Site Performance and Optimization

Site speed, loading times, and performance scores are elements that contribute to SEO in a couple of ways. While these factors are a small fragment that search engines consider, their impact on site visitors is potentially more significant. Faster websites tend to reduce bounce rates and increase engagement, which are key factors in SEO. Therefore, although search engines like Google may not rank sites based on these optimizations, the improved visitor interaction they facilitate can positively impact search engine rankings.

Testing for Optimization

Testing for optimization can be challenging. Most testing tools use a simulated environment. While these tools can give an idea of what visitors might experience, they don't provide real-world data. It's important to understand that the results from these tools are approximations and may not fully reflect actual user experiences. Therefore, scores from these tools may not accurately predict how SEO is being affected.

For the most accurate assessment, complement simulated testing with real-world performance monitoring using tools like Google Search Console.

The most accurate testing tools using simulated environments are Google’s Lighthouse and PageSpeed Insights. Both tools leverage Lighthouse technology to provide detailed performance insights.

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NOTE

Google's WebPage Test tool is no longer an industry recommended tool.

Google's PageSpeed Insights and Lighthouse

While not the primary focus, we prioritize real-world performance, our sites can score highly on Google's PageSpeed Insights and Lighthouse if best practices are followed. See (Core Web Vitals Best Practices: Site Performance and Optimization. This is partly because these tools test some of the same metrics as Google's Core Web Vitals.

These tools examine many technical details of how webpages are built and check to see if they adhere to best practices that enable quick loading. The most important aspect these tools evaluate is how the website code is structured. Google ensures that the code is organized in a way that allows the browser to load the content as quickly as possible.

For information on what can potentially cause low scores and possible solutions, see the FAQ in this article, How do I Increase Google's PageSpeed Insights or Lighthouse?

How Optimization is Monitored

If there isn't a tool that tests in a real-world environment, how is optimization monitored? This is where Google's Core Web Vitals come into play. Once a site has around 2,000 unique visitors in a month, a set of metrics are tracked to evaluate performance.

Because it uses real-world data, Core Web Vitals is the most accurate method for monitoring optimization. This approach provides insights based on actual user experiences, making it a reliable indicator of site performance.

Website Builder focuses on these metrics not just for scoring purposes, but because they best reflect what site visitors are experiencing.

For more on Google's Core Web Vitals, see Core Web Vitals in this article.

Built-In Optimization

Out-of-the-box, Website Builder sites are developed for optimization, focusing on real-world interactions and, ultimately, Google's Core Web Vitals.

While Website Builder sites can score well with tools that test in a simulated environment, these simulations are not the primary focus of our optimization efforts. Although these tools can provide useful information, they may not accurately reflect the built-in optimization.

The out-of-the-box optimizations serve as the building blocks for Website Builder sites. While we provide a solid foundation, the way sites are designed and built can significantly impact their optimization. For instance, placing a video at the top of a page or adding scripts in the head HTML can affect site performance.

Optimizing is an ongoing practice at Website Builder. We will continue to stay up to date and implement changes to ensure continuous improvements.

Further reading:

• For more in-depth information on the built-in optimization, see Built-in Site Optimization.

•See Core Web Vitals Best Practices: Site Performance and Optimization for tips on maintaining optimal site performance.

• For more information on Google's Core Web Vitals, see Core Web Vitals in this article

What Can Not Be Changed

While Website Builder strives for the most optimized sites, some components cannot be changed due to the nature of drag-and-drop editors.

These components should have minimal impact on site performance.

The components that are not able to be changed are:

• Leverage browser caching

• Minify HTML / CSS / JS

• Optimize CSS delivery

FAQ and Troubleshooting

My page speed or loading time is slow. How do I fix it?

While Website Builder works hard to ensure sites perform at their best, you should be aware of the implications of adding scripts and custom code to your site as they have the potential to decrease page speed.

There are ways to avoid performance costs when adding scripts. We recommend learning about the scripts you add to your site in order to optimize its performance. Google has helpful resources, such as: web.dev

There can be other contributing factors, for tips on optimizing your site, see Core Web Vitals Best Practices: Site Performance and Optimization.

How do I Increase Google's PageSpeed Insights or Lighthouse?

While Website Builder wishes every website we run would always rank high, it’s not something we can promise. This is because our customers can add their own code, content and designs to the website, so we don’t have full control over what they can or can’t add. For this reason, there are some scenarios in which Website Builder websites will not score in the high 90s.

Below is a list of errors/issues we see Google PageSpeed reporting to us and solutions for fixing them.

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NOTE

There are issues reported by Google that cannot be fixed:

• Leverage browser caching

• Minify HTML / CSS / JS

• Optimize CSS delivery

Render-Blocking JavaScript and CSS in Above-the-fold Content

If you place a map element at the top of your website, a store front above the fold, custom code/script in the header, or embed a custom iframe into a Website Builder website above the fold.

Solution:

• Move the map element to the bottom of the page.

• Move the store element lower on the page.

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TIP

Add an image and helpful text above the store element, so that the store itself is not in the "above the fold" area of the website.

• Place the code in the body-end.html file or make sure the script is loaded asynchronously (see Note below).

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To enable async on scripts, alter it as follows: Old Code: <script src=”https://example.com/script.js”></scrip> New Async Code: <script src=”https://example.com/script.js” async defer</script>

Please note, while we can offer suggestions, we are not able to assist with custom code.

• Move embedded iframe lower down the page or remove it completely.

Images not Optimized

Images may not be optimized due to size or file type, which can negatively impact page speed.

Solution:

• Website Builder’s image optimization works only on JPG and PNG images. If you are uploading a TIFF, GIF, or other image formats, Website Builder might not be able to optimize it. If this is the case, we recommend running the image through an image optimization tool. These tools can typically be found doing a quick search for "image compression tool".

• Resize large images by downloading, resizing in photo editing software, and re-uploading

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WARNING

While Website Builder optimizes images to make sure they're compressed at a smaller size, Website Builder doesn't actually resize your image for you in the desktop version of your site. In these cases, you will need to resize in photo editing software and re-upload.

Third Party Website Not Leveraging Browser Cashing

If you include custom code in your website, it will often load from a 3rd party website. If this website does not enable caching, then Google will find this and recommend enabling browser caching.

Solution: Contact the third-party service to request that they implement this change on their server.

Page Too Large

If you have a lot of content on one page, it can load slowly even after we run the optimization tool on your site.

Solution: Consider using less images or dividing up your content and moving to other pages.

Why is Content I have Hidden Showing in Audits?

Website Builder is moving our websites to fully responsive design technology that uses CSS media queries to change the layout, hide content or display different elements based on screen size. This is standard across the web of how content is hidden for smaller or larger screen sizes.

When you hide a widget, section, or any content in the Website Builder editor on a specific device, we hide it using CSS Media Queries. What this means is that the HTML (although hidden on the website) still exists within the web page when a viewer looks at the content.

This can sometimes cause a problem where an audit tool that scans the website will identify this hidden content.

Why Hidden Content isn't an issue with search engines)

Google (and other popular search engines) are able to identify if certain content is hidden and not index it. Google uses a mobile-first index, where they crawl the website using a mobile device. So, you should make sure that the mobile layout has all of the content you expect Google to be able to index and discover.

When Hidden Content is an Issue

If a deceptive tactic is used to hide content, it can be detrimental to SEO. An example of a deceptive tactic is placing repeated keywords on a site for the benefit of ranking and hiding them by setting the font size to 0 or camouflaging the text (making it the same color as the background) to make it not visible to the site visitor. Search engine algorithms are smart enough to recognize this and potentially penalize sites that use it.

This is a deliberate act carried out by a person, Website Builder technology would not do this and is not capable of it.

Core Web Vitals

Google’s Core Web Vitals are experience metrics that measure how well a site is performing and how good of a user experience it provides. In June 2021, Google released an improvement to their user experience metrics called Core Web Vitals that focus on loading speed, interactivity, and visual stability. These Core Web Vitals are: Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS), First Input Delay (FID), Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), Interaction To Next Paint (INP), and Time to First Byte (TTFB).

Core Web Vitals are important because they are a common set of metrics and benchmarks that are used across many Google services and have a direct impact on search rankings. By measuring and optimizing your site for Core Web Vitals you also improve the overall user experience of your site.

The Core Vitals

CLS

CLS measures the visual stability of the content on a page by counting the sum total of all individual layout shift scores for every unexpected layout shift that occurs during the entire lifespan of the page.

A layout shift happens when an element changes from its starting position due to resources loading later in a page's lifecycle and pushing content below it down the page. For example, a user is online shopping and right as they try to click the add to cart button an ad loads above the button and pushes it down. This layout shift causes the user to accidentally click the ad instead of the add to cart button. A low CLS can help ensure your users have a positive experience on your site and can quickly accomplish what they came to do.

FID

FID measures the delay in interactivity and responsiveness. This is the time from when the user interacts with your content by clicking a link, tapping a button, or pressing a key to when the browser processes that interaction. FID only counts the delay, not the time it takes to process the event or how long it takes the UI to update. A delay typically happens because the browser is busy loading the rest of the page content and cannot respond to the user’s interaction yet. A short FID can help increase the chance that the user remains on the page and interacts with your content. Currently, most websites perform well on FID measurement.

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NOTE

Zooming and scrolling are not measured for FID.

LCP

LCP measures the time it takes for the largest visible element on the page to load relative to when the page first started loading. As different elements load, the LCP can change. The browser stops measuring LCP when the user begins interacting with the page, since interactions typically change what is visible to the user. A fast load speed can reassure the user that the page is useful because they are able to quickly begin viewing content.

Elements that can be the LCP:

• <img> • <image> inside an <svg> • <video> • Element with a background image loaded using the url() function instead of a CSS gradient • Block-level elements that contain text nodes or other inline-level text elements children

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NOTE

As Google expands their Core Web Vitals, they have indicated <svg> and <video> might be included as elements used to measure LCP in the future.

INP

INP refers to how the page responds to specific user interactions that are programmed into the overall INP metric measured by Google Chrome’s lab data and field data. INP is designed to provide a representation of the overall interaction delay of a page. It does this by working from a sample of the single longest interactions that happen when a user visits the page. For example, if a page has less than 50 total interactions, INP takes into consideration the interaction that has the absolute worst delay.

The measurement of INP is a representation of how long a user has to wait in order to interact with the entire page. This is a direct contrast to FID (First Input Delay).

INP is concerned with the following types of interactions:

• Any mouse click of an interactive element.

• Any tap of an interactive element on any device that includes a touchscreen.

• The press of a key on a physical or onscreen keyboard.

Google’s web.dev documentation explains that a good INP value is around 200 milliseconds or less.

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NOTE

INP replaced FID in March 2024. If you receive a notice from Google reporting your site has INP issues, please review your site to ensure it is following the current best practices (for detailed information on best practices, see Core Web Vitals Best Practices.

TTFB

TTFB measures the length of time that it takes for the first byte to be transferred by the server.

TTFB has long been suspected as a driver of significant performance gains, which means that it’s a priority that SEO professionals should be optimizing as part of their SEO process.

How to Assess Core Web Vitals

When measuring Core Web Vitals you can use lab or field data. Lab data is gathered from tools that simulate a page load and interaction. Field data is gathered from real user’s interaction with your website. It is recommend to use real-world metrics such as Real User Monitoring (RUM) instead of lab tests so that you can optimize your site more accurately. Google’s CRuX data set can be used to measure your website and is a great choice because it is what Google uses to measure Core Web Vitals.

Both CLS and LCP can be measured in the lab or in the field. FID can only be measured in the field because a real user needs to interact with the content. We strongly recommend you test every page on your website.

The following tools can be used to measure Core Web Vitals:

Field tools:

• Chrome User Experience Report (recommended)

• PageSpeed Insights (only if there's enough CRuX data; if there isn't, this is a lab tool)

• Search Console (Core Web Vitals report)

• Web-vitals JavaScript library

Lab tools:

• Chrome DevTools / Lighthouse

• PageSpeed Insights

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NOTE

Google's WebPage Test tool is no longer an industry recommended tool.

To learn more about the differences between Lighthouse and Core Web Vitals, see Lighthouse and Core Web Vitals Comparison

Ideal Scores

For a page on your website to be considered passing it needs to achieve all the following metrics at the 75th percentile:

• CLS. 0.1 layout shift score or less • FID. 0.1 seconds or less • LCP. 2.5 seconds or less

Currently, only 20% of websites pass all three metrics. To learn how to optimize your website, Core Web Vitals Best Practices.