Speed Matters: How We Consistently Score 90+ on Google Lighthouse for WordPress Sites

When someone lands on your website, you have just a few seconds to make an impression. If the page loads slowly, they bounce, and you’ve just lost a potential customer.

That’s why website speed matters. It affects your SEO rankings, conversion rates, and how people perceive your brand. At Vertical, we’ve helped dozens of companies build lightning-fast WordPress websites that consistently score 90+ on Google Lighthouse , even on mobile.

In this post, we’ll explain why speed is so important, what Google Lighthouse is, and the key techniques we use to achieve top scores (in plain English).

Why Website Speed Is a Big Deal

Here’s what happens when your website is slow:

• Google ranks you lower (site speed is a ranking factor)
• Visitors leave before the page even loads
• Conversions drop significantly
• Your brand looks outdated or unreliable

But a fast website means:

• Better SEO
• Higher conversion rates
• Smoother user experience
• Lower bounce rates

What Is Google Lighthouse?

Google Lighthouse is a free tool from Google that audits your site’s performance, accessibility, SEO, and more. It gives you a score out of 100, and most WordPress sites score poorly on mobile.

The main categories Lighthouse evaluates:

• Performance: Page load speed and usability
• Accessibility: How usable your site is for everyone
• SEO: Search engine optimization health
• Best Practices: Security and coding standards

At Vertical, we focus most on the Performance score, because that’s where most WordPress sites fall short.

How We Build WordPress Sites That Score 90+

Here’s our speed-focused process, explained in clear, non-technical terms:

1. We Only Use What You Need

Many WordPress themes come loaded with features you don’t use. We build custom WordPress themes tailored to your exact content and brand needs, no bloat, no slowdowns.

2. We Optimize Images the Smart Way

Images are resized, compressed, and delivered in modern formats like WebP. This keeps your visuals sharp, without hurting load time.

3. We Defer Scripts That Slow You Down

Non-essential tools (like chat widgets or tracking scripts) are delayed so your main content loads first.

4. We Use the Right Hosting & Caching

We recommend premium WordPress hosting like Kinsta or WP Engine. Tools like WP Rocket help serve cached pages instantly.

5. We Minify and Combine Code

We reduce unnecessary code, combine files where needed, and deliver clean HTML/CSS/JS for faster rendering , especially on mobile.

6. We Design with Speed in Mind

Every layout we build is mobile-first, accessible, and performance-tested from day one. Speed isn’t something we “fix” later , we bake it in.

Real-World Results

Our clients regularly see:

• Page load times under 2 seconds
• Google Lighthouse scores of 90–100
• Improved Core Web Vitals

“Our bounce rate dropped by 30% after Vertical rebuilt our site, and the SEO boost was real.”
, A happy client

Need to Speed Up Your Site?

If your WordPress site:

• Loads slowly on mobile
• Relies on an outdated theme
• Is hurting your marketing results

Then it’s time to improve performance. Whether it’s a full rebuild or just targeted optimization, get in touch with us, we can help.