How to Get a 95+ Lighthouse Score (Without Selling Your Soul)

In 10-Seconds - Because You Have the Attention Span of a Goldfish

Here’s how you get a 95+ Lighthouse score:
Stop putting junk on your website.
That’s it. No secret meetings. No wizard behind a curtain. Just less garbage.
Now let me explain. And I’ll try to be funny. No promises.

What the Heck Is Lighthouse?

Imagine a very judgmental teacher who grades your website on four things:

1. Speed – Does your site load before I finish my coffee?
2. Accessibility – Can my blind grandma use it?
3. Best practices – Did you code like a sane person?
4. SEO – Does Google even know you exist?

Score 95+? You’re the teacher’s pet.
Score below 60? You’re eating glue in the back row.

Here’s proof even famous websites mess up:

That’s a 60. Out of 100. The White House. Yes, THAT White House.

Don’t worry. We’ll fix yours.

Why Your Website Is Slower Than a Snail on Sleeping Pills

You probably use WordPress. Cool. I use WordPress sometimes too. I’m not judging.

But here’s the problem:
Every plugin you add is like packing another brick into your backpack.
One plugin for contact forms. One for SEO. One for that cute little image slider you never use.

And now your poor website is carrying 47 bricks. For no reason.

The worst part?
Most plugins load their code on every single page – even pages where that plugin does absolutely nothing.

That’s called bloat.
Bloat makes Google sad.
And a sad Google won’t rank you.

“But I love my plugins!”
I loved my ex too. Sometimes you have to let go.

The Real Secret (No, It’s Not a Pill)

You don’t need a magic wand. You need headless architecture.

Sounds fancy. It’s not.

Headless just means:

• Your backend (where you write stuff)
• And your frontend (what people see)

…are separated. Like a divorced couple that still co-parents really well.

Why does this help?

• Static pages load instantly. Like a frozen pizza, but faster.
• Images get smart – automatically turn into WebP (smaller, prettier, loads in a blink).
• Code splitting – only load what that page needs. Nothing extra.

We use this at Glozinfinity all the time.
We’ve hit 98+ scores. I have screenshots. I’ll show you if you buy me a coffee.

Step-by-Step: How to Fix Your Slow Baby

Step 1: Choose Your Fighter

Option A – Headless (The Cool Kid)
Use PayloadCMS (backend) + Next.js (frontend).
It’s like peanut butter and jelly, but for websites.

Option B – WordPress (The Ex You Keep Texting)
Build a custom theme. No pre-made garbage.
And delete plugins you don’t use. Yes, even that one from 2017.

“But I have 47 plugins!”
You also have a slow website. Coincidence? I think not.

Step 2: Stop Blocking the Render (That Sounds Wrong)

Render-blocking means: your page won’t show up until some dumb script finishes loading.

Imagine a waiter who won’t bring your food until he finishes his crossword puzzle.
Annoying, right?

Fix it:

• Move JavaScript to the footer
• Add defer or async (Google it – it takes 2 minutes)
• If you use WordPress, use script_loader_tag. Your developer will know what that means.

Step 3: Images – The Biggest Liars on Your Site

Images make up 70% of your page weight.
That’s like wearing a backpack filled with bricks and an anvil.

Do this instead:

• Convert to WebP or SVG
• Use srcset so phones get smaller images
• Turn on lazy loading – images load only when you scroll to them

Example: A 2MB JPEG becomes a 200KB WebP.
Same quality. 10x faster.
Your users will thank you. Your server will send you flowers.

Step 4: Get a CDN (No, Not a TV Channel)

CDN = Content Delivery Network.

It copies your website to servers all over the world.
Someone in London gets it from London. Someone in Tokyo gets it from Tokyo.

Result: Your site loads fast everywhere. Even on a boat in the middle of the ocean. (Probably.)

Free option: Cloudflare.
Paid: Vercel, Netlify, AWS.

Step 5: Test Like Your Life Depends on It

Go to Google PageSpeed Insights. It’s free. Type your URL. Run the test.

Do it on mobile first – because Google cares more about phones than your fancy 4K monitor.

See what’s red. Fix it. Repeat.

Real Proof (Because I’m Not Making This Up)

Here’s a real screenshot of a site that scored 60 (bad) vs what you can get:

And if you want to see how truly awful old websites looked, here’s the National Archives:
https://www.archives.gov/presidential-libraries/archived-websites

Spoiler: They look like something I built in 1998. And I was terrible.

Okay, But What If I’m Stuck on WordPress?

You can still get 95+. But you have to be mean to your plugins.

WordPress fixes that actually work:

1. Load CSS/JS only for blocks that exist on the page.
2. Remove jQuery if you don’t support Internet Explorer. (You don’t. Nobody does.)
3. Install a caching plugin – WP Rocket or W3 Total Cache.
4. Clean your database – delete post revisions, spam comments, old drafts.

Warning: Page builders like Elementor or Divi? They’re convenient but heavy.
It’s like driving a tank to get groceries. Fun? Yes. Efficient? No.

What We Do at Glozinfinity (Shameless Plug Incoming)

We build headless e-commerce sites/ Landing pages with PayloadCMS + Next.js.

Results:

• Lighthouse: 94–99
• Load time: under 1 second
• Clients: actually happy (rare, I know)

Docs if you want to DIY:
PayloadCMS Docs

https://blok0.xyz/docs

Or just hire us. We’re nice. I promise.
https://glozinfinity.com

The “I Don’t Have Time for This” Checklist

Print this. Tape it to your monitor.

• Move to headless (or cry later)
• Convert images to WebP
• Turn on lazy loading
• Add a CDN
• Delete unused plugins (be ruthless)
• Defer JavaScript
• Test on PageSpeed Insights (mobile)
• Fix red stuff
• High-five yourself

One Last Thing

Look. I’ve built slow websites on my early days of employment too.
Once I built one that took 12 seconds to load.
My client called me. Not to say “good job.”

It was embarrassing. I wanted to hide under my desk.

But here’s the truth:
Fixing speed isn’t hard. You just have to care enough to do it.

If you don’t want to do it yourself? Cool. That’s literally why my company exists.

We build fast websites.
Websites that make Google happy.
Websites that actually make you money.

Check us out. Or don’t. But your Lighthouse score will stay sad.
And nobody wants a sad score. Not even your mom.

Because You’re Already Thinking These

Can I get 100?
Yes. But that means zero ads, zero tracking, zero external scripts. Good luck running a business like that. Aim for 95–99. You’ll be fine.

Does Lighthouse really affect SEO?
Yes. Google uses speed as a ranking factor. Slow site = lower rankings. Fast site = more customers. Math checks out.

How long does this take?
Headless rebuild: 2–4 weeks. WordPress quick fixes: a weekend.
Depends how much coffee you drink.

Is headless expensive?
Hosting costs a little more. But you save on performance plugins, therapy, and frustration. Worth it.

Your Turn, You Beautiful Human

Go to PageSpeed Insights.
Run your site.
Screenshot the score.
Fix one thing today. Just one.

Then fix another tomorrow.

And before you know it… 95+.

You’ve got this.
And if you don’t? We’ve got you.

Subhrajyoti Basu
Founder, Glozinfinity
Make my site fast – please?

P.S. You’re still reading? I like you.
Here’s a bonus tip: Delete Google Fonts. Host your fonts locally.
It’s free, it’s easy, and it shaves off half a second.
You’re welcome. Now go be fast.