By Brad Figmints An agency’s own website is fair game for an audit. On October 4 and 5, we repaired missing descriptions, broken archive links and an unusually heavy home page on figmints.com. The work moved several numbers. It did not make the home page fast.
Before and after, with the limits attached
| Measure | Before | After | Source and date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pages with meta descriptions | 28.1% | 91.5% | Figmints crawl/dashboard, October 4 |
| Archive-pagination links leading to 404s | 150 | 0 | Anonymous link/crawl checks, October 5 |
| Home mobile Largest Contentful Paint | 18.2 seconds | 9.2 seconds | Same performance-fix measurement run, October 5 |
| Home-page transfer weight | 10.2 MB | 7.0 MB | Same performance-fix measurement run, October 5 |
The before and after readings belong to those dated checks. We are not presenting the 9.2-second reading as today’s live speed. Performance varies by device, network and test location; a separate mobile tool has reported 5.8 to 8.9 seconds on our pages.
What we did, in order
We filled missing page descriptions so search results could show a more relevant summary. That is coverage, not proof of a ranking or click lift. We then fixed archive pagination that created 150 links to missing pages, checking the resulting paths anonymously. Finally we reduced home-page weight and adjusted the loading path for its largest visible element. The measured Largest Contentful Paint fell by nine seconds in that run, yet 9.2 seconds is still far above Google’s 2.5-second good threshold.
We still need more work on image weight and loading order. We will not convert a crawl fix into an SEO success story until comparable Search Console and conversion readings exist.
If you are auditing your own site, start with a dated baseline, change one class of issue at a time, and save the exact test method. A smaller page is useful only if it also renders correctly and helps visitors complete their task. Our SEO service, web work and managed hosting explain the work behind these checks. Related reads: preserving SEO in a redesign and basic SEO terms.
FAQ
Did these fixes increase search traffic?
We have not established that. The readings here measure page coverage, link errors and one performance run. Search traffic and inquiries need a comparable later read.
Is a 9.2-second Largest Contentful Paint good?
No. Google’s good threshold is 2.5 seconds or less. Our dated test improved from 18.2 seconds but remains slow.
Sources: Figmints October 4–5 site audit and fix reports; web.dev’s Largest Contentful Paint guidance.
By the Figmints team.
