Google PageSpeed Tools

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Google PageSpeed is a family of tools by Google, Inc. [1] designed to help optimize website performance. [2] It was introduced at a Developer Conference in 2010. [3] [4] There are four main components of PageSpeed family tools: PageSpeed Module (consisting of mod PageSpeed [5] for the Apache HTTP Server and NGX PageSpeed [6] for the Nginx), [7] PageSpeed Insights, PageSpeed Service, and the PageSpeed Chrome DevTools extension. These components aim to identify and automatically correct deviations from Google's Web Performance Best Practices.

Contents

PageSpeed Modules

The PageSpeed Modules are the open-source Apache HTTP Server or Nginx web server modules, which automatically apply chosen filters to pages and associated assets, such as stylesheets, JavaScript, and HTML files, as well as to images and website cache requirements. These modules do not require modifications to existing content or workflow, [8] meaning that all internal optimizations and changes to files are made on the server side, presenting modified files directly to the user. Each of the 40+ filters corresponds to one of Google's web performance best practices rules.

Since PageSpeed module is an open source library, it is frequently updated by numerous developers from all over the world and can be deployed by any individual sites, hosting providers, or CDNs. [9]

The installation can be done in two ways: from packages or build from source on the following supported platforms:

Ports

Other servers that offer a PageSpeed optimization module based on Google's Page Speed SDK:

Filters

PageSpeed module filters are settings, based on which a webpage optimization rule is applied. They can be divided into five main categories:

Speed impact

The PageSpeed Module showed the most significant impact on decreasing webpage loading times, payload size, and number of requests when compared to other options in the industry. According to several researchers, 'mod_pagespeed' can reduce loading times by up to 80%, the amount of bytes on a wire can be decreased by 30%, and the number of total requests can drop by over 20%. Since many search engines, including Google, employ a ranking algorithm which is affected by a page's loading speed, these optimizations can impact a website's placement in search results. [12] [13] As of February 2015, Google has begun testing “Slow” labels on mobile devices [14] for websites that exceed a certain amount of loading time, prompting developers to examine ways to increase a page's load speed.

PageSpeed Insights

PageSpeed Insights [15] is an online synthetic benchmark tool which helps in identifying performance best practices on any single URL, provides suggestions on a webpage's optimizations, and suggests overall ideas of how to make a website faster. [16] This tool can be accessed directly in any browser. Per URL request, it grades webpage performance on a scale from 1 to 100 and provides a report on suggested optimizations, divided into categories of high (score > 80, indicating most best practices have been implemented and there is little headroom for improvement), medium (between 60 and 79 indicating that the page is missing some common optimizations there is some headroom for optimization), and low priorities (Score below 60, indicating a non-optimized page) - About PageSpeed Insights [17]

Currently, the Page Speed Insight score is calculated on the basis of six factors:

  1. Largest Contentful Paint (LCP)
  2. Interaction to Next Paint (INP)
  3. Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS)
  4. First Contentful Paint (FCP)
  5. First Input Delay (FID)
  6. Time to First Byte (TTFB)

Recent versions of PageSpeed Insights added support [18] for measuring real-world user experience using the Chrome User Experience Report. [19] Google Chrome's Elizabeth Sweeny and Addy Osmani lead PageSpeed Insights and announced its support for Core Web Vitals in 2020. [20]

PageSpeed Chrome Extension

Pagespeed extension is an extension of Chrome Browser and is a part of Google Chrome Developer Tools. Visitors who use PageSpeed regularly can view all given metrics by PageSpeed Insights directly in a browser and download webpage resources, optimized according to web performance best practices. It has now been deprecated [21] and Google recommends the online version be used instead.

PageSpeed Service

PageSpeed service was a commercial product, provided by Google Inc. The service was offered free of charge, since it was still officially in beta version. Service included all Pagespeed Module optimizations and use of Google servers’ infrastructure. [22] Google announced the deprecation of PageSpeed service on 5 May 2015 [23] and turned it off on 3 August 2015. [24]

See also

Related Research Articles

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References

  1. ↑ "About PageSpeed Insights". Google Developers. Retrieved 2022-08-13.
  2. ↑ Ivanovs, Alex (16 April 2014). "PageSpeed Module: Improving Your Websites' Performance". huffingtonpost.com/. The Huffington Post. Retrieved 23 March 2015.
  3. ↑ Kerner, Sean Michael (4 November 2010). "Google Speeds Up the Web with Apache Web Server Module". serverwatch.com/news/. Retrieved 23 March 2015.
  4. ↑ Ram, Ramani (2011-07-29). "Page Speed Service: Web performance, delivered". googlecode.blogspot.com/. Retrieved 17 March 2015.
  5. ↑ "Github". github.com. Google Inc. Retrieved 6 August 2020.
  6. ↑ "Github". github.com. Google Inc. Retrieved 6 August 2020.
  7. ↑ "Apache Incubator". modpagespeed.com/. Google Inc. Retrieved 6 August 2020.
  8. ↑ Edwards, Ben (2014-07-28). "Authoring critical above-the-fold CSS". benedfit.com. Retrieved 23 March 2015.
  9. ↑ "PageSpeed Insights SDK". code.google.com. Google Inc. Retrieved 23 March 2015.
  10. ↑ "ats_pagespeed". iispeed.com/. IISpeed B.V. Archived from the original on 2015-05-25. Retrieved 2015-05-25.
  11. ↑ "IIS WebSpeed". iiswebspeed.com/. IISpeed B.V.
  12. ↑ Enge, Eric (2011-03-06). "Case Study: Impact of Code Cleanup on Site Traffic". searchenginewatch.com/. Search Engine Watch. Retrieved 23 March 2015.
  13. ↑ Kuchler, Margaret (19 May 2011). "The Growing Need For Speed: How Site Performance Increasingly Influences Search Rankings". retailtouchpoints.com/. Retail Touch Points. Retrieved 23 March 2015.
  14. ↑ Barry, Shwartz (2015-02-25). "Google Testing A Red "Slow" Label In The Search Results For Slower Sites". searchengineland.com/. Retrieved 17 March 2015.
  15. ↑ "PageSpeed Insights". PageSpeed Insights. Google Inc.
  16. ↑ Wagner, Janet (2015-01-15). "GOOGLE RELEASES PAGESPEED INSIGHTS API V2". programmableweb.com/. Programmable Web. Retrieved 23 March 2015.
  17. ↑ Burton, Clark (2016-11-08). "A Technical Guide to Google's PageSpeed Insights Reports" . Retrieved 12 July 2018.
  18. ↑ "Real-world user experience data". PageSpeed Insights. Google Inc.
  19. ↑ "Chrome UX Report". Chrome User Experience Report. Google Inc.
  20. ↑ "Tools to measure Core Web Vitals". Web Vitals Tools. Google Inc.
  21. ↑ "PageSpeed Insights | PageSpeed Insights | Google Developers". Google Developers. Retrieved 2016-09-08.
  22. ↑ Lardinois, Frederic (3 August 2012). "Google Updates PageSpeed Service, Promises To "Turbocharge Your Website"". techcrunch.com. The Tech Crunch. Retrieved 23 March 2015.
  23. ↑ "Google Groups". groups.google.com. Retrieved 7 February 2019.
  24. ↑ "Turndown information for PageSpeed Service - PageSpeed Service". Google Developers. Retrieved 7 February 2019.
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