Google’s PageSpeed Insights tool is undoubtedly one of the oldest tools available, but it is just as effective as when it was first introduced. While there are many more detailed and sophisticated tools out there, I still think this is one of the best. It’s easy to understand and use, gives you quick results, and gives you clear explanations if you don’t understand something, making it a great place to start for beginners. The moral of the story: Don’t let all the shiny new tools put aside some of the “classics.”
Getting started with the Page Speed Insights tool works
As said previously, the most interesting thing about this tool is its simplicity and simplicity. At the very least, it helps small business owners check SEO basics for their desktop and mobile website more often. It is also free.
The tool has to do with analysis. It examines your website or websites and analyzes all kinds of factors on the page that affect its SEO and therefore it’s ranking in the SERPs. You’ll get a score from 0 to 100, then tips on how to improve your score.
It is easier to understand when you start using the tool. Here is a general example with the New York Times URL:
- Check this link, enter your URL and click “Analyze”. It will only take a few seconds.
- Your results will appear after the tool finishes scanning your site. You will see that you get a good list of things to improve, as well as the things that you are doing well.
page speed analysis tool
And that’s it! The rest is up to you. Review the list and start making the suggested changes. Again, this is a great place to start before paying for expensive tools or hiring an expert. This gives you an idea of how your website presents itself in the world of best SEO services.
There are also some other notable features that can help you stay organized and get the updates you need:
“Show how to fix it.” As you can see from the screenshot above, there is a small clickable “Show how to fix” link next to each suggestion, so if you don’t understand what something means, you can click through and get a little description.
Laptop and desktop computer available. You can easily go back from mobile to desktop by clicking on the tabs at the top.
Color code. For a quick glance, the red exclamation point means that making a fix would make a big difference to your page performance, a yellow means you can fix this problem without too much work, and a green means you’re ready to go.
Standards adopted. An adopted rule means you were successful or you don’t need to change anything. So you can expand to see some of the areas where you are doing well.
Chrome extension. There is a Chrome extension that you can download here for easy accessibility.
Visual representation. One of the most recent updates to the tool is the fact that you can see a visual representation of your desktop and mobile sites. This helps you quickly see what each of them looks like and how they compare to each other.
This tool comes directly from Google so it is something you can trust and is constantly being updated and improved. When you visit the tool now, you will see a section still in beta titled “User Experience”. This seems to look at factors related to user experience, as opposed to how Google views your site (which is the entire site offered in the past). This information is not yet included in your score, but it is something we can see in the near future.
Have you used the Page Speed Insights tool before? What do you find most useful about this tool? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
