A rebuild is the most common response to a slow site and the least likely to fix it. New brand, new theme, same three problems, because the problems are not visual.
LCP is usually the hero image. A full-width background served at 2400px, unoptimised, behind a slider that has to initialise before it paints. Responsive sizes, a modern format, fetchpriority on the first image and a static hero solve most of it in an afternoon.
CLS is usually injected height. A banner that appears after the page settles, an ad slot with no reserved box, a font that swaps and reflows every paragraph. Reserve the space, preload the font, use font-display with a metric-matched fallback.
INP is usually third-party scripts. Tag managers, chat widgets and heatmaps that run on the main thread at the exact moment a visitor taps. Load them after interaction, or drop the ones nobody has opened a dashboard for in six months – there is always at least one.
Run the audit before the redesign, not after. If the numbers move on the current site, the rebuild was never the answer.
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