Mobile traffic now dominates the web—and yet, many websites are still underperforming where it matters most: speed. A slow mobile experience leads to higher bounce rates, lower engagement, and ultimately missed opportunities. The good news? Some of the most impactful fixes are also the most straightforward.
Even if your site looks great, slow load times silently kill performance. Consider this:
- First Contentful Paint (FCP) above 3 seconds starts to lose visitors.
- Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) delays over 5 seconds reduce engagement.
- Mobile usage often represents over 80% of total traffic—and in many industries, it’s even higher.
- New users (often the majority) are less forgiving of slow load times.
If you’re seeing high bounce rates or low conversions, your mobile load time might be the reason.
1. Serve All Website Assets from a CDN
Many businesses already serve images from a CDN like CloudFront—but forget to include JavaScript, CSS, and other assets.
Why it matters:
Delivering everything from the CDN (not your main server) means faster load times, especially for mobile users across different regions.
✅ To take action: Ask your dev team to serve static files via CDN. If you need support, Solorio Designs can help with implementation.
2. Clean Up Google Tag Manager (GTM) and other JS/CSS files
Over time, GTM can accumulate old tags and scripts—especially if multiple teams or agencies have made changes. These can block the browser’s main thread and delay page rendering.
Common issue: GTM blocking the main thread by hundreds of milliseconds.
✅ To take action: Audit and remove unused tags. You can work with your marketing and dev teams.
3. Use .webp for Image Compression
Modern image formats like .webp offer significantly better compression than JPEG or PNG—without noticeable quality loss. This can reduce image load times by up to 30–50%.
✅ To take action: Convert existing images to
.webpand set up your CMS or build pipeline to default to this format going forward.
The Results You Can Expect
By focusing on these three areas, websites often see:
- Improved PageSpeed Insights scores (especially on mobile)
- Lower bounce rates
- Higher time on site
- Better Google Ads Quality Scores (leading to lower CPCs)
- A foundation for better conversion tracking and ROI analysis
Improving your mobile website speed doesn’t require a full rebuild—it starts with a few smart optimizations. Whether you’re working with an internal dev team or need outside support, these fixes are some of the most cost-effective ways to improve performance.
💡 At Solorio Designs, we specialize in helping businesses optimize their website performance and analytics. If you’d like help auditing your current setup or implementing these changes, get in touch and we’d be happy to help.
How to Measure Success: Key Metrics to Watch
Once you’ve implemented these performance improvements, the next step is to measure their impact. Here are the most valuable Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) you can track using Google Analytics 4 (GA4) and PageSpeed Insights:
⚙️ Technical Performance Metrics
- First Contentful Paint (FCP) – Use PageSpeed Insights to monitor the time it takes for the first visual element to appear.
- Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) – Tracks how long it takes for the main content to load. A key factor in Core Web Vitals.
- Core Web Vitals Status – In Google Search Console, under the Experience tab.
📈 Behavioral Metrics in GA4
- Bounce Rate (via Explore) Are fewer users leaving after viewing just one page?
- Engaged Sessions & Avg. Engagement Time
- Indicates improved user experience and interest.
- Pageviews per Session
- Are users exploring more pages now?
- Conversion Rate (CR)
- For lead form submissions, signups, purchases, etc. You can set these as custom events in GA4.
- Scroll Depth (Custom Event via GTM)
- To understand how far users read through content.
- Returning Users
- Indicates improved brand affinity and retention.
- Time to First Interaction (indirect via engagement data or custom event)
- Are users interacting with elements (like menu clicks or form fields) faster?
Bounce Rate (via Explore) = Are fewer users leaving after viewing just one page?
Engaged Sessions & Avg. Engagement Time = Indicates improved user experience and interest
Pageviews per Session = Are users exploring more pages now?
Conversion Rate (CR) = For lead form submissions, signups, purchases, etc. You can set these as custom events in GA4.
Scroll Depth = (Custom Event via GTM & Heatmaps) To understand how far users read through content.
Returning Users = Indicates improved brand affinity and retention.
Time to First Interaction = indirect via engagement data or custom event) Are users interacting with elements (like menu clicks or form fields) faster?
Landing Page Experience = Check in Google Ads for any improvement in Quality Score due to better performance. Faster pages often result in lower cost-per-click (CPC) and higher ad relevance.
Make sure to capture baseline data before optimization, then compare it 30, 60, and 90 days after the improvements. This will give you solid, actionable insights into what’s working—and whether further optimizations are needed.
Not sure how to set this up in GA4?
Solorio Designs can help you audit your setup, configure conversion events, and build reports that actually show your ROI. Contact us to get started.