At FCDM, we understand that testing and optimising page speed is essential.

Google indicates continually that page speed is one of the signals used by its algorithm to rank pages and it is a critical factor to any successful digital strategy.

Studies show that when a web page doesn’t load within three seconds, 25% of visitors will already have left. A slow website or even a delay when loading a web page is guaranteed to lose visitors and therefore potential customers and revenue.

At FCDM, we believe that the following tools all have a place in testing your page speed and identifying areas for potential improvement. This is not to say these are the only tools available, but when put together, they provide a comprehensive yet easy-to-understand way to audit site speed and are the tools of choice for our FCDM development team.

Google PageSpeed Insights

PageSpeed Insights performance test tool, provided by Google, gives a wide range of information and tips in order to increase your website’s performance. This is a technical optimisation tool. It provides diagnostic information directly from Google by analysing the content of your web pages.

The tool outlines all current optimisation opportunities and points out optimisation factors already in place.  PageSpeed Insights also evaluates how well a page follows common performance best practices and computes a score from 0 to 100 that estimates its performance headroom.

Pingdom

Pingdom is a very detailed and handy performance tester tool, that tests the speed at which your website is delivered. You will need to enter your URL and the location you want to test from. Choose the location that is closest to your business (and where your site is hosted).

The Pingdom tool will then give you another performance grade, along with loading time and how you stack up against other sites and physical file size.

Google Mobile Test

This is the tool that shows you if Google considers your page mobile friendly or not. If the tool says “no” then the page will be pushed down in the mobile search results in favour of similar pages from other sites that are mobile friendly.

This test will tell you more about how Google will see your page rather than how your mobile users might see it. That itself is very helpful because you can use their feedback for SEO purposes as well.

At FCDM, our experienced team view website speed a major part of optimising our clients websites for both users and search engines and understand that ongoing testing and optimisation page speed is an essential part of any digital strategy.  Why not get in touch today to see how FCDM can take your business to new heights!