Website speed optimization-SEO Lighthouse tool

 The loading speed of the website not only directly has a great impact on the user experience of the website, but also has an impact on SEO. The loading speed of a webpage is an indicator of Google as a search ranking. In other words, the loading speed of a webpage will affect our website ranking. Because the optimization of website speed is so important, we shouldn't neglect the optimization of website speed.

 

When it comes to website speed testing and optimization, the first thing many people think of is the Page Speed ​​Insights provided by Google . However, those who use it often will notice that after the latest update of the web speed measurement tool, Integrating new data into it, that is, the protagonist of this article-the analysis data of the Lighthouse tool, the importance of the Lighthouse tool can be seen.

 

Seeing this, you might be thinking, how powerful is the lighthouse tool that will make Google think it is so important that it should be integrated into its own tools?

Today, I’m going to share with you a powerful lighthouse tool that even Google can’t ignore!

 

• What is Lighthouse? what is the purpose? How to use it?

Lighthouse is an extended application of Google Chrome. It is a web developer tool. Its main function is to analyze web page performance (including web page loading speed) and generate analysis reports. There will be the performance of various data and indicators on this page, and suggestions on how to optimize and improve.

 

For how to install the lighthouse tool, or have any questions about its use, you can refer to this article by Google: Use Lighthouse to review web applications .

 

Simply put, after installing the Chrome browser, click on the Lighthouse-Chrome Online App Store-Google Chrome link to enter the installation page. After installation, you can see the icon of the lighthouse tool (a small lighthouse) at the top right of the browser. ​

 

Image source: Lighthouse-Chrome Web App Store-Google Chrome

 

Then just open the webpage we want to analyze, click on the icon, and click Generate Report, the tool will start analyzing the webpage, and after the analysis, a window showing the analysis report will pop up, as shown below:

 

• How to interpret the report and improve the website speed and user experience based on the indicators (data) and suggestions of the analysis results?

After generating the analysis report, we will then interpret the report and optimize it for the shortcomings of the website in the report.

First of all, on the interpretation report, you can see five comprehensive score indicators at the top, showing the performance of the webpage at all levels, and the content of the subsequent reports below are mainly detailed descriptions of each indicator and provide improvements Directions and suggestions.

Today, we focus on website speed optimization, so we will give priority to the performance related to loading speed (Performance)

From the above figure, we can see that it shows the performance of various indicators of website loading speed.

The Opportunities and Diagnostics blocks as shown in the figure below are for suggestions and instructions on how to optimize, and show how much load time is estimated to be reduced after improvement.

For example, the third point mentioned that you can use a suitable image size, and it is estimated that the loading time can be reduced by 4.69 seconds. Click further to display detailed information, such as which picture sizes can be reduced.

 

In fact, from the analysis in the above figure, we can see that there are still many areas that can be optimized to improve the speed of the website.

Then in so many optimization projects, you can first implement the projects that can bring greater improvements or are simpler to operate, and slowly improve the website speed step by step, so that users have a better experience.

 

In addition, if the English description is not clear, as mentioned earlier, Google has integrated the above-mentioned performance and performance blocks of the lighthouse tool into its Page Speed ​​Insights . There is an interface in Chinese, so it can help us master the Lighthouse information. To use the speed measurement tool, just click the link above and enter the website you want to analyze in the search field to see the analysis report.

Finally, as Google incorporates Lighthouse into its tools, we can speculate that Google pays special attention to the indicators displayed in Lighthouse, so understand Lighthouse, and optimize the direction it suggests, improve the speed of the website, and make the website more popular by Google. And users love, and at the same time drive our rankings to flourish.