Seeking feedback on business website - why is my google page speed score so low, particularly on mobile?

Alaska Criminal Defense and DUI Defense Lawyers

I just completed a refresh of a website that I'd welcome feedback on. I've limited experience designing websites so please be honest and frank--I can handle criticisms and welcome any suggestions.  

Additionally, my Google Page Speed analysis is pretty poor (see below). Is there any way for me to clean this up and improve page speed? I understand that page speed/performance is part of Google search algorithm so would like to get it as good as I can. 

Thanks in advance!

Chuck

I'm having this same issue with many, if not all of my websites. Even my own.

https://www.sprintwebsites.com/

Has anyone solved this issue? Is this just Squarespace is a big CMS and it's the code behind the scenes? This doesn't seem to be a reducing image size issue.

Thanks!

Hi @JessicaM I love your suggestions!!!!! Would you do me the greatest kindness of looking at my site too: www.levitate.london ? I've just committed the cardinal error of changing all fonts from Adobe Typekit FuturaPT (it was BEAUTIFUL) to plain old HelveticaNeue in the quest for faster page speed according to Google Speed Test, but it barely made a difference and the site is ugiler than it was 2 days ago!

On 9/13/2023 at 11:36 AM, JessicaM said:

Hey @chuckEsleaze -

Here's a few observations -
- The pages are missing an H1 tag

- Some pages are missing meta descriptions

- Not all images have alt text (this could be effecting the accessibility component of your scan)

- All of the external links need to be set to open up a new tab

- Remove the dates on all of the quotes. They look outdated - especially the ones that go back to 2016. The words still ring true, so I would just take off the dates.

- You could fit the header links on one row if the logo was smaller and the words weren't so long in the navigation links.

- Some of the elements need more padding... like the testimonials at the bottom and the footer.
Home page:

- I would also do something different with the top image on the home page... instead of testimonials, that section should explain who they are and what they do. "Alaska's best defense attorneys" - or something. Also you'll probably need to put a box behind the text so that it can be read over the image. You can adjust the opacity of the box so that you still see the image.

- Add more padding on "We know criminal law" section

- On the home page, increase the width of the accordion blocks so that the text goes all the way from the left to right.

- Our Philosophy section - the highlight looks off... it should either only be behind the bottom half of the text, or be behind the whole text (top to bottom)..it just looks weird with a tiny sliver of the text not having a box behind it. I think it would look nice to add some icons to each of these sections too.

Let me know if you have questions about any of these 🙂

@JessicaM Thank you so much for taking the time and offering such great suggestions! I really appreciate it!

Hey @ryannell!

Here's my suggestions -

- Definitely swap the navigation so that it's at the top instead of the side. No one likes to read with their head tilted 90 degrees 🙂

- I would consider a different color palette. The two colors don't really compliment each other, nor are they very attractive colors! I know it's the same colors in your logo, but maybe it's time for a logo refresh too?

- Although I like this image of the mountains, I would probably swap it for something else that is more in line with what you do. Because at first glance, it looks like you are a mountain climbing company, lol. I think having images of people looking peaceful would go further because people who land on your site will see that image and think 'I want that'.

- I would also have a different tag in the header instead of "rising together since 2018". It's fine to include that line somewhere else, but the header is prime real estate to show people how you can solve their problem. The fact that you've been in business since 2018 won't compel them to click the "book now" button - but a sentence that explains how you solve their problem will.

- I would remove the moving buttons in the "I'm Searching For" section... to me, this falls into that "just because you can, doesn't mean you should" category 🙂

- On the section with the logos, I would probably make that whole section a white background and then have the logos on it (without the circles). I would spread them out into a couple of lines so that it isn't so cramped.

- Some of the text is a little hard to read against the background in the Reach New Heights section.

- One thing I'm seeing is that there are a lot of options. For example, the header gives them 3 options of buttons to click. The Reach New Heights section has 2 options of buttons to click. People get overwhelmed with options - so I would consider having one button for each section.

- The If You're Feeling Down section can be reworked... I wouldn't put a huge 4 paragraph section in the 2nd accordion. This info can go on a dedicated About page.

- I understand tying things to the word "Levitate"...the mountains, the moving buttons, the wording, etc... but what is that? I mean, unless people are literally levitating, I would use words to actually explain what your services do... more peaceful, less stress, more calm, clearer mind, etc. People will identify with those words more than they will "lift each other" or "rise together".

- Look at the spacing between the text and buttons in the How You Can Get Started section.... they aren't all even.

- I would consider using a different font and adding a second font so that you can have one for headings and one for paragraphs. I do love Futura like you previously had! If your page is loading slow, it's probably because of large images instead of fonts. Check out SEOSpace - I use them for my site and they are GREAT at improving SEO and load times (there's a free version that works just fine).

- There's a lot of accordion blocks on this page! I would trim that down a bit and find another design so that there is some variation in design.

- The plus signs in the footer that expand need to go! If you do need all of these links, then I would create the footer with them already expanded so that people an easily find what they need instead of having to click 4 different drop downs to find the info.

Let me know if you have questions about anything 🙂

Hi @JessicaM I wanted to say HUGE thanks for your thoughtful and generously long reply! I've just migrated to 7.1, so doing some clean ups across the site (it already looks better but some stuff has got worse), and will 100% factor in your suggestions.

VERTICAL NAVIGATION: Gone. Thanks, I totally agree. Think it was different for different's sake!

COLOUR: I love colours but I'm not a designer, and that maybe shows (as the logo and site design are by me)! I'd always thought blue (as close to the blue from Monet's icarus as I could get) and gold were a nice combination. They have however been hard to find additional colours to go with (hence the swathes of white/gold/blue). What would you suggest?

MOUNTAINS SHOULD BE PEOPLE: Such an amazing point. Thank you. Done!

TAGLINE SHOULD BE A CALL TO ACTION: You are right!

LOGOS: Will look at that. I think I agree they seem a bit dominent/cramped.

LOSE THE MOVING BUTTONS: Done!

ONE BUTTON FOR EACH SECTION: On it! I think I've achieved decision paralysis on which buttons to keep/chuck!

TOO MUCH IN ACCORDIONS: Makes good sense. Will add that to the list to move into either services or about page.

USE PLAIN ENGLISH:

On 9/20/2023 at 6:14 PM, JessicaM said:

- I understand tying things to the word "Levitate"...the mountains, the moving buttons, the wording, etc... but what is that? I mean, unless people are literally levitating, I would use words to actually explain what your services do... more peaceful, less stress, more calm, clearer mind, etc. People will identify with those words more than they will "lift each other" or "rise together".

This made me chuckle. Will stop levitating and address!

FUTURA: Is back! Wonder if I need a second font to contrast?

PLUS SIGNS IN FOOTER: You're right, it makes the footer awkward, will use smaller font / find another way.

Again I am so grateful! I owe you a huge thank you! Please feel free to hit me up for some time in the future!

Ryan x

@ryannell This is great!! So glad you found it useful and I love hearing about the changes you made!

As far as colors, I would either a) create a new logo and define your site's color palette based on the colors you choose for the logo or b) choose your colors based on the images you use on the site. If you need help picking colors that work well together, try searching "color palette" on Pinterest or play around with coolors.co. 🙂