The world of website optimization often makes us feel like we are being chased by a ghost named the Google algorithm that is never satisfied. You might often feel stressed out every time you see those glowing red numbers on your site speed report.
Many people think that knowing the health of a website requires expensive applications that make your wallet cry just for the subscription fee. In fact, we can actually perform these checks independently without having to spend a single penny from our pockets.
We only need to utilize the technology already provided for free by the search engine giant to see our site performance. You no longer need to feel confused or deceived by fake optimization services that only sell sweet promises and nothing more.
Understanding how these metrics work will make you much calmer when having to manage your digital business website alone at home. We will show you that these complicated numbers can actually be read with simple logic that makes perfect sense to anyone.
Do not let your website look beautiful but turn out to have “internal diseases” that make visitors angry because the loading never ends. You deserve to have a healthy website without having to be a coding expert or owning a super sophisticated private server.
Secrets to Peeking at Speed Scores Directly Through Chrome Browser
The Chrome browser you use every day is actually the most powerful audit tool to measure the performance of any website page. You do not need to install any weird additional extensions that actually make your laptop work even slower and heavier than before.
This hidden feature can provide a real picture of how Google sees and assesses the feasibility of your site in the digital world. Follow these easy steps to start peeking at your favorite website’s health score right now:
- Right-click anywhere on your website page and then select the Inspect menu to open the secret developer window immediately.
- Look for the tab named Lighthouse in the top menu row then select the Performance and Core Web Vitals categories to start the scan.
- Choose Mobile mode if you want to know how the website performs when accessed via smartphones which usually carry a much heavier load.
- Click the Analyze Page Load button and wait a few seconds until the system finishes giving a report card for every element you created.
This audit result will give you clear clues about which parts must be fixed so that visitors do not run away to other places. You can see in detail which elements make your score red and that redness is usually quite painful for the eyes to see.
Utilizing Google PageSpeed Insights Without Needing an Account
The PageSpeed Insights service is the most popular way often used by website owners all over the world for free. You do not need much time to understand every displayed graph because everything has been designed to be very user-friendly.
This tool provides very accurate data because it is taken directly from the database of real user experiences collected by Google. Pay attention to these important points when you are reading the report results from this incredibly great free tool:
- Enter your complete website URL address into the search column and then press enter to start the automatic data analysis process.
- Look at the First Contentful Paint section to know how fast images or text first appear on your visitor’s phone screen.
- Check the Largest Contentful Paint metric which is often the main cause of your website feeling sluggish and slow when first opened.
- Pay attention to the Cumulative Layout Shift section to ensure your website elements do not jump around on their own during the loading process.
We often focus too much on aesthetic design but forget that visual stability is much more important for the comfort of other people. Google will not care how good your website colors are if it makes people misclick buttons because of a messy layout.
Quick Audit Techniques Using Google Search Console Regularly
If you are serious about managing a long-term digital asset, then Google Search Console is the best friend you should never forget. This tool provides regular reports about which pages need more attention due to their poor and disappointing performance.
You can see website health trends over a long period without having to perform manual checks one by one every single day. Here is the strategy to monitor Core Web Vitals through this powerful dashboard provided for free:
- Open the Core Web Vitals menu in the Experience section to see a comprehensive and very detailed summary of your website page status.
- Pay attention to the graph showing the number of pages with Good URL status in green because that is the main target we must reach.
- Click on the Issue section to see a list of specific URLs experiencing technical problems and needing immediate repair to stay safe.
- Validate the fixes after you finish optimizing the website so that Google knows you have worked hard to fix all that technical mess.
Monitoring performance progress regularly will keep you one step ahead of competitors who rarely perform technical audits like this. You will not be shocked anymore if suddenly the website ranking drops just because of speed issues that can actually be solved.
We must realize that a fast website is the highest form of respect for the time your visitors spend on the internet. Hopefully, this casual tutorial makes you no longer afraid to see the numbers in the website speed report from today onwards.
