Huge HTML page sizes

This is all very well, it is easy to use once you get going and the results are beautiful. However, having spent months on this website since last May, I now discover that the page size HTML is too big for Bing to cache reliably on just about every single one of the 32 pages it scanned including the Home page and Blog – it says it should be a maximum of 125KB, I now learn.

“Evaluated size of HTML is estimated to be over 125 KB and risks not being fully cached. Search engines may not fully acquire the content on a page if the page is contains a lot of code. Extraneous code can push the content down in the page source making it harder for a search engine crawler to get to. A soft limit of 125 KB is used for guidance to ensure all content & links are available in the page source to be cached by the crawler. This basically means if the page size is too big, a search engine may not be able to get all of the content or may end up not fully caching it.”

AIOSEO has been very useful since it landed. Unfortunately, the Google page speed test is always in the amber for Performance (but green for Accessibility, Best Practises and SEO). We’re encouraged to use all the Spectra bells and whistles: pre-made header groups, headings to break up text, containers and multiple columns, compressed pix but I now see that, for instance, I have inadvertently given the site umpteen layout changes on all pages. Don’t even ask me about DOM size and Largest Contentful Paint elements.

How can I fix this? Going back in and rebuilding every page is a daunting and dispiriting task. Could Spectra have some sort of warning and KISS guide to Keep It Simple, Stupid as we go along? Maybe, “You have reached your HTML quota – carry on adding at your peril.”

I do realise that at least two of the pages are very long and should be broken up. But at which point? And EVERY page? How short and emaciated should the pages be? What’s the maximum image KB that should be used on a page? Should I stick to the theme colours only? I love my salmon pink and brick red but has the use of different colours contributed to my undoing? Can I add these favourite colours to the theme? Should I have placed the pre-made header groups INSIDE the container? I changed the overall width to 1140 – was this a mistake? Am I over-complicating the page by having sidebars? Did I choose the wrong template to begin with?

My confidence is on the floor at the moment (as you can probably tell). I hope some kind Spectra person(s) can please walk me through and restore the joy I had been getting from building with Spectra until the search engines gave me the bad news. Thank you.

The page I need help with: [log in to see the link]