Over the years, both SEO’s and webmasters have used Page Speed Insights (PSI) as a benchmarking tool to grade the speed of a given website – it has successfully stood tall as the go-to benchmarking tool for speed insights, and its recommendations have helped fuel a ‘speed revolution’, especially in regards to the mainstream adoption of mobile devices running over throttled connections.
Years after its initial release, Google has decided to shelf the 10-year-old code-base, they’ve rebuilt the application, redesigned the front-end and back-end architecture, and most notably, removed much of the ambiguity around the Core Web Vitals.
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Modern UI Using Google’s Material Design Language
It would be difficult to not mention the reworked PSI report without mentioning the beautifully cohesive material design language which has been chosen; this is in line with Google’s push to create cleaner layouts and presentations using a minimalist approach to design through a cleaner use of colours, card layouts & iconography.
Available PSI Data
There are now a number of additional metrics/sections which helps break down the data gathered in regards to performance metrics via the new report – this includes both “requested URL” and “origin” assessment data – this section aggregates the data found across all pages (containing lab data), and formulates an overall assessment based from this score. Owing to its close relationship with the CrUX (Chrome UX) report, this data should remain cohesive across both Search Console & PSI.
There have also been a number of metrics added to the report which aid in the collection and aggregation of the data, and highlight how the page behaves in the field – additional information which has been added includes:
- Data collection period
- Visit durations
- Devices
- Network connections
- Sample size
- Chrome versions
Metric Communication
One of the main points of contention for SEO’s when the Core Web Vitals made their first appearance on May 28th 2020 was the ambiguity around how these specific stats contributed to the experience of the page. Throwing around acronyms such as FCP & CLS caused more initial confusion within the community than expected, and some grey areas still existed even after familiarising via web.dev. This confusion was greeted with other factors, such as ‘lab data’ and ‘field data’, along with how certain aspects of the Chrome User Experience Report (CrUX) were calculated. Fortunately, all of these have been addressed, and a better source of information could be had.
This is complemented by both the Google PSI Calculator, which has been carried over from the old PageSpeed Insights application, as well as additional information in regards to capture dates, lighthouse versions, HTTP header request information and throttling, all of which come in handy little tool-tips to aid in the overall access to information surrounding the available metrics.
It goes without saying that we love the look and feel of the new Google PSI report, and we believe that the changes that have been made will continue to lay the foundations for a much faster web, with greater access to information regardless of device.
If you believe that your page speed could be negatively impacting your organic performance metrics, you’re in luck. We have a dedicated tech team that thrives on speed benchmarking and performance optimizations which will continually boost your web vitals scores and lead to a much better UX. Get in touch to find out how we can help by dropping us a call on 0845 123 2908 or contacting us via our contact form.
