At Kurbo, we talk about website speed every single day. Why? Because in a digital world where everyone is in a hurry, your website's performance is often the difference between a new customer and a missed opportunity.

Think about your own habits. If a website takes more than a few seconds to load, you probably leave. Your customers do exactly the same thing. In this article, we will explain why speed is so critical, how you can test your own site using Google Lighthouse, and why we have made "speed by default" the core of our Kurbo themes for Directus.

Why Speed Matters: It’s More Than Just Seconds

For many, website performance feels like a technical detail that stays "under the hood." However, at Kurbo, we see performance as a vital part of your business strategy.

First Impressions are Instant

Your website is your digital storefront. A fast-loading site feels professional and reliable. It tells your visitor that you value their time. On the other hand, a slow site feels broken or outdated. You only get one chance to make a first impression; we want to make sure it’s a fast one.

Google Favors the Fast

Google’s main goal is to keep its users happy. Because users hate waiting, Google uses speed as a key factor in its ranking system. If your site is slow, Google will likely push you further down the search results. If you want to be found, speed is not optional—it is a requirement.

Turning Visitors into Customers

In the world of marketing, we call this "conversion." Whether you want someone to buy a product or fill out a contact form, speed helps. Every extra second of loading time causes a percentage of your visitors to give up. By making your site faster, you are literally making your business more profitable.

 

Measuring Your Success with Google Lighthouse

We believe in transparency. You don’t have to take our word for it when we say a site is fast; you can measure it yourself. The gold standard for this is a free tool from Google called Lighthouse.

What is Google Lighthouse?

Lighthouse is an automated tool that analyzes any website and gives it a "report card." It looks at your site from the perspective of a mobile user and scores it on four main categories: Performance, Accessibility, Best Practices, and SEO.

How You Can Run a Test Today

You don't need any technical skills to do this. Just follow these steps:

• Open your website in the Google Chrome browser.
• Right-click on the page and click "Inspect".
• Look for the tab named "Lighthouse" in the panel that appears (you might need to click the >> symbol).
• Select "Mobile" and click "Analyze page load".

What Do the Scores Mean?

After a moment, you will see a score between 0 and 100.

• 90-100 (Green): This is the elite level. Your site is fast and user-friendly.
• 50-89 (Orange): Your site is average, but you are likely losing potential customers.
• 0-49 (Red): Your site needs urgent help.

 

The Kurbo Standard: Why We Aim for 90%+

Most "off-the-shelf" website themes are built to do everything for everyone. They are packed with unnecessary code, heavy animations, and "bloat" that slows them down. This is why many websites struggle to even reach an orange score in Lighthouse.

At Kurbo, we decided to do things differently. We build our themes specifically for Directus, one of the most powerful content systems available today. But we don't just build them to look good; we build them to perform.

Our 90% Performance Guarantee

We have a strict rule at Kurbo: every theme we create must be capable of achieving a minimum 90% performance score on Google Lighthouse.

We achieve this high standard by focusing on three areas:

• Clean Architecture: We write lean, efficient code. We don't add "fluff" that your browser has to struggle to read.
• Smart Asset Management: Our themes handle images and fonts intelligently. We make sure they are only loaded when they are actually needed.
• Mobile-First Design: Since most people browse on their phones, we optimize our themes to be lightning-fast on mobile connections, not just on fast office Wi-Fi.

When you choose a Kurbo theme for your Directus project, you aren't just getting a design; you are getting a head start. You begin in the "Green Zone" while your competitors are still trying to load their first image.

 

How You Can Keep Your Site Fast

While we provide you with a high-performance engine, how you "drive" the site also matters. Here are a few simple tips to keep your Kurbo-powered site running at top speed:

• Mind Your Images: Even the best theme can be slowed down by a massive, unoptimized photo. Always try to resize your images before uploading them to Directus.
• Limit Third-Party Scripts: Every time you add a new tracking tool, chat widget, or external plugin, it adds a small delay. Only use the tools that bring real value to your business.
• Keep it Simple: A clean, focused design isn't just better for the user’s eyes; it’s better for their browser too.

Stop Waiting and Start Growing

Your customers deserve a website that respects their time, and your business deserves a platform that ranks at the top. Why settle for an average, sluggish website when you can launch with a guaranteed performance edge? Our Kurbo themes for Directus take the technical guesswork out of the equation, giving you a world-class, 90%+ Lighthouse score right out of the box.