Let's talk about the elephant in the room: Google PageSpeed scores. More specifically, why you shouldn't lose sleep over them.

The Problem with PageSpeed Obsession

We've all seen it. Someone runs their beautiful, functional website through Google PageSpeed Insights and gets a 47 on mobile. Panic ensues. "My site is slow! Google hates me! I'm going to lose all my rankings!"

Deep breath. Your site is probably fine.

The Dirty Little Secret About PageSpeed Tests

Google's mobile PageSpeed tests simulate a connection speed of 1.6 Mbps. Let that sink in for a second. That's basically 3G HSPA—the kind of connection that was common around 2010 and phased out shortly after.

Most of your actual visitors are on 4G+ networks with real-world speeds of 45-90 Mbps, or 5G networks pushing 150-200 Mbps. That's 30 to 100 times faster than what Google is testing against.

When was the last time you were on a 3G connection? Probably not this decade. And if you were, everything loaded slowly—not just your site.

Build for People, Not for Google's Lab

Here's our philosophy: Your website should be fast for real humans using real internet connections. Period.

If optimizing for Google's artificial 1.6 Mbps test means:

  • Removing that hero video that tells your story perfectly

  • Compressing images until they look like garbage

  • Ditching custom fonts that match your brand

  • Eliminating features your users actually need

Then you're optimizing for the wrong thing.

What "Fast Enough" Actually Means

A website that loads in 2-3 seconds on a real connection is fast. A website that's responsive, doesn't feel sluggish, and doesn't make users wait around—that's what matters.

Google's PageSpeed tool will eventually build up real-world data from actual visitors to your site. And guess what? Those real-world scores are usually way better than the artificial lab tests because, shocker, real people aren't browsing on decade-old network technology.

Our Approach: Balanced Optimization

We optimize WordPress sites for actual performance:

We do:

  • Proper image compression (without making them look terrible)

  • Smart caching strategies

  • Clean, efficient code

  • Lazy loading where it makes sense

  • CDN setup when beneficial

  • Database optimization

  • Removing actual bloat and unused resources

We don't:

  • Strip out every visual element to chase a score

  • Remove features you need because Google's test doesn't like them

  • Make your site ugly for the sake of arbitrary metrics

  • Optimize for 2010 internet speeds

When PageSpeed Scores Actually Matter

Look, we're not saying ignore performance entirely. There's a difference between a site that loads in 2-3 seconds and one that takes 15. If your site is genuinely slow on modern connections, that's a real problem worth fixing.

But if you're scoring a 55 on mobile PageSpeed while your site feels snappy to actual users? That's not a crisis. That's Google's test being absurd.

The Bottom Line

Your website exists to serve your audience and your business goals—not to make Google's artificial test happy. We'll make your site fast for the people who actually use it, even if that means your PageSpeed score isn't a perfect 100.

Fast for real people > perfect for Google's lab test.

Want us to optimize your site for actual humans? Let's talk about what performance means in the real world, not in Google's time machine to 2010.