Insights and found yourself spiraling into a pit of red errors and conflicting advice, congratulations—you’re just like the rest of us.
Let’s be real: PageSpeed Insights is like that overly honest friend who points out a wrinkle in your shirt and then recommends you change your entire outfit. It’s not wrong… but it’s also not always helpful.
First: What Google PageSpeed Is
Google PageSpeed Insights is a performance analysis tool that tells you how fast your website loads on both mobile and desktop. It gives you a shiny little score out of 100, which, let’s face it, is basically the SAT for websites—stressful, often misleading, and sometimes based on things you can’t change.
The tool runs audits using Lighthouse, Google’s own performance engine, and checks things like:
- Time to First Byte (TTFB)
- Largest Contentful Paint (LCP)
- Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS)
- And a laundry list of code-related recommendations
Sounds helpful, right? Well… mostly.
Not All Warnings Are Created Equal
Here’s the kicker: some of the things PageSpeed flags are completely out of your control. In fact, we’ve seen it call out Google’s own tools—like Google Analytics or Tag Manager—as performance issues.
You read that right: Google complains about Google.
So before you fire your dev team or rip apart your plugins, know this:
| 🛑 You Can’t Always Fix | ✅ You Should Fix |
| Google Analytics scripts | Uncompressed images |
| Core website assets | Lazy loading missing |
| Third-party embed code | Render-blocking CSS/JS you added |
| Fonts hosted externally | Unused plugins/themes |
If it’s hard-coded by a plugin, theme, or necessary third-party integration, chances are it’s not worth obsessing over. Your goal is real-world speed, not hypothetical perfection.
The Easy Wins That Do Matter
Here’s where we shift from doomscrolling red flags to taking smart action. These are the things PageSpeed flags that are actually worth your time:
✅ Image Optimization
Compress large images and use WebP where you can. No one needs a 5MB hero banner.
✅ Reduce Unused Plugins
You don’t need five different slider plugins. If you’re not using it, lose it.
✅ Enable Browser Caching
Make it easier for repeat visitors to load your site quickly.
But Don’t Stop There…
PageSpeed is a decent starting point, but it’s not the whole picture. We also use WebPageTest.org because it shows you things like:
- Your load waterfall (fancy way of saying what loads, when, and how much it slows things down)
- Time to Interactive (TTI)
- What’s really bloating your site
Sometimes, it’s not one big issue—it’s a hundred little ones throwing a party and not cleaning up after themselves.
Final Word: Fix What Matters, Ignore the Noise
If your PageSpeed score is making you question all your life choices, take a breath. Scores are helpful—but context is better.
Focus on:
- Making your site usable and fast for real humans
- Prioritizing issues that actually affect user experience
- Ignoring the stuff no one on Earth can control (looking at you, Google Fonts)
And if you want help figuring out what to fix first?
📬 We’re just a message away. Let’s take the guesswork out of speed and get your site humming like it should.