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Performance
Testing
Performance Testing
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- February 7, 2024
The speed of a website holds significant importance for both user satisfaction and search engine optimization (SEO). Web Page Test serves as a valuable tool in evaluating the performance of web pages. This piece elaborates on the functionality of WebPageTest, provides guidance on its utilization for assessing web page performance, and offers insights into interpreting the outcomes of the tests.
What is WebPageTest
WebPageTest serves as a tool designed specifically for assessing website performance. It enables users to gauge various metrics such as page load times, data transfer speeds, network utilization, and browser resource consumption. Moreover, it helps identify potential issues within page code that may impede loading speed.
How does loading time affect user behavior?
According to research conducted by marketing specialists at the KISSmetrics analytics platform, user attention is significantly influenced by the speed of interaction with a website or application. Their findings suggest that if a user cannot engage with a website or application within 6-10 seconds, they are likely to leave. Additionally, the study indicates that conversion rates decrease with each second of delay, with approximately 10% of users willing to wait for up to 2 seconds before abandoning the site or application.
How does loading speed affect sales and conversion?
A delay of just one second can lead to a 7% reduction in conversion rates. For instance, if your website generates $100,000 in monthly revenue, improving page load speed by one second could potentially boost earnings by up to $7,000 per month. Mozilla experienced a significant increase in downloads—60 million more—after making its website 2.2 seconds faster. On the other hand, Amazon estimates that a mere one-second delay in loading speeds could result in annual losses of $1.6 billion.
To mitigate potential losses or enhance profits on your website or application, it’s advisable to consider testing its performance.
How to use WebPageTest?
To use WebPageTest, you need to go to the official website of the tool: https://www.webpagetest.org/
The main page displays a field to enter the URL of the page you want to test. Here you can select the server location on which you want to run the test. After entering the URL and selecting the server, click the “Start Test” button. The test will take a few minutes. You will then receive detailed information about your site’s performance.
Interpretation of test results
WebPageTest provides a large amount of data about page performance. The most important metrics to analyze are:
Page Load Time: The time it takes for the entire page to load. The shorter the time, the better.
First Byte: The time it takes for the server to send the first byte of data. The optimal time is less than 200ms.
First Color: The time it takes to display the first image on the page. The shorter the time, the better.
Fully loaded time: The time it takes to fully load all resources on the page. The optimal time is less than 5 seconds.
Requests: The number of requests sent to the server to load pages. The lower this number, the faster the page will load.
Bytes input: page size in bytes. Smaller pages load faster. The optimal page size is less than 1 MB.
In addition to the aforementioned metrics, WebPageTest offers insights into how pages load in users’ browsers through features like waterfall charts and filmstrip views. A waterfall chart delineates the load time of each element on your page, encompassing images, CSS files, and JavaScript files. Meanwhile, the Filmstrip view provides a visual representation of how your page will appear to users as it loads.
Furthermore, WebPageTest facilitates the comparison of the performance of two or more pages. This functionality proves beneficial for assessing the performance of pages across different versions of your site and for benchmarking your site against competitors.
In essence, WebPageTest emerges as a robust tool for evaluating web page performance. It furnishes detailed insights into page load times, network usage, browser resources, and potential code-related issues that may impede loading times. By leveraging WebPageTest, you can optimize your website and enhance the overall user experience.
For more information about our testing tools, visit our website. And for those keen on delving deeper into web development, follow our blog for upcoming articles.
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