Google ranks pages by the Core Web Vitals of real Chrome users: how fast the main content appears (LCP), how quickly the page reacts to clicks and taps (INP) and how stable the layout is (CLS). A good PageSpeed score in a lab test does not help if real visitors still wait. Core Web Vitals PageSpeed works with the numbers that count: the speed of your real visitors.

What is new in version 2.0

• A new extension for Joomla 4, 5 and 6, written from scratch.
• Real visitor measurements on your own site: no cookies, no IP addresses, no personal data.
• Safe optimizations with a draft, a preview on your own site and one-click rollback.
• PageSpeed Insights tests and speed diagnostics in the administrator area.
• Updates through the Joomla update system.

Main features

• Measures real visitors. LCP, INP, CLS, FCP and server response time of real page loads, mobile and desktop, the last 28 days. You see the slowest pages and the exact element that is slow.
• Applies safe improvements. Loads the main image first, lazy-loads images and frames below the first screen, loads YouTube and Vimeo players on click, reserves space for images, shows text while fonts load, connects early to font and script servers, defers scripts, minifies HTML and adds browser caching rules.
• Tests with Google. Runs PageSpeed Insights from your administrator area and compares the draft with the published settings, so you see the effect before you publish. Needs a free Google API key.
• Checks your server and site. PHP version, OPcache, page cache, server response of real visitors, the Joomla cache, image formats and other extensions that do the same work.

Safe by design

• Every change is a draft first. You check it in a preview on your own site and with PageSpeed Insights; your visitors still get the published settings.
• Publish when you are sure. Every published version is kept, and any of them is one click away. One button turns every optimization off.
• Switches that can affect scripts or the layout are marked "Check preview".
• The extension never changes what Google sees compared to what people see: crawlers and visitors get the same page.
• Works with the Joomla page cache, SiteGuarding SpeedUp and popular templates. Cart, checkout and account pages of VirtueMart, HikaShop and J2Store are protected.

Private by design

Speed numbers stay on your own site. No cookies, no IP addresses, no personal data, nothing is sent to other servers. The page address is kept without its query string, for up to 28 days.

Free and Pro

The free extension is complete: real visitor measurements, all safe optimizations, PageSpeed tests and diagnostics, with no account and no time limit. Pro is a separate paid add-on that installs next to it and adds speed by page and template for 12 months with CSV export, weekly PageSpeed monitoring of 10 pages with email reports and alerts, delayed third-party scripts until the first interaction, local Google Fonts and engineer tools (critical CSS per template, scripts and styles per page, HTML rules). Plans: https://www.siteguarding.com/en/buy-service/google-core-web-vitals-fix-services

Need it done for you?

Some problems need a developer: a heavy template, a slow extension, a server that answers late. Our engineers review your site, fix the slow parts by hand and check the result on real visitor data: https://www.siteguarding.com/en/google-core-web-vitals-fix

Requirements

Joomla 4.2 or newer, tested on Joomla 4.2, 4.4, 5 and 6. PHP 7.2.5 or newer. MySQL or MariaDB. One package installs the component and its system plugin.

Upgrading from WebVitals 1.x

Version 2.0 is a new extension and does not update WebVitals 1.x in place. In System > Manage > Extensions uninstall the old component "webvitals" and the plugin "System - Google Core Web Vitals Fix", then install 2.0. Settings of 1.x are not carried over. Joomla 3 sites: version 2.0 needs Joomla 4.2 or newer.

Connection to other servers

Only the Joomla update check asks siteguarding.com for the latest version. PageSpeed Insights tests, when you start them, send the page address and your API key to Google. Real visitor measurements are stored on your own site and are never sent anywhere. The extension adds no links or credits to your site.