If you want to take advantage of all the features of this tool to measure the speed of the site you have the option to upgrade to the PRO version of GTmetrix . You can choose between different plans:
Individual
Basic
Alone
Starter
Growth
Business
Champion
Team
Enterprise
Custom
In the paid versions you have a great variety of tools. But Oman Phone Numbers
already in the free solution with registration you have some interesting benefits such as priority access without having to queue your analysis. You can also simulate tests from different geographical locations and do On-Demand Test.
The benefits of using GTmetrix PRO
Choose the connection type for analysis.
Advanced Options, available for PRO users, allows you to test your page's responsiveness on various devices: you can select from over 20 popular smartphones and tablets and perform a 3G or LTE speed test. You can save the analysis options as presets for faster and easier testing.
If you use analytics tools like Google Analytics , you can check which browsers, devices and sizes are most commonly used to visit your website and ensure it is optimized for your visitors .
4 Things to Consider When Analyzing on GTmetrix
GTmetrix users are often interested in getting the highest percentage score and a reduced website loading time. Now I will try to explain why some aspects are less important than others and why you should not focus your efforts in an early optimization phase.
Serves scaled images and optimize images
If you are lazyloading images on your site, you may not want to take GTmetrix’s advice into consideration. If some plugins do not allow you to serve resized images or optimize images below the fold (such as the author image at the bottom of the post), don’t worry.
This does not affect the actual loading speed of the site as the image will usually load when the user scrolls to that specific section of the page.
Pay attention to the difference between the first and second visit
Are you familiar with Leverage browser caching, Add expires headers and Specify a cache validator? These features indicated by the speed test do not affect the speed of the first visit
But on to the next one. You can add header expirations and specify the validity time to allow browsers to take full advantage of caching.
For PHP sites you should properly manage server-side caching , for example by choosing a WordPress plugin like WP Rocket , to create a static HTML page and reduce server load.
Use a Content Delivery Network (CDN)
A CDN , content delivery network, is only important if your audience is international. You can reduce the content delivery time or if your site has a lot of static resources (images, CSS or JavaScript) and you want to reduce the server load. However, Gtmetrix always reports it as an error.
gtmetrix cdn error
TTFB depends on where the speed test is performed
In the basic version of GTmetrix, without logging in, the tool will run the test as if a user were viewing your site from Canada , without the possibility of changing it. I recommend spending a few minutes and registering
This gives you more accurate tests. To reduce TTFB set the “test server region” field to London so that the server response , simulated in Europe, is faster due to the proximity of the server.
GTmetrix for WordPress, what is it?
The GTmetrix team has created a WordPress plugin that displays the same data as the online tool. It has a widget visible on the dashboard that allows you to constantly monitor the performance of your website. Should you install it? No, it is currently considered unsafe.
In fact, the GTmetrix for WordPress plugin has not been updated for several years. A shame because you could run analyses, schedule reports on a daily, weekly or monthly basis and receive alerts on the status of your site through the WordPress admin panel!
All you had to do was register for free on their site and use their APIs within the platform. On the other hand, a guide dedicated to WordPress optimization with GTmetrix is available on the tool's website, which can still be a good reference to help you get great results.
What are the best alternatives to GTmetrix?
It is wrong to base every analysis only and exclusively on a tool to measure performance. It is better to cross-reference the data and evaluate the results. If you are looking for alternative tools to GTmetrix you could use:
Google PageSpeed Insights
Pingodom
WebPageTest
Speed
I advise against comparing data between different tools to check the speed of your site without a basic reflection that allows you to weigh the results. Each of these tools to measure the performance of websites, blogs, portals and e-commerce uses different rules and measurement systems.
Must Read: How and When to Redesign Your Website
Why Check Your Sites With This Tool
PageSpeed and other software perform speed tests that give you information about the front-end performance of your website. That is, all those elements that are largely under your control , such as images and videos and the general structure of the site (HTML, CSS, JavaScript).
By following the advice of the GTmetrix tool , however, you can go a step further and work on a tool that overcomes the centrality of these structural points and gives great importance to the user experience. Experience that must be taken care of in order to obtain real results for both SEO and UX.
Front-end optimization has simpler rules . While to improve the back-end there are different configurations based on the server and platform used. I can help you speed up the website.
