What tools to use to measure website speed?
The 40% of visitors abandon a site that employs more than 3 seconds to load : test the speed of the site is critical to offer the user an excellent user experience. Choosing the right hosting is the first step for a performing site: focus on security, assistance and uptime (we guarantee more than 99%).
In the article we suggest a list of tools to check performance: remember to choose a tool and always use the one to be able to compare results and metrics over time .
Pingdom
Pingdom is one of the most used website monitoring tools, along with Google PageSpeed Insight. The web page speed test provides information on the loading times of the various pages and the individual http requests. It rates speed with a score of 0-100 and offers tips on how to take advantage of browser caching or reduce redirects.
In addition, it stores the results of the tests performed, giving the possibility to compare and analyze improvements.
Google Page Speed Insights
For Google, page loading speed is a factor in SEO positioning: this is why it provides Google page speed insights , the tool that measures the speed and performance of a page, both from mobile and from desktop. It assigns a score from 1 to 100 and offers suggestions for how to improve performance. Reporting problems and possible solutions, both for mobile and desktop.
Among other things, it monitors the optimization of images and HTML code, indicates javascript and CSS resources that block the display in above-the-fold content, checks redirects, checks if gzip compression is active and if the server responds quickly.
GT Metrix
GT Metrix is a popular tool that provides comprehensive analysis by listing the total page load time, requests made, and page weight. It also checks performance based on connection type, video production delays and AdBlock ad interference.
It is easy to use, also suitable for beginners because it allows data analysis through graphs and allows you to set an alert to stay updated on any decreases in website performance.
Lighthouse
Lighthouse is a Chrome extension made especially for developers that offers suggestions for improving web pages. The tool returns a series of SEO audits on the main aspects that affect the ease of navigation and how they impact the user experience by providing data on loading speed, CSS errors or optimization factors from mobile devices.
Webpage Test
Webpage test is the last tool that we suggest in this article: among the main advantages we find the possibility to test the site from multiple locations (over 40 countries) and browsers and according to different connection modes.
It provides a technical analysis, suitable for developers and among the pros we find the possibility to test the performance of the site even at the second visit, a useful aspect to evaluate the impact of caching. The waterfall diagrams and reports provide additional information and recommendations for improvements to be made to the website.
Choose the tool that best suits your needs and always start from an excellent hosting that offers you high security and performance.
