Does speed really affect Google rankings?
Yes. Core Web Vitals have been a ranking signal since 2021. The biggest SEO win is escaping the “Poor” zone (score under 50), where Google can hold pages back in favour of faster competitors. Faster pages also reduce bounce and lift conversions.
Is this allowed, or does it break search-engine rules?
Yes, it’s fully above board. Delivering the same content in a faster, lighter form is exactly what Google and other search engines want. Page speed is a ranking signal they reward. Nothing is cloaked or hidden: visitors and crawlers get the same page, just quicker.
How do you measure the before / after?
We run each version of your page — the original and the WebSpeed-optimized one — 2–3 times on mobile and desktop with Google PageSpeed Insights or Lighthouse, and take the median rather than a single run, so random spikes don’t skew the result. These are lab scores; see our disclaimer for the full method.
How is this different from a WordPress caching plugin?
A caching plugin stores and re-serves your existing pages, and it lives inside your CMS (WordPress and others), so it can only touch what the platform exposes. WebSpeed works on the whole delivered page (lighter markup, deferred scripts, lazy media, modern images) on any platform, with nothing to install. The two can even stack.
Will it break my site or change how it looks?
It shouldn’t. We don’t change your source code or your design: we sit between your visitors and your site and optimize each page as it’s delivered, so the original is never modified. Every site is different, though, so after you connect, check what your business relies on, such as checkout, forms and sign-in. If anything behaves differently, tell us and we switch your site to unoptimized delivery straight away while we fix it.
What happens if WebSpeed has a problem?
Your site is delivered through our servers, so a problem on our side affects it, and we’d rather say that up front. If the problem is in the optimization, we switch your site to unoptimized delivery: visitors get your original pages straight from your server, and you don’t need to do anything. If our server itself can’t be reached, neither can your site, until we restore it or you point your domain back to your own server. That’s why we ask you to keep your hosting running and your DNS settings at hand. Fast and Growth don’t include an uptime guarantee; the details are in our Terms.
Do I need a developer?
It depends on how you connect. The proxy route needs no code changes, just a DNS update to route your site through us. The optional on-site SDK does need a developer to add it. Which route you take is up to you.
What if my site changes often?
That’s fine. We optimize every page on the fly, from your current content, each time it’s requested, so when you edit or publish, visitors get the updated page, already optimized. There’s nothing to re-build or re-sync on your end.
Do I keep getting new optimizations?
Yes. You’re always on the latest pipeline. Every new speed algorithm and improvement we ship is applied to your site automatically, at no extra cost.
Is there a free trial, and am I tied in afterwards?
Fast and Growth start with a 14-day free trial, so you can see the numbers on your own site before paying anything. After the trial, Fast is billed yearly, and Growth runs for a minimum of 6 months. You decide at the end of the trial — if you’d rather not continue, optimization stops and we keep serving your site unchanged for 7 more days, so it stays online while you point your domain back to your own server. Custom has no trial, since we build its config by hand in the first month, and runs for a minimum of 6 months; the Audit is a one-time purchase. The free check and the example report show you both up front.