S | Site Speed Tune-Up

A fast website brings in more renters, lowers your ad costs, and helps you rank higher on Google.

Many rental companies assume their website loads “fine,” mostly because it seems fast on office Wi-Fi. But customers aren’t booking from your office; they’re booking from airports, hotel rooms, parking lots, and mobile data. Slow pages cause renters to abandon the booking process long before you even know they visited. This creates a quiet leak in your marketing system, draining conversions and increasing your costs without any obvious warning.

Site speed affects your business in more ways than most owners realize. Slow pages reduce conversions because renters won’t wait for a booking form to load. Google downgrades slow websites through Core Web Vitals, which pushes your ranking down even if you have great content. Paid ads get more expensive when landing pages load slowly, because platforms like Google and Meta assign lower quality scores to sluggish experiences. Speed isn’t just a technical metric, it's a direct factor in how much revenue your website can generate.

A speed tune-up is simply the process of cleaning up the elements that slow your site down. Most issues come from oversized images, too many plugins, a slow server and no caching system in place. When these are fixed, your site loads quickly across all devices and network types. You don’t need deep technical skills; you just need a clear starting point and a simple roadmap.

Basic Site Speed Tune-Up

This is the easiest path to improving your website without getting overwhelmed. Follow these steps in order.

1. Run a Webpage Speed Test

Start with your homepage and booking page. Use:

• Google’s PageSpeed Insights (free)

• Catchpoint (free)

• GTmetrix (Desktop test is free, but mobile is a paid service)

These tools show you how long your site takes to load and list the biggest issues slowing it down.

2. Identify the Main Bottlenecks

Common slowdowns include:

• Large, uncompressed images

• Too many plugins or scripts

• Slow hosting

• Poor mobile performance

• No caching

You don’t have to fix everything at once; just start with the biggest offenders; then continue to improve over time.

3. Add a Caching Solution

Caching helps your pages load instantly for repeat visitors and reduces server strain.

If your hosting uses LiteSpeed:
Use LiteSpeed Cache.

If you have a Wordpress website:
WP Rocket is usually the fastest and simplest option.

Your host may already include a caching solution. Test it to see if it works well for you. If you decide to try for a faster caching solution, make sure you turn off any other versions so you don’t have conflict. Conflicts can make your website unstable.

Caching can also prevent updated content from refreshing. This could potentially cause issues with your booking system, show old pricing, etc. Make sure you test your caching solution to make sure new content displays correctly!

4. Optimize Your Images

This alone can cut load times dramatically. Compress files before uploading and use modern formats like WebP or AVIF.

Some tools you can use:
• Online tool: TinyPNG
• ShortPixel (online or Wordpress Plugin)

5. Retest Your Site

Run PageSpeed Insights again to confirm improvements. Speed work is ongoing. Check your site every quarter.

LiteSpeed vs WP Rocket: A Simple Decision Guide

This comparison is written specifically for non-technical rental operators.

LiteSpeed Cache
Best for: Websites hosted on LiteSpeed servers
Why choose it: Free, powerful, and perfectly matched to LiteSpeed hosting
Ease of setup: Medium
Cost: Free

WP Rocket
Best for: Wordpress websites.
Why choose it: Very easy to use, consistent performance gains, all-in-one optimization
Ease of setup: Very easy
Cost: Paid

Rule of thumb:
If your hosting is LiteSpeed, use LiteSpeed Cache.
If your on Wordpress, WP Rocket is your simplest win.

Real-World Examples

One rental company was spending heavily on Google Ads but wasn’t seeing enough bookings. Their mobile booking page took more than four seconds to load. After compressing images and installing a caching plugin, load times dropped below two seconds and bookings increased the very next month—without raising ad spend.

Another agency was struggling to climb into the first page of Google despite having solid content. Their Core Web Vitals report showed poor mobile performance. They upgraded hosting, improved site speed, and saw several keywords move from page two to page one within weeks. Organic inquiries increased steadily as a result.

Site speed affects every part of your marketing system. Faster pages convert more renters, improve your rankings, and reduce what you pay for ads. A tune-up doesn’t have to be complicated; start with a speed test, fix the top issues, install a caching tool, and check your performance regularly.

If you want help running a full site speed audit or choosing the right setup for your rental website, book a Discovery Call with FLEET SEO.