# Does our website's speed and accessibility really affect enquiries?

Canonical: https://fortitudemedia.ai/insights/website-accessibility-speed-matter
Author: David Adams
Published: 2026-04-22
Last reviewed: 2026-09-24
Reviewed by: David Adams
Pillar: Websites that bring work in
Summary: Core Web Vitals and WCAG 2.2 explained for B2B founders: the thresholds that matter, how slow pages lose enquiries, and what to fix first on key pages.
Keywords: core web vitals thresholds, what is a good inp score, wcag 2.2 aa checklist, european accessibility act uk business, website accessibility law uk, speed up wordpress site
Short answer: Yes. A slow or awkward site loses buyers before they read a word. Google's Core Web Vitals ask for main content within 2.5 seconds, a response to taps within 200 milliseconds and a layout shift of 0.1 or less on 75% of real visits. Aim for WCAG 2.2 AA: clear headings, alt text, contrast and labelled forms help disabled visitors, Google and AI assistants alike. Test with PageSpeed Insights and WAVE, then fix your most important pages first.
What changed: Added the INP threshold and a Core Web Vitals table, moved to WCAG 2.2 AA, added the European Accessibility Act, a table of fixes, WordPress and audit answers, and 2026 figures.
Publisher: Fortitude Media Limited

When quoting, attribute to Fortitude Media and link to the canonical URL above.

---
Speed and accessibility are the parts of a website most founders delegate and forget. So nobody notices when the new video header adds a few seconds to every page, when the chat widget, cookie banner and three tracking tools all load before the headline, or when pale grey text looks elegant on a large monitor and unreadable on a phone in daylight.

Buyers notice, though they rarely tell you. A finance director who taps your link between meetings and waits at a blank screen taps the next firm instead. A procurement lead who uses a screen reader cannot get past your enquiry form. None of this shows up in a report as a lost enquiry. It just does not arrive.

The problem is common. [WebAIM's 2026 test of the home pages of the top million websites](https://webaim.org/projects/million/) found detectable accessibility failures on 95.9% of them, and low-contrast text on 83.9%. On speed, the [HTTP Archive's 2025 Web Almanac](https://almanac.httparchive.org/en/2025/performance) found that only 48% of mobile websites passed all three of Google's Core Web Vitals. Both are global figures, and the fixes are usually far cheaper than a redesign.

## Key takeaways

- A slow or awkward website loses buyers before they read a word and tells the rest that nobody is paying attention.
- Google's Core Web Vitals ask for main content within 2.5 seconds, a response to taps within 200 milliseconds and a layout shift score of 0.1 or less, on 75% of real visits.
- Oversized images, video headers, heavy themes and too many third-party scripts cause most slow B2B sites, and most can be fixed without a rebuild.
- The accessibility standard to aim for is WCAG 2.2 at level AA, now also the international standard ISO/IEC 40500:2025.
- The European Accessibility Act has applied since 28 June 2025 to certain services sold to EU consumers, so a UK fintech with EU consumers may be caught, while a purely B2B firm usually is not.
- Clear headings, alt text, descriptive links and real text in the page help disabled visitors, Google and AI assistants at the same time.

## Why does website speed affect enquiries?

Because the first few seconds decide whether a buyer stays. A buyer comparing three firms opens each site in turn. If yours is still loading while the others are readable, you start the comparison behind, and some buyers never see your homepage at all.

Speed also sends a signal: a slow site that jumps around or freezes when tapped suggests a firm that does not pay attention. The effect is strongest on phones, where many buyers first look you up after an AI assistant or a colleague has given them your name. We cover the mobile side in [whether your buyers really look at your website on their phones](/insights/mobile-first-design-b2b), and the other small signals that shape trust in [what makes a buyer trust a website enough to get in touch](/insights/psychology-of-trust-website-conversions).

## What does Google measure, and what counts as fast enough?

Google measures page experience with three Core Web Vitals, judged on real visits from Chrome users. Google says good scores, along with other page experience aspects, align with [what its core ranking systems seek to reward](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/core-web-vitals).

The thresholds, from [Google's Search Console help on the Core Web Vitals report](https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/9205520?hl=en):

| Measure | What it means | Good | Needs improvement | Poor |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) | How long the main headline or image takes to appear | 2.5 seconds or less | Up to 4 seconds | Over 4 seconds |
| Interaction to Next Paint (INP) | How quickly the page reacts to a tap, click or key press | 200 milliseconds or less | Up to 500 milliseconds | Over 500 milliseconds |
| Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) | How much the page jumps as it loads | 0.1 or less | Up to 0.25 | Over 0.25 |

Each score is judged at the 75th percentile: a page counts as good only if three quarters of real visits meet the threshold. PageSpeed Insights shows this real-user data, which Google calls field data, where there are enough visits, and a simulated test otherwise. Speed is one ranking factor among many: a fast site with weak content will not rank on speed alone, but a slow one gives away an advantage for nothing.

## What is a good INP score, and how do we fix a poor one?

A good INP is 200 milliseconds or less, and anything over 500 milliseconds is poor. A poor score usually means too much JavaScript is competing for the browser's attention when someone taps or clicks.

On B2B sites the usual culprits are chat widgets, tag managers full of old tags, heatmaps, booking tools, cookie banners and page builders that run large amounts of code on every page. Remove scripts nobody uses, and delay the rest until after the page has loaded or until someone needs them, so the chat widget loads when a visitor clicks "chat". If the theme itself is the cause, the fix is larger. Search Console's Core Web Vitals report shows which pages are poor.

## What usually makes a B2B website slow?

A handful of causes account for most slow B2B sites:

- Oversized images. The [2025 Web Almanac](https://almanac.httparchive.org/en/2025/performance) found that the largest element on 76% of mobile pages is an image, so resizing and compressing images is often the single biggest win.
- Video headers and animations, which load slowly and push your message down the page.
- Third-party scripts for analytics, advertising, chat, heatmaps and cookie banners, often including tools nobody uses any more.
- Heavy themes and page builders that load code on every page whether it is needed or not.
- Several web fonts in several weights, and slow or distant hosting.

Where the platform itself is the problem, see [how your choice of CMS affects whether AI assistants can read you](/insights/cms-choice-affects-ai-visibility).

## How big a job is each common fix?

Most fixes are small jobs a developer can scope in advance. The sizes below come from our experience of B2B sites: small means hours of developer time, medium a few days, large a project in its own right. Ask for a fixed quote for each item.

| Fix | What it involves | What it improves | Size of job |
|---|---|---|---|
| Compress and resize images | Resize to the size shown, compress, serve modern formats such as WebP | LCP | Small |
| Replace a video header | A strong still image with the headline over it | LCP | Small |
| Remove unused scripts | List every third-party tool, remove the unused ones, delay the rest | INP and LCP | Small to medium |
| Reserve space for images and banners | Set sizes so the layout does not jump | CLS | Small |
| Fix text contrast | Darken pale text to WCAG's 4.5 to 1 ratio | Accessibility | Small |
| Label forms properly | A visible label on every field and clear error messages | Accessibility and enquiries | Small |
| Add alt text | Describe meaningful images, mark decorative ones to be skipped | Accessibility, search and AI | Small to medium |
| Make menus and pop-ups keyboard friendly | Visible focus, no traps, pop-ups that close with Escape | Accessibility | Medium |
| Better hosting, caching and a CDN | Faster server, page caching, copies of the site closer to visitors | LCP | Medium |
| Replace a heavy theme or page builder | Rebuild templates on a lighter base | Everything | Large |

## Which speed fixes make the biggest difference on a WordPress site?

In our experience, image optimisation, page caching, fewer plugins and better hosting, roughly in that order. Use an image plugin or image CDN that resizes and compresses automatically, turn on page caching at the host or through a well-supported plugin, and remove unused or duplicate plugins, since each can add code to every page. Page builders are a common cause of poor INP; a lighter theme is a larger but lasting fix.

## Does speed affect what AI assistants say about you?

Indirectly, yes. Speed alone will not make ChatGPT or Claude recommend you, but a script-heavy site can stop them reading you at all.

[Vercel and MERJ found in December 2024](https://vercel.com/blog/the-rise-of-the-ai-crawler) that GPTBot, ClaudeBot and PerplexityBot fetch JavaScript files but do not run them. If your words only appear after scripts run, those crawlers see an empty page. Googlebot does run JavaScript, which helps Gemini and Google's AI features. The work that makes a site fast, serving real text in the page and cutting unnecessary scripts, is the same work that makes it readable by AI assistants. We explain each crawler in [how AI crawlers read your website](/insights/ai-crawlers-vs-google-spiders).

## What does accessibility mean for a B2B website?

It means anyone can use the site: people who use screen readers or navigate by keyboard, people with dyslexia or hearing loss, and people reading a phone in bright sunlight or holding it in one hand on a train.

The standard to aim for is WCAG 2.2 at level AA, published by the World Wide Web Consortium on 5 October 2023. The [W3C says](https://www.w3.org/WAI/standards-guidelines/wcag/) it is now also an international standard, ISO/IEC 40500:2025, and encourages everyone to use the latest version. If a developer or an old tender still quotes WCAG 2.0 or an older 2.x release, move the target to 2.2.

The checks that matter most on a B2B site:

- Text contrast of at least 4.5 to 1 for normal text.
- Alt text on meaningful images, and headings used in order.
- Everything usable with a keyboard, with a visible focus outline that is not hidden behind a sticky header or cookie banner.
- Tap targets of at least 24 by 24 CSS pixels, or enough space around smaller ones, a WCAG 2.2 addition.
- Forms with labels, clear error messages and no need to type the same details twice in one process.
- Links that say where they go, and captions or transcripts for video.

## Is accessibility a legal requirement for a private B2B firm in the UK?

No UK law sets a WCAG level for private companies, but the Equality Act 2010 requires service providers to make reasonable adjustments for disabled people, which is widely understood to include websites. Public sector bodies have specific rules, the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018, and [GOV.UK's guidance](https://www.gov.uk/guidance/accessibility-requirements-for-public-sector-websites-and-apps), last updated in September 2024, tells them to meet WCAG 2.2 AA and publish an accessibility statement.

Public sector and large corporate buyers often ask suppliers about accessibility in tenders. And the people making buying decisions include disabled people: a site they cannot use is a site they will not buy from.

## Does the European Accessibility Act apply to a UK company that sells to EU customers?

It can. The [European Accessibility Act (Directive (EU) 2019/882)](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:32019L0882) has applied since 28 June 2025 to listed services provided to consumers in the EU, wherever the provider is based. What decides it is whether your service is on the list and whether your customers are consumers.

| Your situation | Likely position under the Act |
|---|---|
| B2B firm selling only to businesses | Usually outside it: a consumer is a person buying outside their trade, business or profession |
| UK fintech offering payment, e-money, credit or investment services to EU consumers | Likely caught: consumer banking services are covered |
| UK firm selling online to EU consumers | Likely caught: e-commerce services are covered |
| Service provider with fewer than 10 staff and turnover or balance sheet of no more than €2 million | Exempt as a microenterprise |

A provider that is caught must meet the Act's accessibility requirements and publish information on how its service meets them. The Act sets functional requirements rather than naming a WCAG version; in practice, a website built to WCAG 2.2 AA is in a strong position. Each EU country enforces the Act through its own law, so if you serve EU consumers, take legal advice.

## Why does accessibility help search and AI assistants too?

Because machines read a page much as a screen reader does, through the text, headings, alt text and link wording. A clear heading structure gives a screen reader user an outline and a crawler a map, and real text, rather than text inside images, PDFs or scripts, can be read aloud, searched and quoted.

This is how we build sites. For [arum](/work/arum), the collections and recoveries consultancy, the rebuild delivered "Proper structure and markup on every page, a plain summary AI assistants can read, facts stored once so two pages never disagree, and every old address redirected so years of rankings carry over." Much of our [technical checklist for an AI-ready website](/insights/technical-checklist-ai-ready-website) overlaps with an accessibility review for the same reason, so do both at once.

## How do you test your own website?

With free tools and a real phone; you do not need to be technical.

### Step 1: Run PageSpeed Insights on your key pages

Test your homepage, main service page, a case study and your contact page. Check whether the Core Web Vitals assessment passes on mobile and note the main issues.

### Step 2: Run an accessibility checker

Use WAVE, from WebAIM, or axe DevTools on the same pages. Automated tools catch only part of the picture, so treat a clean result as a start.

### Step 3: Try the site with only a keyboard

Use the Tab key to move through your homepage and enquiry form. If you get stuck or cannot submit the form, neither can some of your buyers.

### Step 4: Use a real phone on mobile data

Switch off wifi, load your key pages and time how long it takes to read the headline and find the contact details.

### Step 5: Fix the worst problems on the most important pages first

Start with the pages that matter most for enquiries, fix the biggest issues and test again. Our [guide to websites that bring work in](/insights/pillar/website-design-performance) covers what else each key page needs.

## What to do this month

1. Run PageSpeed Insights and WAVE on your five most important pages and save the results as a baseline.
2. Ask your developer to list every third-party script on the site and remove any that nobody uses.
3. Compress the images on your homepage and main service pages, and replace any video header with a still image.
4. Fix poor contrast, add alt text to meaningful images and label every form field.
5. Test your enquiry form using only a keyboard and a phone on mobile data.
6. If you sell to EU consumers or the public sector, check your position and set WCAG 2.2 AA as the target.

## Frequently asked questions

### What PageSpeed score should we aim for?

Focus on whether your key pages pass the Core Web Vitals assessment on real-user data, not on the score out of 100. The score comes from a simulated test and moves from run to run. A page that passes on real-user data and feels quick on a phone is in good shape.

### How much does a WCAG 2.2 accessibility audit cost in the UK?

We do not quote market prices in this guide, because scope varies so much. Cost depends on how many page templates are tested, whether testing includes manual checks with screen readers and keyboards, whether disabled users are involved, and whether a retest after fixes is included. Ask for quotes scoped by template, such as homepage, service page, article and form, and check the report ties each failure to a WCAG 2.2 success criterion.

### Does a private B2B company need an accessibility statement on its website?

UK law does not require one from a private company; the rule applies to public sector bodies. A service caught by the European Accessibility Act must publish information on how it meets the requirements. Even where it is optional, a short, accurate statement of the standard you aim for and how to report a problem helps in tenders.

### Will an accessibility plugin or overlay fix our site?

Rarely. Overlays that promise accessibility with one line of code cannot fix missing labels, poor structure or inaccessible forms, and many disabled users and accessibility specialists advise against them. Fix the site itself; most issues on a typical B2B site are small corrections.

### Does our choice of hosting affect speed?

Yes. A slow server delays everything that follows, however well the pages are built. Good hosting with caching and a content delivery network is one of the easiest improvements to make.

A fast, accessible website helps buyers, Google and AI assistants at once, and it rarely needs a rebuild. To have a site built to these standards from the start, see [Website That Sells](/website-that-sells), or book a free [Growth Review](/growth-review) and we will send three fixes in writing.

## Sources

- [WebAIM, The WebAIM Million: 2026 report on the accessibility of the top 1,000,000 home pages (March 2026)](https://webaim.org/projects/million/)
- [HTTP Archive, Web Almanac 2025: Performance (January 2026)](https://almanac.httparchive.org/en/2025/performance)
- [Google Search Console Help, Core Web Vitals report (accessed September 2026)](https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/9205520?hl=en)
- [Google Search Central, Understanding Core Web Vitals and Google search results (December 2025)](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/core-web-vitals)
- [W3C Web Accessibility Initiative, WCAG 2 Overview (September 2026)](https://www.w3.org/WAI/standards-guidelines/wcag/)
- [GOV.UK, Accessibility requirements for public sector websites and apps (September 2024)](https://www.gov.uk/guidance/accessibility-requirements-for-public-sector-websites-and-apps)
- [EUR-Lex, Directive (EU) 2019/882 on the accessibility requirements for products and services (April 2019)](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:32019L0882)
- [Vercel, The rise of the AI crawler (December 2024)](https://vercel.com/blog/the-rise-of-the-ai-crawler)