A good website is fast, easy to use, and easy to find. Those three goals support each other: pages that load quickly keep visitors around, pages with clean structure are easier for search engines to understand, and pages that work for everyone reach more people. Use this checklist before your next launch.
The checklist
- Optimize images. Images are usually the heaviest part of a page. Serve modern formats such as WebP or AVIF, size them to the space they occupy, set explicit width and height so the layout does not jump, and lazy-load anything below the fold. Do not lazy-load the main image at the top of the page.
- Keep scripts lean. Remove libraries you no longer use, split code so each page loads only what it needs, and load third-party scripts such as chat widgets and trackers after the page is usable.
- Use semantic HTML. Use real headings in order, lists for lists, buttons for actions, and links for navigation. This helps search engines understand your content and makes the page work with screen readers and voice control.
- Check color contrast. Under the WCAG 2.2 AA guidelines, normal text should have a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1 against its background, and large text and interface elements at least 3:1. Check both light and dark themes.
- Make it keyboard friendly. Every interactive element should be reachable with the Tab key, usable with Enter or Space, and show a visible focus state. Menus and dialogs should not trap focus.
- Write clear page titles and descriptions. They are your first impression in search results. Give every page a unique title and a meta description that says what the visitor will find, and keep both at a readable length.
- Test on real devices. Emulators miss the quirks that real phones and slow networks reveal. Test on at least one low-end Android phone and one iPhone, over a throttled connection.
What "fast" means in practice
Google's Core Web Vitals give you three concrete targets, measured on real visitors at the 75th percentile:
| Metric | What it measures | Good |
|---|---|---|
| Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) | How quickly the main content appears | 2.5 seconds or less |
| Interaction to Next Paint (INP) | How quickly the page responds to input | 200 milliseconds or less |
| Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) | How much the layout moves while loading | 0.1 or less |
You can measure these in PageSpeed Insights and in the Chrome DevTools Lighthouse panel. Lab results are a good guide while you build, but field data from real users is what counts after launch.
Accessibility beyond the checklist
- Describe images. Give informative images meaningful alt text, and use empty alt text for purely decorative ones.
- Label every form field. Visible labels, clear error messages, and the right input types make forms usable on phones and with assistive technology.
- Make targets easy to hit. Buttons and links should be large enough to tap comfortably, with space between them.
- Respect user preferences. Support reduced motion and avoid auto-playing media with sound.
- Do not rely on color alone. Pair color with text or an icon so the meaning is clear to everyone.
Search visibility basics
Fast and accessible pages already do much of the work. Add a clear heading structure, a sensible URL for each page, an XML sitemap, internal links between related pages, structured data where it applies, and canonical tags for duplicate content. Make sure the important text is in the HTML that loads, so it is available to search engines and to AI assistants that read your pages.
Measure and repeat
Run audits on a schedule, not just before launch. Fix the biggest issues first, such as an oversized hero image or a script that blocks rendering, and re-test after each change. Small, steady improvements add up to a noticeably better experience, and keeping a short list of performance and accessibility checks in your release process stops regressions before visitors see them.