Performance Audit

Homepage Speed Report

safeintheseat.com — March 31, 2026
Impact of disabling ads on homepage load performance

Ads were disabled on the Safe in the Seat homepage between two GTmetrix test runs. The before test (11:53 AM) includes all ad scripts and placements. The after test (12:02 PM) reflects the page without ads. Both tests ran on the same infrastructure within minutes of each other.

Key Improvements

GTmetrix Grade
C (79)
A (94)
+15 points
Performance
71%
92%
+21 points
Structure
92%
97%
+5 points
Blocking Time
1,023ms
228ms
-78%
Interactive
3.3s
1.5s
-53%
Page Weight
3.2 MB
2.0 MB
-37%

Timing Breakdown

With ads Without ads
First Contentful Paint 625ms → 576ms (-8%)
Largest Contentful Paint 625ms → 576ms (-8%)
Total Blocking Time 1,023ms → 228ms (-78%)
Time to Interactive 3.3s → 1.5s (-53%)
Speed Index 628ms → 578ms (-8%)
Fully Loaded 5.1s → 2.1s (-60%)

Full Comparison

Metric With Ads Without Ads Change
GTmetrix Grade C (79) A (94) +15 pts
Performance Score 71% 92% +21 pts
Structure Score 92% 97% +5 pts
First Contentful Paint 625ms 576ms -8%
Largest Contentful Paint 625ms 576ms -8%
Total Blocking Time 1,023ms 228ms -78%
Cumulative Layout Shift 0.013 0.013 No change
Time to Interactive 3.3s 1.5s -53%
Speed Index 628ms 578ms -8%
Time to First Byte 105ms 69ms -34%
Fully Loaded 5.1s 2.1s -60%
Page Size 3.2 MB 2.0 MB -37%
HTTP Requests 234 149 -36%
Bottom Line
Removing ads moved the homepage from a C to an A, cut Total Blocking Time by 78%, made the page interactive 53% faster, and shed 1.2 MB of page weight—dropping from 234 requests to 149. The page now fully loads in 2.1 seconds instead of 5.1.