Google Page Experience and Core Web Vitals Audit: A Case Study
Hey everyone, I just finished auditing the website 3sidedcube.com as an exercise, and I wanted to share my findings to spark a discussion on page experience and Core Web Vitals.
Executive Summary
The website performs exceptionally well, with a Core Web Vitals Assessment of “Passed” for real users. The overall Performance score is 90, Accessibility is 90, and SEO is 92. This site is a great example of a strong technical foundation, but there are still opportunities for optimization.
Core Web Vitals
Largest Contentful Paint (LCP): 1.0 s – This score is excellent and well within the recommended range.
Interaction to Next Paint (INP): 78 ms – A fantastic score, indicating a highly responsive page.
Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS): 0 – A perfect score, showing no unexpected layout shifts, which is great for user experience.
Key Discussion Points
Image Optimization: The LCP element is a large image. The audit showed a potential 104 KiB in savings by optimizing compression and using responsive images. How do you handle image optimization for hero sections and other large above-the-fold images?
JavaScript Bloat: The report identified 258 KiB of unused JavaScript. What are your go-to strategies for auditing and reducing unused code? Are there any tools you recommend besides PageSpeed Insights?
Core Web Vitals vs. Overall Performance Score: While the Core Web Vitals are all in the green, the overall Performance score is 90. What are the common culprits that cause this discrepancy? In this case, the audit noted render-blocking resources and long main-thread tasks.
Accessibility: The audit found accessibility issues with low-contrast text, links without discernible names, and heading order problems. In your experience, how often do you find that a good performance score doesn’t necessarily mean a site is fully accessible? What are your most common accessibility audit findings?
I’m looking forward to hearing your thoughts and learning from your experiences!
