There are also paid-for plans available, with offer an expanded range of options such as device simulation, user-agent override, screen resolution and pixel ratio, DNS override, and customized presets. Additionally, each section can be expanded to provided specific examples of files that might require your attention, such as JavaScript or image files. While other locations might be preferable, the information provided is excellent.įor a start, there's a long list of potential issues provided, which are ranked by perceived importance and additionally scored according to how well you're doing. Once you've entered your URL, it provides a nicely presented set of information on your speed test, based on its server in Canada. GTmetrix (opens in new tab) provides an excellent website speed checker that's easy to use through its clean user interface. This is a great free tool for providing a general overview, but it's aimed more at web developers than webmasters, so the casual user shouldn't expect to be able to understand all of the information provided. There are also two main helpful sections such as Opportunities that offer ways to easily improve page speed loading times, and Diagnostics which provide more specific details on areas for improvement. Curiously, though, note that the webpage may provide a different score that accessing Lighthouse either through Chrome or Google Analytics.Įven still, there are helping indicators aside from overall scoring, such as how fast the first text and images appear, as well as how long it takes for the page to become interactive. Simply enter your target URL in the box provided, and it will provide a report on key areas to look out for, as well as suggestions for improvement. The standalone PageSpeed Insights webpage, though, is one of the most accessible ways to get more of the information you need on helping to improve your website speed. PageSpeed Insights (opens in new tab) is a developer tool provider by Google and powered by their Lighthouse platform, which is also available through the Chrome browser as well as in Google Analytics (User Behavior > Site Speed). Slightly inaccurate results when re-analyzing a URL While there are plenty of developers who have always kept to best practices, everyone is now under extra pressure to deliver on page loading time savings - or risk losing important web traffic through search engine results. This has caused another resurgence in interest for optimizing the page loading speed of websites. In other words, it your targeted webpage takes a long time to load, Google will preference competitor webpages that don't. This in itself could be a problem when it comes to marketing, but it's also become an issue in search engine optimization (SEO) because search engines such as Google now take into account page loading speed as a ranking metric. And the arrival of high-speed broadband has allowed lazy web development to focus on bloating code, rather than the user experience. While there was always supposed to be understanding that it was better to load up your website fast for users, this hasn't always been taken on board by website developers.Įven in the age of the dial-up modem, some web developers still insisted on large images that could take time to load. Website speed tests have become increasingly important for marketing, and web development.
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