How to check the performance of a website?

Slow webpage loading – consequences

Whether you run an online store or a company website, slow website loading ultimately leads to higher bounce rates and lower conversions. What does this mean for you and your website?

High bounce rates mean that users enter and visit a single page of your website, then abandon the session without viewing additional pages. While content quality can influence this behavior, speed is often a significant factor.

Imagine a user looking for an online store to buy shoes. They click on a link and see a blank page with no information. Only after 10-15, sometimes even 20 seconds, do they receive the content. How many users do you think will wait 20 seconds to see the latest promotion in your store?

Such a situation often leads to users abandoning the site and switching to a competitor. Today, I’ll show you a few tools that can answer the question: how can I check the performance of a website?

How Did Pinterest Increase Conversions by 40% Through Performance Improvements?

A notable example is Pinterest, which in 2015 conducted an experiment that improved their landing page performance by 60%, subsequently increasing the mobile registration conversion rate by 40%. These results encouraged the engineering team to rebuild their webpages for better performance, and the final outcomes speak for themselves:

• Reduced wait time by 40%, resulting in faster pinning times for items to lists.
• 15% increase in registration conversion rates.
• 15% increase in SEO traffic (a nice side bonus!).

How to Check Website Performance?

Web Page Test

One of my recommended tools for diagnosing a site is Web Page Test. It provides a very detailed report indicating which components are causing long load times. Based on this report, a programmer or web developer can effectively optimize the site. More at: webpagetest.org

GT Metrix

Another valuable tool is GT Metrix, which functions similarly to Web Page Test but offers a range of recommendations to optimize specific components. More at: gtmetrix.com

web.dev

Next is web.dev, a tool from Google based on Lighthouse. If you are not familiar with using Lighthouse, this is a good alternative. The audit results in a Lighthouse report. More at: web.dev

Google Lighthouse – Chrome

The last tool is the aforementioned Google Lighthouse, which can be used directly in browsers like Chrome or Opera. It functions similarly to the tools mentioned above. More at: developers.google.com/web/tools/lighthouse

By using these tools, you can identify performance issues on your website and optimize them, leading to better user engagement and higher conversion rates.

Source:
https://blog.applicationperformance.com/does-web-performance-matter
https://www.creativebloq.com/features/how-the-bbc-builds-websites-that-scale