How to Read the Speed Score Google Gives Your Website
Is your website fast? Google has a free tool that measures it and gives it a score. Here we explain step by step how to use it and what each result means, even if you later hire someone to fix it.
Google PageSpeed Insights is a free tool that analyzes your website’s performance and gives you recommendations to improve it. Below, we explain how to use Google PageSpeed Insights to analyze your website’s performance:
- Go to the Google PageSpeed Insights website (https://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/insights/).
- Enter your website’s URL in the search bar and click the «Analyze» button.
- Wait for the analysis to finish, then review the results. The results are split into two sections: «Mobile» and «Desktop».
To understand the metrics and recommendations provided by Google PageSpeed Insights, here are some key terms and concepts:
- Performance Score: A score from 0 to 100 that sums up your website’s performance. The higher the score, the better the performance.
- Optimization Recommendations: Suggestions for improving your website’s performance. They are grouped into two categories: «Should fix» and «Consider fixing».
- Time to Interactive (TTI): The time it takes your website to become fully interactive and respond to user input.
- First Contentful Paint (FCP): The time it takes for the first content to appear on the screen when your website loads.
- Largest Contentful Paint (LCP): The time it takes for the largest content element on your website to become visible.
- Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS): Measures your website’s visual stability, taking into account how much the layout shifts during loading.
Once you understand these metrics and recommendations, you’ll have a better idea of your website’s performance and can make informed decisions about how to improve it. If you need more help optimizing your website’s performance, you can hire a professional web developer to assist you.