Performance is not a feature but a fundamental requirement. Google evaluates Core Web Vitals as a ranking factor, and users abandon slow pages within seconds.
The five most impactful measures: serve images in modern formats like AVIF, split JavaScript bundles, inline critical CSS, load fonts with font-display swap, and defer third-party scripts.
Tools like Lighthouse and WebPageTest help identify bottlenecks. The key is to treat performance not as a one-time task but as a continuous process in the CI pipeline.
