Don’t Obsess Over A Perfect Lighthouse Score

We all love Google Lighthouse. It’s that brilliantly brutal audit tool that shines a spotlight on our website’s performance, accessibility, best practices and SEO. In just a few clicks, it tells you what’s great, what’s “meh” and what’s downright disastrous about your site’s speed and code. But here’s the thing: should you chase a perfect 100/100 Lighthouse score like it’s the holy grail?

Spoiler alert: Not always.

Why Google Lighthouse Is Your Friend (Mostly)

First up, let’s sing Lighthouse’s praises. Run a Lighthouse report and you get instant insights into:

  • Performance Metrics: Page load times, time to interactive, largest contentful paint (LCP), total blocking time (TBT) – the nitty-gritty of how fast (or slow) your site really is.
  • Accessibility Checks: Are your alt tags missing? Contrast ratios off? Lighthouse flags them, so you don’t alienate half your audience.
  • Best Practices: Is your site using old JavaScript libraries? Are there insecure links? These warnings help you avoid facepalm-worthy security and UX fails.
  • SEO Lightbulb Moments: Meta descriptions missing? Heading tags misused? Lighthouse gives you actionable tips so Google actually finds you.

Think of Lighthouse as a brutally honest mate (especially for mobile!) Unlike a passive analytics dashboard, it tells you exactly where the skeletons are hiding. If you’re a Bristol WordPress agency (like us at DCOED), running Lighthouse is as routine as your morning flat white. It ensures our builds stay lean, mean, and lightning-quick.

But…Lighthouse Can Be Overkill

We get it: seeing that score drop into the 60s (or worse) feels like a punch to the gut. However, not every Lighthouse recommendation is practical or even necessary for your business goals and there are many factors which affect those little rings. Here’s why:

1. The “100/100” Myth

A perfect Lighthouse score sounds dreamy but it often means implementing complex workarounds that don’t move the needle for real users. For example, inlining every bit of CSS might boost your Performance score, but it can bloat your HTML, making maintenance a nightmare.

Better Approach: Focus on the practical quick wins. If your largest contentful paint (LCP) is under 2.5 seconds and your total blocking time (TBT) is under 150ms, you’re in good shape. According to Google’s Core Web Vitals, that’s all you really need for a solid user experience.

2. Device and Network Realities

Lighthouse runs a simulated test: mobile throttled to Slow 4G, CPU set at 2x slowdown. It’s a worst-case scenario, which is useful…but can lead to chasing metrics that your average user never sees. If most of your audience is on Wi-Fi or a modern device, obsessively fixing a 6-second LCP on a simulated 3G connection could be a wild goose chase.

Pro Tip: Use real-world data from Google Analytics and Google Search Console (GSC). If your average load time is around 2–3 seconds on real user metrics, you’re doing fine.

3. Feature Trade-Offs

Let’s say Lighthouse tells you to defer all your JavaScript. Great… but what if that JavaScript powers a crucial booking widget or interactive map on your site? Removing or deferring it might get you a score boost, but also break the user journey and kill conversions.

Balance Is Key: Prioritise critical functionality. If an essential feature loads in 500ms extra but drives sales, it’s worth it. Sometimes, an 80/100 Lighthouse score with a fully operational site is better than a 100/100 site that leaves users with a blank screen or missing forms.

How To Improve Google Lighthouse Scores

Essential “Must-Fix” Stats vs “Nice-to-Fix” Quirks

Must-Fix: Largest Contentful Paint (LCP)

Ideal: Under 2.5 seconds

Why: Users expect to see the main content fast. If your hero image or key headline takes ages to load, people bounce.

Must-Fix: Total Blocking Time (TBT)

Ideal: Under 150ms

Why: If your site’s interactive elements (menus, buttons) don’t respond quickly, visitors get frustrated and click away.

Must-Fix: Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS)

Ideal: Under 0.1

Why: Nothing screams “amateur” like a page that jumps around before you can click. Editors and ads shifting disrupts reading and erodes trust.

Nice-to-Fix: Unused CSS/JS Warnings

Reality Check: Sure, removing unused code is tidy. But if it costs a day to excise 10KB of rogue CSS for a minor score bump, just say no. Stick to a custom build, avoid page builders and you’ll do just fine.

Nice-to-Fix: Image Format Recommendations (AVIF/WebP)

Reality Check: Converting every image to WebP or AVIF files can save kilobytes. But if your team isn’t set up for that workflow, go for high-quality JPEG/PNG with lazy loading instead. That said… avoid that 100 million DPI header image you can see from outer space. Checkout our guide to best image practises and thank us later.

The SEO Angle: Why a Balanced Approach Wins

From an SEO standpoint, page speed and UX matter—but so does user engagement, quality content, and mobile-friendliness. A 99/100 Lighthouse score with thin, unhelpful content won’t outrank a slightly slower site packed with valuable info.

SEO Checklist Beyond Lighthouse:

  • Quality Content: Provide unique insights, local expertise (e.g., “web design Bristol” tips), and engaging visuals.
  • Mobile Usability: Ensure buttons and forms are easy to tap—Lighthouse’s “tap target” errors are a starting point, not the final verdict.
  • On-Page SEO: Title tags, meta descriptions, schema markup—Lighthouse might flag missing meta tags, but use dedicated SEO plugins (think Yoast) for deeper optimisation.
  • Analytics & GSC: Track real user metrics—bounce rates, session durations, search queries—and adjust accordingly.

Keep Calm and Audit Thoughtfully

In short, don’t treat Google Lighthouse like gospel. Use it as a guide, not a strict rulebook. Focus on:

  • Core Web Vitals (LCP, FID, CLS) for real-world performance.
  • Real User Monitoring (RUM) via Google Analytics and Search Console for actual audience data.
  • Essential functionality: Keep features that drive conversions, even if they dent your Lighthouse score.
  • Practical optimisations: Prioritise image compression, server response times, and critical CSS loading.

Final Thought: The Human Touch Matters

As a seasoned Bristol WordPress developer we believe in building sites that are fast, functional AND fantastic to use. Lighthouse is a brilliant tool – but it’s just one piece of the puzzle. By combining its insights with real user data, thoughtful design, performance optimisation and solid on-page SEO, you’ll deliver a website that not only scores well in audits but also delights actual humans (and Google!)

Apply some common sense to your audits as there’s no need to strip things back to a blank page! Sure removing video is going to improve your load times and Lighthouse score but is it worth the creative impact? Remove your analytics while you’re at it, they’re not important either… right?

So go forth, run that Lighthouse report, fix the critical issues but know when to draw the line. After all, a real-world load time under three seconds and a smooth user journey is far more impressive than a perfect 100/100 score that nobody visits.

If you’re looking for a full site audit with sensible improvement recommendations, get in touch.

Sources & Further Reading:

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About the Author: Dan is an award-winning designer and WordPress developer from Bristol with a passion for creativity, an eye for aesthetics and nearly two decades of experience working with renowned bands, iconic brands, and prestigious record labels from every corner of the globe.