Page Speed & Core Web Vitals
How page load performance correlates with AI citation rates.
What We Test
AgentReady estimates Core Web Vitals for your pages: First Contentful Paint (FCP), Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), and Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS). We also estimate a mobile performance score. These metrics reflect how quickly your page loads and becomes interactive — factors that AI crawlers and search engines both consider.
Why It Matters
Fast-loading pages are more likely to be fully crawled and indexed by AI bots. When AI crawlers have limited time budgets, they prioritize pages that respond quickly. Studies show that pages with FCP under 0.4 seconds receive significantly more AI citations than slower pages. Additionally, Google's AI Overviews factor in page experience signals — Core Web Vitals are part of how Google decides which sources to include in AI-generated summaries.
How Scoring Works
Page Speed is 10% of your overall score — the smallest category, but still impactful. FCP scoring: under 0.4s earns +40, 0.4-1.0s earns +25, 1.0-2.0s earns +10. LCP scoring: under 2.5s earns +30, 2.5-4.0s earns +15. CLS scoring: under 0.1 earns +15, 0.1-0.25 earns +8. A mobile score above 80 adds +15.
How to Improve
Optimize images (use WebP/AVIF, lazy-load below-the-fold images), minimize JavaScript bundles, enable compression (gzip/Brotli), and use a CDN. For FCP, ensure your server responds quickly and critical CSS is inlined. For LCP, make sure your largest element (usually a hero image) loads fast. For CLS, set explicit width and height on images and avoid inserting content above the fold after load. These are standard web performance optimizations that benefit both users and AI crawlers.