methodology / Performance / #37
Total homepage byte weight
#37 · Recommended · Web Quality · weighted · Performance · weight 0.7% · impl implemented · method v1.2.0
Web Quality factor
This factor is part of Web Quality — the weighted 0..100 score that sits above Web Standards. Its weight depends on what kind of site is being measured. Web Standards items take priority; this factor only enters the score once Web Standards passes.
- Base weight
- 0.8 applied to every site type unless overridden below
- Why this weight
- Total byte weight — first-load size matters most for content-heavy sites.
Per-site-type overrides
| Site type | Weight | Δ vs base |
|---|---|---|
| News / Publisher | 1.0 | +0.2 |
| Personal site | 0.4 | -0.4 |
| Media / Streaming | 1.0 | +0.2 |
Site types not listed inherit the base weight.
What this means for your business
A homepage that weighs several megabytes punishes anyone on cell service and silently knocks down your Google ranking. Usually the bulk is one giant hero image or a stack of unused plugins.
Plain title: Your homepage isn't bloated
What we measure
Smaller pages load faster, especially on mobile networks. Aim for under 1.5MB total for a typical homepage.
How to improve your score
Compress images (WebP/AVIF), remove unused JS and CSS, defer third-party scripts, and audit large fonts or videos.
Facts
Implementation notes
Already in the PSI payload as `psi_total_byte_weight` — just expose it as a scored field.
Scoring
Scoring formulas are versioned with the methodology. The current method (v1.2.0) maps raw measurements to pass, warn, fail. Factor weights determine how much each contributes to the composite — see the methodology index for the full table.
Version history
| Version | Change | Date |
|---|---|---|
| v1.2.0 | Factor introduced. Status: live. Scoring impl: implemented. | 2026-04-25 |