Google’s New Page Speed Insight Update

man using a laptop to assess website speed with Google's page speed insight
29 November 2021 | | Blog, Internet, Marketing, Search Engine Optimisation

In early November, Google announced it was making some changes to site speed reporting tool PageSpeed Insights (PSI). PSI is a tool used by website managers and developers to assess the speed of their site, whilst offering suggestions on how you can improve.

So what’s new…

 

New URL

One of the biggest new changes is a new URL. The tool is now accessible at https://pagespeed.web.dev/

Lab and Field Data 

Google’s goal with the new launch of PSI is to “improve the presentation of the report data and add clarity and granularity to the data available in the results”. With the new layout, users can now differentiate between lab data and field data.

  • Lab data: Data collected within a controlled environment with predefined devices and network settings.
  • Field data: Data collected from real page loads from those who are experiencing your website. 

Core Web Vitals

The new update also clearly communicates how the Core Web Vitals assessment is calculated with a pass/fail system. Though there has been no change in the assessment process, your website will pass or fail if it meets the 75th percentile of all three metrics (FID, LCP, CLS). 

Failed SiteSpeed Test Passed SiteSpeed Test

New Data

There are also new details about the sample data within the reports. You can now see: 

  • Data collection period 
  • Visit duration 
  • Devices  
  • Network connections 
  • Sample size
  • Chrome versions 

New data with the PageSpeed Insight update

Mobile and Desktop 

Google has moved and centred the links for mobile and desktop results within the report. The links are now easily visible and distinctly indicate the platform for which the data is being shown.

Before: 

After: 

mobile and desktop view after PSI update

Many have praised Google for these new updates, some users are finding the tool to be loading reports slower. Though Google has other tools that can help users assess website speed. 

 

Page Speed Insights vs Lighthouse 

Lighthouse is another handy tool used by web developers and managers. It’s an automated tool for improving the quality of your site. It provides users with a list of recommendations on how to improve page performance and make a page more accessible.

The key difference between PageSpeed Insights is whilst PSI measures the performance metrics only, Lighthouse audits other aspects of website performance such as SEO and accessibility. Also PSI used a combination of lab and field data, while Lighthouse only uses lab to build its reports.

The tool you use to assess your website will depend on if you want to know how fast your website loads from its visitors perspective or do you want to dig deeper and evaluate more than just speed?

 

At Dental Design, our technical SEO and web developers are site speed experts and can help your website reach its full potential. Get in touch with our team for a web assessment today! 

 

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