Largest Contentful Paint
Usually the key banner, image or headline area. If that is slow, the visitor spends too long looking at an unfinished page.
Core Web Vitals audit
Core Web Vitals: understand speed, stability and responsiveness.
The free check assesses visible signals on your submitted homepage only. It does not crawl your site or test every device. The £99 automated full audit reviews sampled public pages; implementation is separate and optional. The free check does not measure Core Web Vitals or run a browser performance test.
Core Web Vitals can sound technical, but the underlying question is simple: does your website feel smooth and dependable when a real person uses it? GrowthCheck explains the key measures in small-business language and shows where poor performance is likely to chip away at trust or enquiries.
Website speed audit: useful first checks
Does website speed affect SEO?
Google uses Core Web Vitals in its ranking systems, but good scores do not guarantee high rankings. Speed also affects how easily visitors can use a page. Prioritise useful content and a working customer journey alongside performance.
What is the difference between lab and field data?
A lab test measures a controlled run and helps investigate a problem. Field data describes real users’ experience over time and may be unavailable for a small site. Missing field data is not a failure score. The free GrowthCheck homepage check does not measure Core Web Vitals.
What can I investigate first?
Use PageSpeed Insights on an important page, note whether results are lab or field data, and investigate large images, third-party scripts and shifting content. Set image dimensions, resize oversized uploads and retest the same page after each change. Do not lazy-load the main above-the-fold image.
Next: check your homepage free, read the search visibility guide or review your enquiry journey. The £99 full audit includes a private report and prioritised fixes.
Why this matters
Poor page experience does not just irritate people. It makes the business feel less solid.
Many site owners think “speed” just means shaving a second or two off load time. Core Web Vitals are more useful than that. They describe how a page behaves while someone is trying to use it. Does the important content appear quickly enough? Does the page react promptly when they press a button? Does the layout jump as images, banners or fonts finally load?
When those things go wrong, the visitor may never articulate the problem. They just trust the page a little less. For a small business, that can mean fewer calls, fewer quote requests and a weaker first impression than the service deserves.
A Core Web Vitals audit helps translate those technical signals into practical consequences.
What a performance review measures
The measures behind a site that feels calm, quick and usable.
Interaction to Next Paint
If menus, filters or booking buttons feel sticky when tapped, the page can feel broken even if it technically works.
Cumulative Layout Shift
Unexpected movement is especially frustrating on mobile when someone is trying to press the right thing quickly.
Common issues
What tends to drag Core Web Vitals down on business websites
Oversized images and banners
Large hero sections often slow the first useful view of the page more than owners realise.
Heavy scripts and widgets
Tracking layers, sliders, popups and embedded tools can make the page respond more slowly to real interactions.
Late-loading fonts or media
These can cause text and buttons to shift position just as someone tries to use them.
Design flourishes with a real cost
Animation and visual extras are not bad in themselves, but they should not get in the way of clarity and responsiveness.
What you get
Clear explanations of which performance issues matter and why.
GrowthCheck treats Core Web Vitals as part of a wider business problem, not an isolated technical contest. A score only matters if it helps explain a worse visitor experience, weaker trust or a shakier route to an enquiry.
That makes the audit useful for owners, developers and marketers alike. You get a better basis for deciding whether the site needs image optimisation, layout fixes, script cleanup or broader front-end work.
If your pages feel slower or clumsier than they should, this is a sensible place to start.
Related pages
Related checks
Next step
If the site feels slow, jumpy or oddly sticky, request a proper review.
Use the GrowthCheck free initial check to get a clearer view of the speed and responsiveness issues worth dealing with first.