Google Rolls Out Revamped PageSpeed Insights Tool

Earlier this month Google announced it would be revamping the PageSpeed Insights tool. After waiting patiently to see the redesign, on November 17th, Google finally started rolling out the tool to users across the web. The goal? To make it more user-friendly, mainly by updating the UI.

The PageSpeed Insights tool was created by Google to provide speed and website optimization insights to site owners, webmasters and developers. The data it provides is based on CrUX (Chrome User Experience Report) and Lighthouse. You can learn more about page speed and dive deeper into how it works in our detailed blog post on “How Important is page speed for SEO?”

Google has also announced this year that page experience, which includes Core Web Vitals, is a ranking signal on mobile as of August 2021 (and on desktop as of February 2022). The Core Web Vitals (CWV) are based on real-world user experience metrics on a page. So we can see the importance Google is giving this distinction in the new tool:  differentiating between real-world (field data) and lab data.

What’s New in the PageSpeed Insights Tool?

1. Clear UI differentiation between field data and lab data.

Field Data

Lab Data

2. The Core Web Vitals Assessment result is now displayed more clearly with either a green or red icon.

3. The separate labels for Mobile and Desktop were redesigned and are now located in the middle of the results page.

4. The “origin” summary is now located more clearly under the Field Data section.

5. New info has been added at the bottom of each field and lab data to clarify what the data is based upon. For instance: devices, Chrome versions, and network connections.

6. An “Expand view” button has been added under each section to get even more details regarding the FCP, FID, LCP, and CLS data.

7. The page image/screenshot has been moved to the lab data section.

Below are some more links if you’d like to learn more from Google on PageSpeed Insights, Core Web Vitals, and Page Experience:

• About PageSpeed Insights
• What’s new in PageSpeed Insights
• Why lab and field data can be different (and what to do about it)
• Understanding page experience in Google Search results
• How to measure speed?
• More time, tools, and details on the page experience update 

Still have questions? Unsure how to optimize your site’s page speed? Get in touch with yellowHEAD SEO services.