Covering the blind spot

Client challenge

Google introduced a new mobile page speed ranking factor called Core Web Vitals (CWV) in May 2021, setting 247 Blinds and Journey Further a deadline to improve the speed of the site.

Solution

The impact that CWV would have on 247 Blinds’ rankings meant that we needed to redevelop our site speed optimisation process to ensure our strategy was both more flexible and more actionable.

Websites are not static, so we decided our speed audits shouldn’t be either. Therefore we onboarded a new tool called Debugbear, as an ongoing method of auditing and optimising the speed of the 247 Blinds site.

As a result we have created a feedback loop between ourselves, the speed data and the development team where any spikes in performance are identified & resolved in a matter of days rather than the next time we audit the site.

Using this methodology we have identified the below fixes to improve the speed of the 247 Blinds site:

Implementation of HTTP2
Bundling and deferring of JS files
Critical resource load prioritisation
WebP imagery
Use of Woff font files
Layout shift fixes

Results

Largest & First Contentful Paint (LCP / FCP) improved by 1 second by June 2021
Proportion of site URLs receiving a good rating for CWV increased from under 20% to over 98%
28% uplift in the number of terms ranking in the top 3

Journey Further’s process and tools have drilled it into us that we have to consider site speed as part of any change to the site

GLENN PARKIN, ECOMMERCE MANAGER – 247 BLINDS