Q: 'We cut product page load time in half. Did rankings actually improve?'

Q: 'We cut product page load time in half. Did rankings actually improve?'

Short answer: Modestly on rankings, sharply on conversions — and the second number paid for it.

The longer version: A cosmetics retailer had mobile product pages at ~5.8s LCP, failing Core Web Vitals. They lazy-loaded below-fold images, deferred third-party scripts, and served WebP — getting LCP to 2.3s. SEO impact over three months: average position improved about 1.4 places on mobile, modest but real, and a few competitive terms crossed onto page one. The bigger story: mobile conversion rate rose from 1.1% to 1.6%, and bounce on product pages dropped 19%. Same traffic, far more revenue. Google's speed boost is small; the user-behavior boost is not.

Rule of thumb: Chase speed for conversions first, rankings second. A 1-position SEO bump is nice; a 45% conversion lift is the win.

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