No fluff. No vanity metrics. Just real numbers – and what they meant commercially for the business.
At Northern, we recently ran a live PageSpeed Insights audit on a North East client website we designed and developed.
Here were the results:
| Category | Score |
|---|---|
| Performance | 99 |
| Accessibility | 91 |
| Best Practices | 96 |
| SEO | 91 |
All above 90.
A Performance score of 99.
That places the site in the top fraction of a percent of websites tested.
But here’s the important part:
These aren’t bragging rights.
They translate directly into traffic, enquiries and revenue.
Let’s break it down in normal language.
What Those Numbers Actually Mean
Behind those headline scores sit something called Core Web Vitals – the measurements Google uses to judge real user experience.
Here’s what the site achieved:
| Metric | Result | What It Means |
|---|---|---|
| First Contentful Paint | 0.8 seconds | Visitors see content almost instantly |
| Largest Contentful Paint | 2.2 seconds | Main headline/image loads fast |
| Total Blocking Time | 0ms | Buttons respond instantly |
| Cumulative Layout Shift | 0 | Nothing jumps around on screen |
Let’s translate that.
When someone lands on the site:
- They don’t stare at a blank white screen
- They don’t wait for buttons to respond
- They don’t misclick because the page shifted
- They don’t feel friction
It feels smooth. Professional. Fast.
And that feeling matters more than most people realise.
The 3-Second Reality
Over half of mobile users leave a website if it takes longer than 3 seconds to load.
Every extra second reduces conversions.
This site loads in under a second for initial content.
That puts it in a completely different league compared to the average small business site, which often scores between 40–65 for performance.
Speed builds trust before a word is read.
And trust drives action.
What This Did for the Client (Real Commercial Impact)
Let’s talk outcomes.
Before the rebuild and optimisation:
- Slower load times
- Lower engagement
- Fewer enquiries
After launch and optimisation:
- Bounce rate dropped significantly
- Average session time increased
- Enquiry rate more than doubled
To put numbers to it:
With roughly 800 monthly visitors:
- Old site converting at around 1.5% = 12 leads per month
- New optimised site converting at ~3.5% = 28 leads per month
That’s 16 additional enquiries per month.
Nearly 200 additional enquiries per year.
Same traffic.
No extra ad spend.
The website itself became the growth engine.
Accessibility Score: 91 – Why This Matters More Than You Think
An accessibility score of 91 means the site works for almost everyone.
Clear contrast.
Proper labelling.
Logical structure.
In the UK, around 1 in 5 people live with a disability.
Most small business websites unintentionally exclude part of their market.
This one doesn’t.
That’s not just ethical.
It’s commercially smart.
It widens the potential audience and reduces friction for every user — not just those using assistive tools.
Best Practices: 96 – The Trust Signal
A 96 in Best Practices tells us:
- The site runs securely over HTTPS
- No mixed content
- No unsafe scripts
- Clean technical structure
To a visitor, that translates into something simple:
The padlock icon in the browser bar.
It signals safety.
And when users feel safe, they submit forms. They make purchases. They enquire.
Trust is invisible — but measurable in conversion rates.
SEO Score: 91 – The Visibility Multiplier
A 91 SEO score means Google can clearly:
- Crawl the site
- Understand the content
- Index pages correctly
- Rank them appropriately
That technical SEO foundation gives every piece of content a head start.
Performance feeds rankings.
Rankings bring traffic.
Traffic converts.
This is where performance and SEO stop being separate conversations – and start working together.
The Compounding Effect
Here’s what makes these results powerful.
It’s not just the 99.
It’s how all four scores work together:
- Fast site = better rankings
- Better rankings = more traffic
- Accessible, stable site = higher conversions
- Secure experience = more trust
This creates momentum.
Month after month, the performance advantage widens the gap between this client and slower competitors.
That’s the part most businesses underestimate.
Website performance compounds.
How We Achieved a 99 Performance Score
This wasn’t luck.
It was deliberate.
At Northern Digital, performance isn’t an afterthought – it’s built in from the start.
Here’s what went into it:
- Properly compressed, next-gen image formats
- Clean, lightweight code (no bloated frameworks)
- Zero unnecessary plugins
- Inline critical styling for instant above-the-fold loading
- No render-blocking resources
- Explicit image dimensions (so nothing shifts)
- Proper semantic structure for SEO and accessibility
Every technical decision ties back to business performance.
Because that’s the goal.
Not just pretty design.
Performance.
What Your Website Score Might Be Costing You
Most small business websites in the UK sit between:
- 40–65 Performance
- 60–75 SEO
- Even lower Accessibility
If that’s where yours sits, here’s what it likely means:
- Visitors leaving before reading your offer
- Missed search visibility
- Lower trust
- Lower conversion rates
The frustrating part?
Many of these issues are fixable.
And the return on fixing them is measurable.
The Bottom Line
A 99 Performance score isn’t just a technical win.
It’s:
- Faster rankings
- More engagement
- Higher conversions
- Better user experience
- Stronger commercial performance
When someone clicks your website and it loads instantly, feels smooth, and responds immediately — that’s not luck.
That’s optimisation.
And in competitive markets across the North East, that edge matters.
Want to See What Your Website Is Actually Doing?
At Northern, we offer a straightforward performance audit.
No jargon.
No scare tactics.
No hard sell.
We’ll show you:
- Your real PageSpeed scores
- Where you’re losing conversions
- What improvements would realistically deliver
- Whether a rebuild or optimisation makes sense
Because sometimes small changes make a big difference.
And sometimes a performance-first rebuild changes everything.
Either way, you’ll know exactly where you stand.
Get your FREE Website audit here – https://northerndigital.uk/audit/
