Performance myths and quick fixes

You can improve a performance score without improving real experience. I focus on real user metrics, page weight, request count, and reliability on mobile connections.

Common myths

• “A score of 100 means the site is fast.”
  Lighthouse is useful, but it is a lab test and it cannot represent every device, network, or user journey [2]Source 2 .
• “A plugin will fix performance.”
  The biggest wins nearly always come from reducing payload, cutting third party scripts, and fixing render blocking assets.
• “Core Web Vitals are only for SEO.”
  They are user experience signals. Google defines and documents them as real world performance metrics [1]Source 1 .

What works instead

• Measure lab and field. Use Lighthouse plus real user data from CrUX where available [3]Source 3 .
• Set budgets. Page weight, request count, and third party limits.
• Fix the big offenders first. Images, fonts, scripts, and render blocking CSS.
• Re-test and document changes. Before and after, with the same test conditions.