What is Google PageSpeed Insights and How Can You Achieve a Perfect 100% Score?
📖 Learning
In this fast-paced world, nobody has the time to sit and wait for a webpage to take many minutes to download. It is simple to say that faster websites tend to rank higher in search results, increasing visibility and organic traffic. Furthermore, a faster website has a positive impact on conversion rates and sales.
A web page's speed is critical, as it is directly proportional to the user experience and search engine rankings. A slow website can give you a higher bounce rate, which is something Google might not like.
If your business page is struggling for more than 10 seconds to load, then you're losing out on some serious business. However, you can take some measures to improve your page speed, and the best way to do so is by taking help from Google's PageSpeed Insights tool.
What is Google PageSpeed Insights Tool?
Why is Page Speed Essential for Your Business?
How Does Google PageSpeed Insights Work?
How to Use the PageSpeed Insights Tool
What Techniques Can You Follow to Improve Your PageSpeed Insights Score?
What is Google PageSpeed Insights Tool?
Google PageSpeed Insights is a free tool for measuring the performance of websites. It offers information and suggestions to assist website owners in improving the functionality and speed of their sites. Based on a variety of performance criteria and best practices, the tool analyzes a webpage and assigns it a grade.
This insight tool is probably one of the best available and can really help you deal with your page speed. But can you score 100% on Google PageSpeed Insights? Yes, of course, you can!
Before we get to how to score a perfect 100%, let us understand why page speed is important and how Google's PageSpeed Insights works.
Why is Page Speed Essential for Your Business?
Page speed is an important component in getting your website ranked higher in Google search results. You will not rank on the first page if your website is not on par with the top ten organic pages. Needless to say, concentrating on page speed is mandatory to have a successful business and a website that converts.
There are several reasons that tell us why page speed is crucial:
- Search Engine Rankings: We already know Search engines, like Google, consider website speed as one of the factors when determining search rankings. Websites that load quickly usually have a better chance of appearing higher in search results, which can lead to increased visibility and organic traffic.
- Higher Conversion Rates and Sales: Another reason for having a faster website is getting a higher chance of leads and conversion rates. Research has revealed that even slight enhancements in website speed can result in notable boosts in conversion rates. When users can browse your site smoothly and without difficulty, they are more inclined to carry out desired actions or make purchases.
- User Engagement and Retention: A slow and dull website can have a negative impact when it comes to user engagement. It can happen that visitors may leave your website before examining its content or connecting with your business if it takes too long to load. A quick-loading website, on the other hand, encourages people to remain longer, view more pages, and interact with your content.
- Accessibility and Inclusivity: A fast website load time certainly promotes accessibility and inclusion. This also impacts people who have slower internet connections or impairments but can still surf or browse your website without aggravation or difficulty.
- Reputation and Trust: Having a slow website can harm your reputation and decrease trust in your brand. This is because users may view a slow website as being unprofessional, unreliable, or insecure. On the other hand, a fast website will increase trust and credibility, which will improve your brand's image.
How Does Google PageSpeed Insights Work?
It is said that the Google PageSpeed Insights tool is powered by Lighthouse. It assigns 'lab data' and 'field data' that control the functionality of a page. When scanning a website, 'lab data' is collected in a controlled environment and is a wonderful approach to detecting performance issues and developing solutions to them. On the other hand, when people load a page, 'field data' is acquired from real-world performance statistics. As a result, certain issues and blockages can be seen here.
Based on its study, the tool provides a score for the webpage. The score is calculated on a scale of 0 to 100, with higher values signifying greater performance. The score is divided into three categories: Green-Good (90–100), Orange-needs-improvement (50–89), and Red-Poor (0–49). Following this, it recommends specific actions to fix issues, such as using browser cache, compressing pictures, decreasing render-blocking resources, and many more.
How to Use the PageSpeed Insights Tool
Using Google PageSpeed Insights is a straightforward process that requires no extra understanding. However, we have listed a step-by-step guide on how to use PageSpeed Insights:
Access PageSpeed Insight
In this first step, open your web browser and go to the Google PageSpeed Insights website.
Enter the URL
You'll notice a text field in the PageSpeed Insights tool where you can input the URL of the webpage you wish to analyze. In that area, type or paste the URL of the website you wish to test.
Start the Analysis
After you have entered the desired URL, hit the Enter key or click the "Analyze" button. PageSpeed Insights will begin analyzing the performance of the webpage.
Review the Results
PageSpeed Insights will display the results on the same page once the study is complete. You'll get different performance rankings for mobile and desktop, as well as extensive information and recommendations.
Interpret the Scores
PageSpeed Insights assigns a score from 0 to 100 to mobile and desktop performance. Higher scores denote superior achievement. As we have mentioned earlier, the scores are shown in color-coded representation in three categories: Red color shows 0-49, Orange color shows 50-89, and Green color shows 90-100.
Analyze the Recommendations
Once the scores are displayed, the tool provides a list of recommendations to improve your website's performance. These suggestions are derived from best practices and specific issues uncovered during research. Each recommendation is accompanied by an explanation of the problem and steps to resolve it.
Implement Optimisation
To enhance the speed and performance of your website, follow the suggested optimizations, such as optimizing images, making use of the browser cache, minifying resources, and removing render-blocking scripts.
What Techniques Can You Follow to Improve Your PageSpeed Insights Score?
By regularly monitoring your webpage performance, you can get a 100% score, however, it is essential to keep in mind the best methods and follow the recommendations to help you optimize your website for better speed. Here are some of the techniques that can help influence your website's performance:
Image Optimisation
One of the most important aspects of having a good website impression is having the right size of an image. Another biggest demerit of a slow webpage can be having a larger image, which can have a huge impact on speed. Having your site's pictures optimized is often the best place to start making changes because the benefits in both load time and page speed may be considerable. It is advised to use photos that are correctly sized and compressed. Consider adopting next-generation picture formats such as WebP, or WP Smush Image, Compress JPEG, Optimizilla, TinyPNG, or ImageMagick, whichever suits your needs, and can drastically reduce file sizes while maintaining image quality.
Reduce Server Response Time
Reduce response times by optimizing your server and database setups. To serve your content from geographically spread servers, use caching methods and consider employing a content delivery network (CDN). Improving server response time boils down to ensuring that your website is hosted on a reliable server. By using a CDN, your website's static assets can be cached and served from servers located closer to your users, resulting in improved loading speed and broader reach across the globe.
Enable Browser Caching
Browser caching is another vital factor that can help you improve your website's performance. Consider setting suitable cache headers in the browser to allow it to save static files and minimize needless downloads.
Caching works in a way by recollecting all the resources that do not require loading again, such as logos or footers, every time a user visits your website. By using free and popular plugins like W3 Total Cache and WP Super Cache, you can help increase your webpage speed. Additionally, these plugins can also be used to minify your HTML, CSS, and JavaScript files by removing unnecessary characters, spaces, and comments.
Reduce the Number of HTTP Requests
Multiple redirections can accumulate over time and degrade page load speed when browsers are compelled to perform additional HTTP queries, increasing load time. To reduce the number of HTTP requests required for loading CSS and JavaScript files, it's recommended to combine and minimize them.
Conclusion
A website's speed plays a key role in offering an excellent user experience. With the help of the Google PageSpeed Insights tool, you can enhance your search rankings, boost conversion rates and sales, and build a strong global brand. This tool is incredibly helpful in identifying areas for improvement and providing valuable insights into your website's performance. Thus, you must prioritize optimizing your business website in order to create a better online presence and effectively engage with your target audience.
Dev Gupta
FAQs
What is the Google PageSpeed Insights tool?
Google PageSpeed Insights is a free tool for measuring the performance of websites. It offers information and suggestions to assist website owners in improving the functionality and speed of their sites.
How are Google PageSpeed Insight scores classified?
The scores are divided into three categories: Good (90–100), Needs-Improvement (50–89), and Poor (0–49).
How do I boost my Google PageSpeed Insights Score?
Some techniques that can help you boost your PageSpeed Insights score include image optimization, reducing server response time, enabling browser caching, and reducing HTTP requests.
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