Is Your Slow Website Costing You Customers? Speed Guide for Australian Businesses

Is Your Slow Website Costing You Customers?

A 1-second delay in page load time reduces conversions by 7% and increases bounce rate by 11%. If your Australian business website takes more than 3 seconds to load, you are losing customers to faster competitors every single day.

Last Updated: February 2026

The Numbers

• **53%** of mobile users leave if a page takes over 3 seconds to load
• **1 second delay** = 7% reduction in conversions
• **Google uses page speed** as a direct ranking factor
• The average Australian expects pages to load in **under 2 seconds**

How to Check Your Website Speed

1. Go to **pagespeed.web.dev**
2. Enter your website URL
3. Check both Mobile and Desktop scores
4. Target: **90+ on both**

Core Web Vitals Explained

Google measures three key metrics:

LCP (Largest Contentful Paint)

• **What:** How long until the main content appears
• **Target:** Under 2.5 seconds
• **Fix:** Optimise images, use CDN, reduce server response time

INP (Interaction to Next Paint)

• **What:** How quickly the page responds to clicks
• **Target:** Under 200 milliseconds
• **Fix:** Reduce JavaScript, defer non-critical scripts

CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift)

• **What:** How much the page content moves around while loading
• **Target:** Under 0.1
• **Fix:** Set image dimensions, avoid dynamic content injection

Common Speed Killers

1. **Unoptimised images** — Use WebP/AVIF format, compress to under 100KB
2. **Too many plugins** — WordPress sites with 20+ plugins are always slow
3. **Cheap hosting** — Shared hosting in the US adds 200-400ms latency for Australian users
4. **Large JavaScript bundles** — Heavy frameworks and animations block rendering
5. **No caching** — Every visit re-downloads everything
6. **Render-blocking CSS** — Large stylesheets delay first paint

Quick Fixes You Can Do Today

1. **Compress images** — Use tinypng.com or squoosh.app
2. **Enable caching** — Set cache headers on static assets
3. **Use Australian hosting** — Vercel Sydney edge, AWS Sydney, or local hosts
4. **Lazy load images** — Only load images when they scroll into view
5. **Remove unused plugins** — Every plugin adds load time

How CoreWebHub Builds Fast Websites

Our websites consistently score 90+ on Lighthouse because:

• **Next.js** — Static generation means instant page loads
• **Vercel Sydney edge** — Hosted on Australian servers
• **Image optimisation** — Automatic WebP/AVIF conversion
• **Minimal JavaScript** — No bloated frameworks
• **No plugins** — Custom code, no unnecessary dependencies

Speed is not optional — it is the foundation of everything else: SEO, user experience, and conversions.

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Is your website slow? Contact CoreWebHub for a free speed audit. Call 0432 405 388.