When we rebuilt the Glimpse website, we set ourselves one measure of success: Google's own Lighthouse score. Not because the number itself matters, but because of what it measures, the same signals Google uses to decide where you rank.
Speed is a ranking factor. Officially.
Core Web Vitals have been part of Google's ranking algorithm for years now. A site that loads in under two seconds doesn't just convert better, it literally outranks a slower competitor with identical content. Performance is the rare SEO tactic that also improves the product.
Performance isn't an extra layer added at launch. It is part of the experience from the first line of code.
What actually moves the needle
In our builds, the biggest wins consistently come from a handful of habits:
- Ship less JavaScript. Every framework you skip is a head start.
- Serve the right image. Deliver images at the size they're displayed, in modern formats.
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Load fonts intelligently.
Use
display=swapso text never blocks rendering. - Use the CDN properly. Cache aggressively and invalidate precisely.
Not just on launch day, but every day after.
Performance is a habit, not a launch task
The Glimpse site didn't hit its scores on launch day. It got there through countless improvements over months, the same way we maintain Modon, Genesis and every long-term client. Audit, fix, measure, repeat.
If your site hasn't had a Lighthouse audit in the last year, that's the first conversation we should have.
