GTmetrix: What Makes This Tool So Useful?
What is GTmetrix?
GTmetrix is a website analysis tool that checks the speed and performance of your website, giving it a letter grade to help us gauge which improvements we need to focus on first.
At Ankerpoint Marketing, we serve vacation rental companies, part of which involves improving their SEO and, in turn, their website quality. GTmetrix has been a helpful player as we improve scores and launch our clients towards the top.
It's perfect for anyone wanting to optimize their website and make improvements as they go along. But what does it do?
In this article, I’m going to share the six key features of GTmetrix and how they’ve helped us throughout our SEO journey.
1. Performance and Structure Scoring
Two of our favorite aspects of GTmetrix, the Performance and Structure scores, provide valuable insights into the health of your site.
The Performance Score shows how fast your page is loading based on user-centric metrics. This score might differ each time we test your webpage because your load speed is always changing. The reason for this is that GTmetrix is loading your page and then reporting what it finds when tested.
Your Performance is gauged based on the First Contentful Paint (FCP), Speed Index (SI), Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), Time to Interactive (TTI), Total Blocking Time (TBT), and Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS). Each of these components plays an important role in the health of your site, so it’s vital to pay close attention to them.
The Structure Score is the Performance Score’s other half. The two scores work together, but they focus on different things. According to GTmetrix, the Structure Score’s purpose is to “tell you how well your page is built for optimal performance.”
The Structure Score uses things like Enable Keep Alive, Combining images using CSS sprites, Content Delivery Network (CDN), and Avoiding CSS @import to assess the structure. These aspects are what judge your site’s performance.
These two scores are helpful because they tell us at a glance what needs to be improved on your site. Typically, if the score is above 80% your site is doing alright. However, if the score is above 90% then you’re doing great, and that’s where we want you to be.
2. Waterfall Analysis and Video Playback
The Waterfall Analysis and Video Playback features are show stoppers when it comes to helpful visuals!
The Waterfall Analysis is a chart that shows us all of your pages' resources and the order in which they were loaded. This means that if your page loads in the order of hero image, logo, then CTA button, the Waterfall Analysis will display that for us.
With this tool, we can look into the following: the URL, the status code, the domain for the request, the byte size, and finally, the load time for each request. Then, using the Waterfall Analysis, we can sort each of the pieces of your page into these categories, looking into how quickly they load in comparison to each other.
The Video Playback feature provides a recording of your pages' loading process, providing much of the same information as the Waterfall Analysis but in a different format. The benefit of this is that it shows exactly what a user sees when the site loads while highlighting the glitches that might pop up during that process.
This feature connects us with your site’s users and their experience, and is ideal for helping us identify any areas that need to be improved.
4. Historical Performance Tracking
Historical Performance Tracking is another of our favorite features. This handy tool allows us to look back at how your site is performing over time. You can see trends, discover potential issues, and track how they have changed over time. It is a visual example of your site's timeline.
This feature is perfect for monitoring changes in things like website speed. It also allows us to make sure that your site has a consistent performance. A consistent performance keeps your audience engaged because they know what to expect. We always want to be improving, so maintaining those improvements is where we focus.
Another helpful aspect of this feature is that it notifies you when your site’s performance drops below a certain threshold. We conduct an audit once a month to stay on top of things, but being notified when something drastic occurs is a great help to remain in touch with your site every day of the month.
5. Other Key Features
The features listed above are some of our favorites, but GTmetrix has so many more things that make it a useful tool.
Bulk monitoring allows us to monitor multiple pages simultaneously. This enables us not to reanalyze your site every day. Instead, it will be monitored constantly.
Global Testing Locations allow us to test your site as if we were a user accessing your site from the other side of the globe. This is valuable because your site speed or other features might look different for a user located in Japan versus a user from Texas. With this tool, we can take a deep dive into your site from any location.
GTmetrix is a giant in the world of site analysis, and they know their stuff. They will provide recommendations for your site that are of true benefit.
An Invaluable Resource
GTmetrix has proven to be an invaluable resource in our SEO toolbox at Ankerpoint Marketing. It gives us the data and insight we need to make real improvements.
For vacation rental companies and any business aiming to climb the search rankings, a fast, well-structured website is essential. GTmetrix helps us ensure your site doesn’t just look good, but performs at the level your audience expects. If you’re serious about improving your website’s speed, user experience, and SEO, GTmetrix is a must-have tool in your digital strategy.