People who are new in the digital marketing world often ask – what is Google PageSpeed Insights? Truth be told, without this convenient and easy-to-use tool, content distribution and developing engaging web pages would be impossible. The reason behind this is the fact that one of the integral features of top-ranking pages is a short loading time.
You can determine the speed of a webpage with Google’s Page Speed Insight tool. However, you need to know actually how to leverage the tool to your advantage. Read this article for more information about this useful tool. Also, consider hiring an SEO marketing agency that can perfectly optimize your sites.
How Does Google Define the Speed of a Page?
It’s essential to know that there are two ways that Google determines the speed of the pages – the first way is connected to the time that is necessary for it to display the content and the second is connected to the time that is necessary for the browser to completely render web pages.
Bear in mind that a lot of elements affect the loading times, from the internet connection to cache clearance. The owners of websites can’t control every aspect. However, developing the sites to make them as fast as possible can be done by optimizing videos, images, and other features. Owners can resort to a professional SEO agency that can provide them with the best SEO marketing services and website development services so as to optimize pages appropriately.
What Is Google PageSpeed Insights and How Can It Help Webmasters?
So, what is Google PageSpeed Insights used for? Well, it is a tool that developers and webmasters use to test the performance of a website. Once you enter the URL of the site, you will receive a score determining how fast the pages are. Moreover, the scores will be available for desktop and mobile versions. The main perk of the tool is that you get recommendations on how the sites can be improved and what elements need to be optimized.
Why Using Pagespeed Insights Is Important for Digital Marketing?
Do you want to get people to your website? Well, Google recognizes and ranks the best of the best. That means that sites need to provide a high-quality user experience. If the visitors can interact well with your pages, you are on the right track. The search engine is now taking several aspects into account when it comes to search ranking.
Are the sites interactive? The faster the user can figure out and start interacting with the site, the better. Another important element is visual stability. You need to have stable pages that don’t have features that move around while they are loading. Unstable features create a strange experience for users.
Finally, loading times are a key aspect. How fast does the main content get displayed to the visitor? Each of these aspects is of key importance for search ranking, and you can improve them by using PSI. In conclusion, digital marketing is what makes your site noticed.
How to Use This Awesome Tool to Test Your Page? Can You Use the Tool to Edit It?
Using the tool is incredibly easy. Only a few steps must be taken to get the information of great importance. Here’s what you should do:
- Go to the PageSpeed Insights page,
- Copy the URL of the site and paste it into the provided space,
- Click on the option – Analyze,
- Wait a couple of seconds,
- Read the report and check the overall score.
Unfortunately, editing websites with this tool is impossible. It only informs you about what changes are necessary to make them faster and more efficient.
Analyze the Data in the Report
The best thing about PSI is that it has a clear overview of all aspects that are necessary for improving the site’s performance. The reports are divided into a couple of sections. Generally, the reposts look like this:
- Performance Score,
- Origin Summary,
- Field Data,
- Lab Data,
- Diagnostics,
- Opportunities.
You can see the score for both mobile and desktop versions. However, if you are using only a desktop application, you can ignore the analysis of a mobile version.
How to Evaluate Field Data?
Below the performance score, you will be presented with the field data. The values presented are referred to as First Input Delay (FID), Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS), First Contentful Paint (FCP), and Largest Contentful Paint (LCP). The PSI will evaluate how good these aspects are in colors and thus display the result of the assessment. Green indicates fast, orange indicates average speed, and red is slow.
- First Contentful Paint – It calculates how long it takes the first content to be rendered by the browser or the image to be loaded. This includes your background image as well. FCP shows when the visitor can engage with your website for the first time. A fast FCP value is from 0 to 1 second. A slow FCP is longer than 3 seconds.
- First Input Delay – The value measures how long it takes the visitors to engage with your page on their first attempt (by selecting a button or a link) before the browser can carry out the interaction. The number represents how responsive and interactive the sites are. A fast FID that is marked green is up to 0.1 seconds, and a slow one marked red is more than 0.3 seconds.
- Largest Contentful Paint – It examines the completion of rendering for the page’s largest element. We can presume that this must be the page’s primary content and that it can be used by visitors. A fast LCP is considered to be up to 2.5 seconds, and a slow one is more than 4 seconds.
- Cumulative Layout Shift – The tool uses this value to determine how much your content “jumps” while the pages are loading. It is connected to the visual stability and whether the visitors can read the material comfortably. A fast CLS value is considered to have a change of up to 10%, and a slow one has a change above 25%.
Beneath these results, you can click on the “Show Origin Summary,” which will display these values at the domain level rather than the URL level.
How to Evaluate Lab Data?
Lab Data is a bit different from field figures. You’ll get to see information from the Lighthouse API. Apart from Core Web Vitals, the Lighthouse assesses other three metrics. The speed index represents how long it is necessary for your content to appear to the user. These lab metrics are the time to interactive, total blocking time, and speed index.
The scores will be presented in a list along with FCP, LCP, CLS, and FIP. The time to interactive specifies how long it takes your site to become completely interactive. Total blocking time sums up the time between First Contentful Paint and complete interactivity.
Only a result or stamp will be visible from this lab test. You won’t be shown colorful bars like in the section with field data. Bear in mind that these metrics greatly affect the overall performance score.
What Do Diagnostics and Opportunities Include?
Now that you have a clear overview of what your website lacks, the Speed Page Insight tool reveals the issues that can be fixed so you can get the site to be faster. The sections referred to Diagnostics and Opportunities include necessary recommendations.
Apart from what can be changed, you will see how much the pages will benefit and become faster. The Opportunity section includes explanations of problems and specific solutions. The tool can detect a multitude of problems, so you should analyze each one and see how the sites can be optimized.
What Are the Most Common Ways You Can Improve Websites?
Only entering a URL of sites and checking performance scores won’t get you anywhere. Implementing recommendations given by the tool is what will improve your searchability and user experience. After analyzing the figures, start considering implementing some of the advice given by the tool. We’ll provide you with some of the most common recommendations.
Get Rid of Unnecessary Page Redirects
Use redirects that are necessary but don’t inundate pages with URLs that point to others. Don’t think that using redirects is a mistake, but putting them only where it’s needed is the best way. Delays are a result of too many redirects.
Use Images That Are Appropriate Size
The sites can be burdened with images that are not the right size. One can utilize CSS to resize and compress any image properly. This way, you will increase the performance of the website.
Embed Your Videos
Not many people know that it’s best to avoid uploading videos to websites directly. They create a lot of stress on the web server, so the load times will be longer. The trick in this situation is to embed videos on web pages or simply store them on YouTube.
Select a Much Faster Website Theme
Some website themes are designed to make the load times shorter, as they are optimized to be more lightweight and responsive. They usually use GZIP compression. Just select one and see how different the performance of the site is and how the PSI scores improve. A website development agency can select the perfect theme for you.
Compress Text With GZIP Compression – Edit the File
Compressing and optimizing your content can be done with just a click on the option Enable Text Compression on your server. Individuals who lack this option on their websites have different options to solve this issue. A plugin can be installed that has GZIP compression. Another option is to compress it manually. Editing the file might be a bit complicated, so you should always have a backup.
Make Sure You Enable Browser Caching
One of the most important tips is to enable browser caching. It’s designed to store images and videos on the visitor’s device so they can easily load when they return to your pages. A professional web developer can enable browser caching easily by creating and editing a .htaccess file.
Leave Optimization of Your Website to the Professionals – Hire a Marketing Agency
It might seem overwhelming when you start optimizing your sites and analyzing reports from tools such as Google Page Speed Insight. The main objective is not to get a perfect mark on the site’s performance but to optimize it in a way that will be interactive and comfortable for use. A digital advertising agency like Made Online has the expertise and capability to optimize web pages in the best way possible.
There are some digital marketing trends that only professional social media agencies can implement into your marketing strategy. Apart from SEO marketing services, content distribution services, and content writing, we can make sure that the mobile and desktop versions of websites are fast and unique. The Made Online team will improve your searchability and visibility on the Internet. Get in touch with the best social media agency, and you won’t have to worry about anything.
Frequently Asked Questions About Google PageSpeed Insights
Is PageSpeed Insights Google?
PageSpeed Insights is not Google. Google is a search engine that offers its users a tool called PageSpeed Insights that is completely free. It is considered a form of assistance when it comes to measuring how fast websites are.
How Do I Read Google PageSpeed Insights?
The report that you get when you enter an URL is divided into a couple of sections. The most important parts are field and lab data. Field figures let you analyze real-world user experience, while lab figures are needed for debugging issues. Finally, reading recommendations and suggestions on optimization is the final step when analyzing the report.
What Is Average Google PageSpeed Score?
The average score is between 50 and 89. Low scores are considered to be between 1 and 49, whereas high scores (meaning your pages are fast) are between 90 and 100.