10th January, 2020
GTmetrix is a tool we often use at Tidy Design, it allows us to obtain detailed reports on website performance. We use this data to make improvements and adjustments, it is important for us to make sure every website we develop will rank well on Google. Your website speed is important for organic search, it is something Google will look at.
Covering the basics
If you have a website on shared hosting (you are paying a few pounds a month), if you have a DIY website, if you have an off the shelf WordPress theme with 30+ plugins, or if your website uses dated tech (is a couple of years old), then your GTmetrix scores will likely be low. I am not saying you need to pay thousands a month on the best website hosting (multiple servers and load balancing), or that you need to go fully bespoke. These are simply factors to consider…
Google search
When it comes to Google search, how quickly a website loads is only one factor. If your competitors PageSpeed score is 55 and yours is 80, but they still ranks higher, then it is time to review other factors. Google is a business, and page speed is important because they want to deliver search results where website load quickly. Especially in todays world, with more and more users glued to their smartphones, browsing the web on the move.
Tidy GTmetrix scores
Running our new Tidy Design website through GTmetrix we are delighted with the results. This is down to a combination of factors, primarily the “build process” we have in place and also our “VPS” (Virtual Private Server).
Conclusion
Getting a website to score in the 80’s or high 90’s is not impossible, however it may take some fine tuning or even require a redesign. An average PageSpeed score is 70-75%, we’d also suggest you look at your competitors to see how they are performing. In a nutshell, you should be looking to hire a website design agency that has both the expertise and experience to deliver websites that load quickly. I hope you enjoyed the read, here is a link to GTmetrix.