Fix PageSpeed Score on Nginx

Last updated: April 2026

The most impactful Nginx config changes for Google PageSpeed score. Each section targets a specific PSI audit.

Cache-Control for static assets

location ~* \.(js|css|woff2|woff)$ {
    expires 1y;
    add_header Cache-Control "public, max-age=31536000, immutable" always;
}
location ~* \.(png|jpg|jpeg|webp|svg|ico)$ {
    expires 30d;
    add_header Cache-Control "public, max-age=2592000" always;
}

Enable gzip and brotli compression

gzip on;
gzip_vary on;
gzip_comp_level 6;
gzip_types text/plain text/css application/json application/javascript
           text/xml application/xml image/svg+xml font/woff2;

# Brotli (requires ngx_brotli module)
brotli on;
brotli_comp_level 6;
brotli_types text/plain text/css application/json application/javascript
             image/svg+xml font/woff2;

Enable HTTP/2

server {
    listen 443 ssl http2;
    server_name yoursite.com;
}

Preload LCP image with Link header

location = / {
    add_header Link "</hero.webp>; rel=preload; as=image; type=image/webp" always;
}

Reduce TTFB with proxy caching

proxy_cache_path /var/cache/nginx levels=1:2 keys_zone=main:10m;
location / {
    proxy_cache main;
    proxy_cache_valid 200 60s;
    proxy_cache_use_stale updating;
    proxy_cache_background_update on;
    proxy_pass http://backend;
}