As mentioned in our previous article, there are several factors that come into play to ensure your website is operating efficiently. Testing the speed of your website is one of those factors. Also, it is important to gain a basic understanding of site speed and the importance of keeping it under control. Once you’ve done that, it’s time to put your knowledge to good use!
Tools for Testing the Speed of Your Website
As a business owner, getting into SEO with the need for speed is crucial. You’re going to want to find some tools to make the process a bit easier. Some of our favorites are:
- Google PageSpeed Insights
- KeyCDN Speed Test
- Pingdom
- WebPageTest
- PageScoring
Each tool has some minor differences, but ultimately, all serve the same purpose. Helping to assist you in maintaining good site speed for your online business.
Google PageSpeed Insights
There are a few different search engines to use for search engine optimization. However, you probably want to be where the action is. Let’s be honest, Google leads the pack when it comes to search engines. As you can imagine, using a Google site speed tool is a great idea.
Google PageSpeed Insights will grade you on a scale from one to 100. If the score is on the higher end, then your website is operating well. In fact, anything above an eighty-five is considered good site speed. As an added bonus, this tool runs reports for both mobile and desktop!
KeyCDN Speed Test
If you’re looking for a more detailed explanation on your site speed, KeyCDN is probably your best option. KeyCDN makes testing the speed of your website simple.
It will go through all of your pages, and display the status, size, and time it took for those pages to load. Also, very cost effective, because it is completely free!
Pingdom
Testing the speed of your website is extremely easy with Pingdom. In fact, Pingdom is probably one of the more well-known tools for testing site speed, because of its very detailed overviews.
Similar to Google Page Speed, Pingdom essentially breaks down your site, piece by piece. They compare your CDN (content delivery network) assets with your domain properties, and it show which content gets the most requests. This provides you with the most accurate results for site speed information.
WebPageTest
Often times, site speed test tools are limited to certain locations. WebPageTest actually offers you over 40 locations to choose from. Additionally, it allows you to pick from 25 different browsers. Meaning you’ll have a bit more information.
WebPageTest also has a bit more to offer on the site speed test platform. They factor in additional things like, video capture, SSL, CDN, Javascript, etc. Once they’ve reviewed all factors for site speed, they will assign you a letter grade, A-F.
PageScoring
Simplicity is always an attractive quality when working on your online presence. You want to pour your time, energy, and knowledge into your websites success. However, getting things quick and easy is just as enticing when you have a lot going on.
If you want just the basics, PageScoring is likely your best option. You will receive an overall load time, connection time, redirection times, page sizes, etc.
Help With Site Speed
Unfortunately, as far as site speed goes, your work is never complete. Site speed is vital when it comes to optimization. If you want your business to succeed, it is essential to develop (and maintain) a plan to keep up with your site speed.
Also, choosing to reach out to search engine optimization professionals is always an option. If you don’t know much about site speed, or need extra assistance, don’t shy away from this option.
Steve Scott is the CEO & Director of Training at the Tampa SEO Training Academy. He has taught SEO skills to people from around the world and currently offers his hands-on search engine optimization training workshops in Tampa to individuals and businesses of all sizes. Corporate SEO training classes and consulting are also available.