Eliminate Render Blocking CSS Resources

How to optimize hopechurchtolworth.org

Generic SiteScore: 87/100Analyzed January 2026

Eliminate Render Blocking CSS Resources

High Impact+8 points estimated

Why It Matters

External CSS files are blocking initial page render and delaying First Contentful Paint by 290ms.

How to Fix

Inline critical CSS for above-the-fold content directly in the HTML head. Move Google Fonts CSS to load asynchronously using rel='preload' and onload handler. Defer the InstantSearch CSS by loading it after initial render or bundling it with your main stylesheet.

0Needs Improvement

What This Score Means

A score of 87 falls in the "Needs Improvement" range (50-89). While it is better than poor (0-49), you should aim for 90+ to provide an optimal user experience and maximize SEO benefits.

This site is slower than approximately 35% of similar sites. The main issues affecting performance are image optimization, JavaScript execution time, and layout stability.

Addressing these issues could improve your conversion rate by 15-20% and boost your search engine rankings.

Core Web Vitals Analysis

LCP

Largest Contentful Paint

3.8s
Needs Improvement

Good: < 2.5s

Measures how long it takes for the main content to appear on screen

INP

Interaction to Next Paint

65ms
Good

Good: < 200ms

Measures how quickly the page responds to user interactions

CLS

Cumulative Layout Shift

0.01
Good

Good: < 0.1

Measures visual stability - how much content shifts during page load

AI Performance Analysis

This church website performs reasonably well with a score of 87/100, but has some optimization opportunities that could make it even faster. The biggest issue is the Largest Contentful Paint taking 3.8 seconds, primarily caused by render-blocking CSS files (fonts and search styles) that delay the initial page display. The site is also loading 56 KiB of unused JavaScript from Google Analytics and has oversized gallery images that waste 173 KiB of bandwidth. Quick wins would include deferring non-critical CSS, adding proper dimensions to images, and optimizing the gallery photos to match their display sizes.

Other Optimization Recommendations

Remove Unused JavaScript and CSS

High Impact+6 points estimated

Why It Matters:

57KB of unused JavaScript and 30KB of unused CSS are consuming network bandwidth and delaying LCP by 450ms combined.

How to Fix:

Remove or defer the Google Analytics script until after page load using GTM's built-in defer option. Audit your main CSS file and remove unused Bootstrap or framework styles. Split CSS into critical and non-critical files, loading non-critical styles asynchronously.

Add Explicit Image Dimensions

Medium Impact+3 points estimated

Why It Matters:

Images without width/height attributes cause layout shifts and poor user experience as they load.

How to Fix:

Add explicit width and height attributes to all images, especially the logo SVG and gallery images. Set aspect-ratio CSS property as fallback for responsive images. Reserve space for dynamically loaded images using CSS min-height or placeholder containers.

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