On the other hand, the three Core Web Vitals focus on how users interact with your page and account for 70% of the overall PageSpeed score weight. If you’re still in doubt, we’ve got you covered in the last section of this article with some performance optimization tips. Hopefully, you’re already taking care of your site’s mobile performance. On the one hand, mobile page speed has been a ranking factor for more than two years. It includes several signals: mobile-friendliness, HTTPS-security, intrusive interstitial guidelines, safe-browsing, and the already mentioned Core Web Vitals metrics. This new ranking factor measures the user experience of a page. In June 2021, the Page Experience signal will roll out as an SEO ranking factor.In July 2018, Google rolled out the Speed Update, and mobile page speed became a direct ranking factor, both for Google Search and Ads.Google PageSpeed matters because it can affect SEO from two different perspectives: mobile speed and user experience.īoth mobile performance and user experience are related to specific ranking factors: Last but not least, field data is valuable because it’s how Google evaluates the SEO ranking - more on this topic just in the next section! Why Google PageSpeed Is Important (and Why It Affects SEO) That’s why the performance score considers the Total Blocking Time metric, used as a proxy. The First Input Delay metric can’t be measured without real user interaction. WP Rocket homepage – Example of Field dataĪt this point, it’s useful for you to know that the Lab data contains only the Largest Contentful Paint and Cumulative Layout Shift scores. You can quickly identify them by the blue flag: Largest Contentful Paint (loading performance), First Input Delay (interactivity), Cumulative Layout Shift (visual stability). This data is highly valuable because it captures real user experience - it’s also why this data can slightly differ from the lab data and isn’t always available.įield Data stored in the CrUX contains all three Core Web Vitals. Real field-data is based on the aggregated data that Google Chrome collects from users and makes available in the Chrome User Experience Report (CrUX). That’s why the PageSpeed Insights tool also provides Field data. The simulation is done with the predefined device and network settings.īeing based on predefined conditions - for instance, the Internet connection - the Google PageSpeed score doesn’t reflect real user experience at 100%. It means that Google PageSpeed Insights, through Lighthouse, collects performance data in a controlled environment. The Google PageSpeed score is based on lab data. After running the performance audit and assessing several metrics, Lighthouse will determine the Performance score - that is the same score that Google PageSpeed provides. Lighthouse runs different audits, including a performance one. The Google PageSpeed score is determined by Lighthouse, an open-source tool powered by Google’s team. Google PageSpeed Insights is one of Google’s tools to measure and improve your site’s performance on mobile and desktop devices.Īs the first thing, PageSpeed Insights provides you with the overall page’s performance score. You’ll get answers to all your most popular questions and doubts on the PageSpeed Insights importance, including the evergreen question: does the 100/100 page speed score matter? What Google PageSpeed Insights is And What the PageSpeed Score Means Lastly, you’ll get some tips to improve your mobile PageSpeed score, the most important grade. You’ll also understand why you should always pay attention to the loading time - Google PageSpeed Insights could still be a bit misleading, and at WP Rocket, we care a lot about this metric! In this article, you’ll learn why Google PageSpeed Insights is important and accurate to measure different aspects of your site’s user experience, including performance. Starting from June 2021, the Google PageSpeed score will be closely related to your SEO performance because of the Core Web Vitals included in the new Page Experience ranking factor. While there could still be a difference between the Google PageSpeed score and your site’s loading time, things have changed - and we need to keep up with the news. In the past, we said that you shouldn’t care about the Google PageSpeed Insights score because the grade alone wasn’t an indicator of speed. Google PageSpeed Insights grade is important (and reliable). If you’re wondering if Google PageSpeed Insights score matters, our short answer is: yes.