WordPress Performance · Yogi’s VPS

“My PageSpeed Score Is 28. Help!” — A Beginner’s Guide to Fixing PSI and Core Web Vitals

If your PageSpeed Insights (PSI) score is sitting in the 20s and Google is warning you about “poor” Core Web Vitals, it’s easy to panic — especially if you’re a WordPress beginner.

The good news: a low PSI score is not permanent. With a clear plan and the right hosting, you can usually move from “28” into the 70–90+ range without rebuilding your entire site.

Step 1 – Look at the Right Parts of PageSpeed Insights

Before you start changing plugins and settings, you need to know what is actually slowing you down. PageSpeed Insights gives a ton of data, but as a beginner you only need to focus on three areas.

A. Core Web Vitals (top of the report)

At the top of PSI you’ll see metrics like:

• LCP (Largest Contentful Paint) – how fast the main content becomes visible
• INP / FID (Interaction to Next Paint) – how quickly the page responds when you click or tap
• CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift) – how much things “jump around” while the page loads

These usually point to:

• Slow LCP → heavy page, slow server, or huge images
• Bad INP → too much JavaScript, heavy tracking scripts, bloated page builder setups
• Bad CLS → layout shifts (images without sizes, ads, fonts loading late, sticky headers, etc.)

B. “Opportunities” section

This is where Google tells you, in plain language, which fixes will give you the biggest improvement. Common ones to watch:

• Eliminate render-blocking resources
• Reduce unused JavaScript / CSS
• Serve images in next-gen formats (WebP)
• Properly size images
• Reduce initial server response time

Think of this as a prioritized to-do list. You won’t fix every line item in one day, and that’s okay.

C. “Diagnostics” section

Diagnostics are more technical, but still helpful as a checklist. Key ones include:

• Avoid enormous network payloads (your page is too big)
• Minimize main-thread work and JavaScript execution time
• Avoid large layout shifts

For now, don’t stress about understanding every term. You just need to know: large pages, heavy scripts, and layout jumps are the main enemies.

Step 2 – Fix the Big, Obvious Problems First

1. Check your hosting (the foundation most beginners ignore)

If your hosting is slow, it will limit every other optimization. Signs your host is holding you back:

• wp-admin feels slow even without traffic
• Simple pages still take several seconds to load
• You’re on very cheap, crowded shared hosting

In many cases, just moving to better WordPress-optimized hosting (like Yogi’s VPS) can improve LCP, TTFB, and overall PSI without touching your theme.

2. Clean up your plugins

A common pattern on slow WordPress sites: one theme, two page builders, three slider plugins, and a handful of “it looked cool at the time” addons.

As a beginner, aim for:

• One page builder only (Elementor, Divi, or just Gutenberg)
• No extra slider plugins if you can avoid them
• No duplicate SEO or caching plugins
• Roughly 10–18 plugins total to start

Safely remove or replace:

• Unused page builders
• Sliders and carousel plugins you don’t truly need
• Heavy social share plugins
• Old tracking pixels and “stats” plugins you stopped using

Step 3 – Optimize Images (Your Fastest Win)

Images are usually the easiest fix and one of the biggest improvements for beginners.

1. Resize before you upload

• Don’t upload 4000px images if your content area is ~1200px wide
• Aim for 150–250 KB for key images, not 2–5 MB

2. Use an image optimization plugin

Install one of these (not all):

• ShortPixel
• Imagify
• Smush

Turn on:

• Compression
• WebP conversion (if your setup supports it)
• Lazy loading
• Automatic resize (cap at ~1920px width)

3. Rethink “fancy” hero sections

Sliders and autoplay background videos look nice but destroy Core Web Vitals. Most high-performing sites use a simple hero: strong headline, one image, clear call to action.

Step 4 – Add Caching and Basic Performance Settings

On WordPress, a well-configured caching plugin is the difference between “the server rebuilds every page on every hit” and “the server serves a pre-built version in milliseconds.”

Choose one caching/performance plugin

• LiteSpeed Cache – best if your host uses LiteSpeed
• W3 Total Cache – powerful, free, and flexible
• WP Rocket – paid, but extremely beginner-friendly

Safe settings to enable first:

• Page cache
• Browser cache
• GZIP/Brotli compression
• Lazy-load images
• Minify CSS and JS (do not combine them yet)

Step 5 – Fix Fonts and Heavy Scripts

1. Simplify your fonts

Fonts are a sneaky cause of both LCP and CLS problems. In your theme or builder typography settings:

• Use 1–2 font families total
• Stick to Regular 400 and Bold 700 weights
• Disable unused fonts and weights
• Enable “load fonts locally” if your plugin or theme offers it

2. Cut back on icons and libraries

If you’re loading Font Awesome across your entire site for two icons, you’re paying a performance tax you don’t need.

• Use built-in theme or SVG icons where possible
• Disable “load icons everywhere” features in your builder

3. Remove unused tracking and marketing scripts

Over time, sites collect old pixels, abandoned heatmaps, and extra analytics tags.

• Review everything injected into your <head> or via tag managers
• Remove anything you’re not actively using

Step 6 – Use a CDN (When Your Audience Isn’t All Local)

A CDN (Content Delivery Network) serves your static assets (images, CSS, JS) from servers closer to your visitors. This can give you faster global load times and better Core Web Vitals.

Easy option: Cloudflare’s free plan.

Turn on:

• CDN for static content
• Auto-minify (HTML/CSS/JS)
• Brotli compression

Turn off: Rocket Loader (it often causes weird JS issues).

Step 7 – Work Through a Simple Beginner Checklist

Here’s a clean order of operations you can follow:

1. Run your homepage through PageSpeed Insights and save/screenshot the results
2. Clean up plugins (remove anything unneeded, especially heavy builders and sliders)
3. Optimize and replace large images on your homepage and key landing pages
4. Install and configure one caching plugin with basic settings
5. Simplify fonts and remove extra icon libraries
6. Remove old tracking scripts and unused tools
7. Set up Cloudflare or another CDN if your audience is spread out
8. Re-run PageSpeed Insights and compare before/after

You don’t have to hit a perfect 100. For most real-world WordPress sites, a steady score in the 70–90+ range with clean Core Web Vitals is a huge win.