Everybody talks about Lighthouse scores, but almost nobody actually has a high one.
Across the sites we have audited at Axion Deep Digital, the average score is 44 out of 100. Not a typo. And these are not abandoned websites. These are real businesses actively spending on ads, running campaigns, and trying to grow.
The problem is that most people treat performance like a nice to have. It is not. Google uses Core Web Vitals as a ranking signal, and users feel performance immediately. A slow site does not just rank lower, it converts worse. You end up paying for traffic that leaves before it even engages.
We rebuilt our own site with one clear goal. Reach a 98 plus Lighthouse score across all categories on mobile, under real world conditions. Not on a fast laptop, but on a throttled connection the way Google actually tests it.
Here is what that actually required.
The biggest shift starts with how your site is built. Your framework sets your ceiling. If your stack is heavy or overly dynamic, you are working against yourself from the beginning. We use static generation so pages are pre rendered and delivered instantly. That removes a huge amount of overhead before optimization even begins.
From there, images are almost always the largest issue. On most sites, they make up the majority of page weight. It is common to see oversized, uncompressed assets that slow everything down. We convert everything to modern formats, resize images to their actual display size, and lazy load anything below the fold. Small changes here can dramatically reduce load time.
Fonts are another silent performance killer. Many sites load fonts from external providers with multiple round trips before text even appears. We self host, reduce font sizes, and ensure text renders immediately. That alone can shave seconds off perceived load time.
JavaScript is where things really add up. Every piece of it has to be downloaded, parsed, and executed. Most sites are carrying far more than they need. We aggressively remove unused code, split what remains, and defer anything that is not critical. The result is a much lighter, faster experience.
CSS also plays a role in how quickly a page becomes visible. Instead of forcing the browser to wait for a full stylesheet, we inline only what is needed for the initial view and load the rest afterward. That allows the page to render immediately.
All of this feeds into the metrics that actually matter. Core Web Vitals are not abstract scores. They directly measure how fast your content appears, how stable the layout is, and how responsive the page feels. Getting those right requires coordination across everything above.
Even with a well built frontend, server configuration still matters. Compression, caching, and proper headers all contribute to how efficiently your site is delivered. Many sites overlook this completely.
Accessibility is another area that is often ignored, even though it overlaps heavily with both usability and SEO. Simple things like proper headings, alt text, and labeled inputs make a measurable difference.
When you put it all together, the work is not about chasing a score. It is about building a site that loads quickly, behaves predictably, and works for real users in real conditions.
That is also why most testing is misleading. If you are checking your site on fast WiFi on a new device, you are not seeing what your customers see. The real test is a slower device on a weaker connection.
We built DeepAudit AI to evaluate sites the way Google does. It runs your site in a real browser and analyzes what actually renders, not just the source code.
It is free, takes about a minute, and gives you a clear picture of what is holding your site back.
If you want to see where your site really stands, you can run it here
axiondeepdigital.com/free-seo-audit
Top comments (1)
Full breakdown of what it actually takes to hit a 98 Lighthouse score.
Images, fonts, JavaScript, CSS, server configuration, Core Web Vitals, accessibility. No theory, just what we did and what we measured.
If you want to check your own score, run a free audit:
axiondeepdigital.com/free-seo-audit