PageSpeed Insights: Measuring Website Speed for SEO

Page loading speed is an important factor that needs to be considered in SEO, and checking it needs to be done with tools such as PageSpeed Insights.

Website managers should prioritize page speed because this aspect is considered by Google in the process of determining website page rankings on the SERP.

To measure how well a website's loading speed is, you can use PageSpeed Insights, which can provide data about website performance in a short time.

This guide will discuss important things about this speed measuring tool made by Google. Check out the information below.

What is PageSpeed Insights?

PageSpeed Insights (PSI) is a tool for measuring website page speed using real-world and lab data.

The page speed referred to here is an SEO measurement metric, namely page speed on desktop and mobile devices.

The real-world data is taken from Chrome user reports. While lab data is calculated using Lighthouse.

The report presented by PSI consists of load time, PageSpeed, Core Web Vitals, and other factors that affect the speed and performance of the website itself.

Generally, this website speed check tool is used to help developers improve website performance.

From PSI, developers are able to get recommendations for improvements that can increase website page loading time and improve the user experience.

Aside from web developers, PSI can also be used by website owners and marketing teams.

Website owners, whether personal or business, can use PSI to monitor website performance in terms of page loading speed.

The marketing team can also use PSI to help ads and campaigns load quickly for the target audience.

PageSpeed Insights vs Lighthouse

It was mentioned before that there is another Google tool that can be used side by side with PageSpeed Insights, namely Lighthouse.

Both have different roles, so the topic of discussion, "PageSpeed ​​Insights vs Lighthouse '' becomes relevant information that is more or less sought after by users.

As previously explained, PSI combines real-world and lab data to provide easy-to-understand website speed reports.

Meanwhile, Lighthouse is a tool focused on collecting lab data covering all aspects, from loading speed to website security.

PSI is usually used for general checking. On the other hand, Lighthouse presents detailed data aimed at developers.

Both of them will provide recommendations to improve the user experience by speeding up the loading of website pages.

How PageSpeed Insights Work

Using Google PageSpeed Insights (PSI) is quite easy when compared to the Lighthouse tool.

To get a report on page loading speed, you can go to the https://pagespeed.web.dev/ page and enter the URL you want to review.

Wait some time for the report to appear in its entirety, including Core Web Vitals, detailed page speed metrics, and a Performance Rating.

The Performance Rating data itself is the average of each metric score presented in the PSI report.
 

This rating is the overall value of the website but is not an absolute measurement of its performance.

How Page Scoring Works

The data attached to the PageSpeed Insights report covers all aspects related to page speed measurement.

There are several aspects included in calculating the Performance Rating score.

The following details the percentage of aspects of page speed measurement that determine page scores in PSI:

• Speed Index: the average time it takes for content to load until the screen is fully displayed (10%).
• First Contentful Paint: the duration of time the first image or text block is loaded in its entirety (10%).
• Largest Contentful Paint: how long it takes to load the largest image or block of text to fully appear (25%).
• Time to Interactive: the length of loading the entire page to be fully accessed (10%).
• Total Blocking Time: the time difference between First Contentful Paint and Time to Interactive, during which the element appears the first time from a user interaction (30%).
• Cumulative Layout Shift: a measure of unexpected layout shifts, such as content loading rearrangements that shift elements up or down the page (15%).

How to Get a High Score on PageSpeed ​​Insights?

Website performance ratings on PageSpeed Insights are on a scale of 0 to 10. The higher the score, the better the quality of the page in Google's eyes.

The optimal score is in the range of 90 to 100. To get this score, a website needs to have optimal performance.

In other words, website issues that can slow down page loading need to be resolved, according to data from PSI analysts.

So, what should you do to get a high score by Google's standards? Here are some strategies you can apply:

Implement Image SEO

Images used on every website page need to be optimized so they don't take long to load.

Not infrequently the use of large images is a factor in the poor page speed score of a website.

Therefore, apply an image SEO strategy that prioritizes page speed without sacrificing image quality.

In other words, the image file used will be small in size without destroying the quality. To do this, you can use an online image compression service.

One of the tips you can do here is to change the image format to WebP. This image format maintains image quality but is small in size.

Compresses JavaScript, HTML and CSS

Besides images, other elements on website pages that can slow down loading are JavaScript, HTML, and CSS.

These codes need to be reduced without reducing quality. That way, the browser will be able to load it more quickly.

Optimizing the Mobile Version of the Page

In order for website performance to increase, you need to do page optimization on the mobile version, considering that most browsing activities are carried out by users via smartphones at this time.

To find out what needs to be fixed, check the report presented by PageSpeed Insights on the mobile version.

From the data obtained, you can start planning a strategy and setting priorities to optimize mobile website pages so that they perform as well as the desktop version.

You can use the Mobile Friendly Test from cmlabs for free to see how good the display quality of your website pages is on mobile devices.

Using Caching

Caching is an effective page speed optimization strategy using caches. Website page data will be stored temporarily in cache form.

The website page that is opened for the first time will display new elements. Then the caching system will store the data.

When the user reopens the website page, there is no need to request the same data from the server.

That way, the loading time will be shorter than before, and users can access the page without having to wait for the server to respond again.

Thus, the guide about PageSpeed Insights, how it works, how to score, and how to get a high score from the analysis you do.

As an alternative option, you can use the Page Speed Test from cmlabs to find out how well your website pages are performing.

For more comprehensive website optimization, you can use SEO services from specialists in their field.

SEO can help your website achieve optimal performance organically. Use optimization services from SEO specialists who use measurable strategies to support your website's performance.