Growth: speed and Core Web Vitals
Fast on the phones your customers use.
When pages crawl on mobile data, people leave before they see what you sell. We record where you start, fix the biggest causes one group at a time and show you the difference, measured the same way.
We review your setup and confirm the scope and next steps in writing before work starts.
Check first
Signs your site is too slow
Seeing two or more of these? A speed audit shows which causes matter most on your site, and in what order to fix them.
Core Web Vitals, in plain words. They’re Google’s measures of how a page feels to a real visitor:
LCP
How fast the main content appears.
INP
How quickly the page responds to a tap.
CLS
Whether things jump around while it loads.
Search Console flags your pages. Google’s free tool for site owners lists them as “Poor” or “Needs improvement”.
People leave before it loads. Visits that last a few seconds and go no further than the first page.
Checkout feels sluggish. Buttons lag after a tap, or the payment step hangs.
The page jumps as it loads. You go to tap a button and an image pushes it out of the way.
Fine on office Wi-Fi, slow on a phone. Customers on mobile data say it takes ages.
Photos arrive last. Blank boxes, or images that draw in slowly from the top.
Plugins and apps piled up over time. Each one can add its own code to every page.
The admin area crawls too. Saving a product or page takes longer than it should, a hint the server is slow.
Before we start
Before we touch anything
A speed fix is only worth something if you can see what it changed. So we write down where you start, and what a good result means for your business.
Site not stable yet? If backups, updates or security need work first, we’ll say so on the call and point you to Rescue.
We record a baseline.
Field data, which is how the site performed for real visitors over the last 28 days, plus lab tests of your key pages that we can repeat later under the same conditions.
We note what counts as a conversion.
A paid order, a booking or an enquiry, agreed with you and written down. Then speed sits beside sales in the report, not just beside a score.
You keep making sales during the work.
Where we can, we try changes on a staging copy (a private copy of your site) first. Live changes go in one group at a time, outside your busy hours, with a backup taken before each one.
Every change can be undone.
If something looks or works differently afterwards, we roll that change back and tell you why.
Service options
Find it, fix it, or fix it and keep it fast
The audit tells you what’s slowing you down. The fix plans make the changes and prove them against your baseline.
01
Speed audit
Find out what’s slowing your site down, ranked by effect, before you spend more.
- Baseline from field data and lab tests
- Key pages tested on a mid-range phone on mobile data
- Core Web Vitals explained, page by page
- Causes ranked: images, scripts, hosting, theme
- A written fix plan any developer can follow
- Not included: making the changes
02
Recommended
Speed fix
We make the fixes, test them on a real phone and compare against your baseline.
- Everything in Speed audit, plus:
- Images resized, compressed and loaded only when needed
- Scripts and plugins trimmed or delayed, with your agreement
- Caching and hosting settings tuned
- Layout shifts fixed, so pages stop jumping
- Checkout, forms and key plugins re-tested
- Before-and-after report: same pages, same measure
03
Speed fix and monitoring
The fix, then we watch the numbers so new plugins or content don’t undo it.
- Everything in Speed fix, plus:
- Core Web Vitals checked each month in Search Console
- Key pages re-tested after updates and new plugins
- We tell you when a page slips, and the likely cause
- Advice before you add a new plugin or app
- A short monthly written report against the baseline
We review your setup and confirm the scope and next steps in writing before work starts.
Logos belong to their owners. Listing a tool doesn’t mean a partnership.
How it works
How a speed fix works
Six steps, in this order. One group of changes at a time, so you can see what each one did.
The Speed audit covers steps 01, 02 and 06. Steps marked Fix plans come with Speed fix, and with Speed fix and monitoring.
01
We measure with field and lab data.
Field data is what real visitors experienced over the last 28 days, as Google reports it. Lab data is a controlled test we can repeat exactly. We record both before changing anything.
02
We find the biggest causes.
Usually some mix of oversized images, scripts added by plugins and apps, a slow server, or a heavy theme. We rank them by how much they hold back your key pages.
03
We fix one group at a time.Fix plans
Images, then scripts, then caching, for example. Each group is backed up, changed and checked before the next, so we know what each change did and can undo it.
04
We test on a real mid-range phone.Fix plans
Not just a fast laptop on office Wi-Fi. We load your pages on a mid-range Android phone over mobile data, and place a test order or send a test form.
05
We compare against the baseline.Fix plans
Same pages, same measure, same conditions. Lab tests show the difference straight away; field data catches up as Google collects about 28 days of new visits.
06
We report back in writing.
What we found, what we changed, what moved and what didn’t, and what we’d do next. With the audit, the report is your ranked fix plan.
BearStackSpeed and Core Web Vitals
Fast for your customers.
Find what slows your website and give customers a faster route to checkout.
Access
What we need from you
Once you’ve agreed the fee, we’ll ask for these. Nothing more.
Never send passwords by email, text or WhatsApp.Add us as a user in Google’s tools where you can. For logins, we send a one-time secure link that expires once it’s opened.
An admin login for your site or store.A separate admin account for us, which you delete when we’re done.
User access to Search Console and Analytics.So we can read your field data and your sales or enquiries. If you don’t have them, we’ll help you set them up in your name.
Hosting access, only if needed.Your hosting control panel or SFTP (a secure way to reach the site’s files), if the fix needs server changes. We’ll tell you first.
What counts as a sale, and your busy hours.Which pages matter most, what a conversion is for you, and when not to make changes.
The plugins and apps you can’t lose.Booking, delivery, payments or anything else the business relies on, so we re-test them after every change.
Proof, not promises
What you get in writing
A plain-language report you can keep, forward to your developer, or set beside next month’s.
The Speed audit report covers the baseline, the ranked causes and the fix plan. The before-and-after comparison comes with the fix plans.
In every speed report
01 Baseline
Where you started: field data from the last 28 days and lab tests of your key pages, before any change.
02 Conversion
What counts as a sale or lead, as agreed with you, and how it’s tracked.
03 Causes
What was slowing each page down, ranked by effect, in plain words.
04 What changed
Every change, group by group, when it went live and how to undo it.
05 Before and after
Same pages, same measure, same phone and connection. Lab results now, and field data once Google’s 28-day window has caught up.
06 Checks and next
Checkout, forms and key plugins tested, and what we’d fix next, in priority order.
Related Growth services
Google Ads and tracking
Once pages load quickly, see which ads and pages bring the sales. Tracking set up in GA4 (Google Analytics) and Tag Manager, tested with real test orders.
See Google Ads and tracking
Stores with M-Pesa and card
A quick checkout is only half of it. Let customers pay the way they already do, with a test order through each payment method before it goes live.
See stores with M-Pesa and card
Let’s talk about your website
Let’s find what’s slowing you down.
Send the pages that feel slow and the steps customers give up on. Tell us what you would like them to do instead.
- 01 Share your website
- 02 Tell us your goal
- 03 Agree the next step
FAQ
Speed questions, answered
Something not covered here? Ask it in the form and we'll answer it on the call.
Will my site look different?
No, not unless you ask. Most speed work happens behind the scenes: lighter image files, fewer scripts, better caching. Sometimes one heavy element, such as an autoplay video or a big slider, is the main cause. Then we show you what it costs in speed, and you decide whether it stays.
Can you promise a score of 100?
No, and the score isn’t the goal. A Lighthouse or PageSpeed score is a lab test that varies from run to run, and a high score can sit beside a slow experience for real visitors. We aim for pages that feel fast on your customers’ phones, and report the Core Web Vitals Google collects from real visits.
Does my hosting matter?
Yes. If the server is slow to answer, nothing on the page can make up for it. The audit tells you whether hosting is one of the main causes. If it is, we explain your options, from changing settings with your current host to a like-for-like move to a new host, which starts at .
Will it break my plugins?
We work so that it doesn’t. Each group of changes is backed up, made on its own and checked against the plugins you’ve told us matter, such as booking, delivery or payments. If a change upsets one of them, we roll it back and find another way, or leave it and tell you why.
How long until Google notices?
Lab tests show the difference as soon as a change is live. Google’s field data is a rolling picture of real visits over about 28 days, so Search Console updates gradually as new visits replace old ones. Sites with few visitors may not have enough field data for Google to report at all. Our report says which numbers are which.
Do I need a new theme?
Usually not. Most slow sites can be made faster on the theme they already have. If the theme or page builder turns out to be the main cause and can’t be fixed in place, the audit says so plainly and sets out the options before you spend anything more.
Do you work on Shopify?
Yes, as well as WordPress and WooCommerce. Shopify runs the hosting itself, so there we work on what you control: the theme, apps, images and scripts. Some limits are set by Shopify, and we tell you which ones on the call.
Do you test on mobile data?
We check key pages on a mid-range phone and slower connections. Where field data is available, it helps us understand the experience of real visitors.
What happens when ongoing work ends?
Your accounts, data and written reports stay with you. We agree the terms for ongoing work before it starts and document the handover when it ends.