Speed Kills (Your Rankings): Why Core Web Vitals Matter More Now
Rich Keller • February 23, 2026
If it’s slow on a phone, you don't exist.
Here is a technical reality check: AI models are expensive to run. They don't want to waste computing power trying to load a slow, bloated website.
If your site takes 5 seconds to load, the "Answer Engine" has already moved on to your competitor.
The 2026 Speed Standard:
- LCP (Largest Contentful Paint):
Under 2.5 seconds. - Mobile First:
If it’s slow on a phone, it doesn't exist.
Rich’s Corner:
I recently audited a beautiful site. It had massive 4K videos playing in the background. It looked great, but it loaded like a dial-up site from 1999. I removed the video, replaced it with a compressed image, and traffic jumped 15% in a week.
Takeaway: "boring" and fast is better than "pretty" and slow.
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