You probably already know that loading speed is a crucial ranking factor for websites.
The novelty is that this criterion became decisive for the results of searches on smartphones and tablets.
Therefore, to maintain a good place in the ranking of search engines it is essential that the website loads quickly.
Learn how to improve the performance of your website with this list of 5 free tools.
Why is Loading Speed so Important?
The supply of content on the Internet is growing daily, as is the demand.
More and more people use the network to interact and search for information.
The interest is so great that Mexico appears among the countries in which Internet users spend more time online, connected via mobile devices.
However, this audience, extremely active in the digital world, does not have much patience for slow websites.
When entering a website, any additional second it takes to load the page can be the differential to win or lose a visitor or customer.
For this reason, it is essential to keep your website running with the highest loading speed possible.
You can use various techniques to optimize your page and improve the performance of a website.
But today we will talk about a stage before this.
It is about the free tools that you can use to measure the loading time of a website:
There are various techniques that you can use to optimize your page and increase loading speed.
But before that, it is essential to know the real situation of your website.
For this reason, today we will talk about some free tools that allow us to evaluate and measure the loading time of your website:
There are many factors that interfere with the speed of a website.
And to try to solve them, you need to know more about them, and about the real situation of your website.
So, as the famous scientist and philosopher William Thompson (Lord Kelvin) said “ What cannot be measured cannot be improved ”.
Some of the most common reasons that make a website slow are:
- Very heavy images;
- Incorrect use of scripts;
- Excessive use of JavaScript, CSS, and HTML;
- Code optimization problems.
To identify which of these problems need to be solved.
You can use free tools that test the speed of websites.
We present it to you below:
Free Tools to Measure Speed
1. Page Speed Insights, by Google
The tool is part of the Google developer portal; and analyzes the loading speed of the website, both for desktops (computers) and for mobile devices.
After entering the URL of the website, you will receive a diagnosis based on the following criteria:
- Mobile – Speed
- Mobile – User Experience
- Computer – Speed
In each of the sections named above, the page will receive a ranking score, between 0 and 100, with 0 being the worst index and 100 the best.
The closer you are to 100, the fewer items you will have to correct.
In addition to this, a detailed evaluation of the problems found and a recommendation of what you could do to correct it will be carried out.
The tool will also display a screenshot of the web page on mobile and desktop.
Get to know this tool at Page Speed Insights.
If you want more advice on how to improve the user experience on mobile devices.
We suggest reading this article: Everything you need to know about SEO for mobile.
2. Pingdom Website Speed Test
In this tool, in addition to having a ranking note, you can also view the number of requests made by the page.
The total loading time and the total size of the files present on the page.
This tool is available in English and its purpose is to help developers optimize the performance of websites in the most practical and simple way.
You will notice that for that the server response codes stand out with different colors and the content is indicated by means of icons.
3. GT Metrix
GT Metrix analysis uses 27 different criteria to generate your ranking score.
In each criterion, it is possible to visualize what you need to optimize.
In the same way, as in the Pingdom tool, it is also possible to view the requests individually.
You will be able to see the featured ranking Page Speed index and also the YSlow index, which is an open-source tool for speed analysis based on performance rules defined by Yahoo.
Ranking grades are displayed in percentage (from 0 to 100%).
GT Metrix is also available in English.
Even though it is a free tool; It has paid plans, which offer additional resources and more advanced analysis.
Therefore, regardless of the chosen tool, you can verify that upgrade possibility for more complete plans.
4. Web Page Test
This tool offers the possibility of choosing the place of origin of the test and also the type of browser.
Speed tests are always performed from an initial point to the place where the physical server is located.
In this way, the starting point will be a differential in the result.
For example
If you are entering a website from Mexico and the server is in the United States, the response time will be higher compared to a user who is in the United States.
Before starting the test, it is possible to change the place of origin.
After placing the data, the result is very detailed; including performance, content, and domains (loading speed of content detailed by domains).
It also shows an interesting insight into content compaction and caching by the website.
You can browse the Details, Performance Review, Content Breakdown, Domains, and Screen Shot tabs.
Web Page Test includes resource load charts and optimization checks, among other suggestions for improvement.
It also provides a forum, where specialists regularly discuss website optimization strategies.
5. Web Page Analyzer
Web Page Analyzer is a tool created by Andy King, author of the book Website Optimization, released by O’Reilly Publishing in 2008.
Like the other tools, Web Page Analyzer calculates page size, page elements, and load time.
The result is displayed in tables that contain the main information about the subject.
At the bottom of the page, there is an Analysis and Recommendations area, in which items such as HTML, images, and scripts, among others, are commented on with some recommendations for improvement.
One of the differentials of the Web Page Analyzer is that in addition to helping you to know the loading speed of your website.
It also offers an analysis with an example in HTML.
6. Test My Site
A totally simplified and clean tool that quickly analyzes website speed, especially for mobile loading.
This tool enters a rating that can be Slow (taking more than 2.5 seconds to load), and the monthly trend assesses whether the website was faster or slower compared to the previous month.
It also has different utilities like comparing with the competitor’s website.
Evaluate the impact that increasing the loading speed of your website and optimizing the pages that compose it may have.
Finally, you can generate a report that you can share with the people who work with you or simply save it to have a record of the evolution of your business.
Optimizing Your Website, What do I Need to Start?
Now that you have the necessary tools to measure the performance of your website, you can take the next step and follow the optimization recommendations suggested by the tool of your choice.
However, having good references is a great help, so if you still have some doubts about how to optimize your website.
You can find some information that will help you.
It is important to note that there are a wide variety of optimization techniques that can be used to improve performance and load time.
As the subject is quite extensive, we will address it in different articles here on our blog.
In short, the main thing to improve the loading speed of your website is:
- Optimize images
- Disable unnecessary resources
- Review code
- Enable cache
- Use a CDN
- Regulate web crawlers
- Choosing a quality web hosting service
Did you already know any of the tools presented in this post?
Which one do you think is better?
Let us know your opinion by writing in the comments.
Thanks for Reading.
