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General Site Speed FAQ

1. Why should I be concerned with my site's speed?

Your users' experience in terms of navigating your site should be a great reason. Users have many options when it comes to consuming content on the internet, and a slow-performing website will frustrate your users, sending them elsewhere. A faster and more responsive website will keep them more engaged and focused on your content, rather than waiting for scripts and images to load.

Another reason is SEO. Google already uses page speed in their ranking algorithm, and plan to incorporate Page Experience in their ranking algorithm as well, through the Web Vitals initiative.

This means that faster loading sites with a good user experience may rank higher in search engine results. As developers and marketers look to optimize their sites, page speed and page experience should be among the top optimizations to consider.

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2. My site loads pretty fast... why should I change it?

It's all about efficiency and optimization. Your site may be loading fast, but it could be faster if you take some of the best practices into consideration. You might even be able to reduce bandwidth and hosting costs by minimizing your footprint.

Also, your site may be loading fast but a visitor may not perceive that to be the case. You should understand how your site loads so that you can focus on providing a positive user experience.

3. Now that I have my scores; What do I do now?

Start optimizing your site! GTmetrix provides explanations for each audit and gives you actionable advice. The audits in the report are ordered in terms of which ones have the highest impact on your site. Fixing items at the top of the list can have a bigger impact on your overall score.

Make sure you fully understand the audits before you begin though. While many of them are applicable to your site, some are not. The audits are meant to be generic best practices- you don't absolutely need to fix everything. Start by focusing on the Web Vitals.

Feel free to contact us if you have any questions.

4. My server code is optimized. Is this enough?

It's a start - but the code that really needs to be optimized is the user facing code. Front-end optimization (of CSS, JavaScript, images, HTML, etc) is what's going to make the most impact on your users. Often we only concentrate on server side optimizations, making the code as efficient as possible there; but we forget that we can get an even bigger increase in performance and improve the page experience if we optimize the front-end code as well.

5. I have a _______ type of site. Why is it asking me to do X?

The audits are not always relevant to your site (Eg. You do not need a CDN if you're running a small website or blog). This is why it's important to truly understand the audits and how they can affect your site. Not everything will apply to your site.

Visit our audits page to learn more about each audit.

6. I don't have control over X, why is it asking me to fix it?

Most sites include code for services like ads, analytics or other widgets. These bits of code may fetch JavaScript or CSS from other sources. Of course, since you have no control over these resources, there's nothing you can (or need to) do.

7. Do I have to fix everything?

No, not at all! Start with the audits that appear in your Summary Tab. Then move onto your Structure Tab, where all the audits are ordered by what has the most impact on your score.

Realize that 100% is not realistic, and a green score generally means your site performance is optimized. Remember that these tools are meant to be used for a wide variety of site types, and so some audits may not apply to your site.

8. How much of an impact will doing this have on my search engine ranking?

In general, there will be an impact; however, there is no definitive answer on how much. Google had made page speed a ranking factor for websites in 2010, for mobile sites in 2018, and will mark pages as "Fast page", potentially ranking them higher in search results.

In general, Google is gearing toward a more responsive web to make it "more delightful" for users across all web browsers and surfaces.

Despite this, Google has made it clear that even though site speed and page experience are important, they will continue to prioritize pages with the best information overall.

Therefore, don't do it for SEO, do it for your users!

9. Why did my scores/performance change when I changed screen resolution?

You likely have a responsive website design. When the screen resolution changes to a larger or smaller size, the layout and styling of the page also changes. Depending on your styling, your page could potentially be delivering larger/smaller images and hiding/revealing assets or resources. All of this impacts the load performance of your page.

In addition, As of October 12, 2017, GTmetrix now defaults to a screen resolution of 1366x768 for tests. You can read more about the change here.

GTmetrix FAQ

1. Why won't GTmetrix analyze my URL?

Check to see if your URL is in the proper format (eg. http://www.example.com). Another reason may be that the URL you entered requires you to be logged in first, and/or it is being redirected to another URL.

Some URLs might not work for any number of reasons. Here are some errors that might prevent your URL from being analyzed:

Invalid URL
Didn't return a 200/300 status response
Didn't return an html page
Internal Server Error
Unable to get screen capture
Timed out
Didn't complete due to pending request (image too large, unresponsive request, etc.)

If you have a URL that won't analyze that you believe should, please contact us and let us know.

2. Why would I want to monitor my URL and how can I do it?

Monitoring your URL allows you to keep track of performance over time and see any changes when they occur. Combined with our monitored alerts, you can know when your website is performing poorly right away, and take steps to correct it.

Once you've analyzed a URL, you'll arrive at its report page. Click on "Monitor" on the right hand side to open the menu where there's a dropdown that allows for different monitoring schedules. Choose your desired schedule and save your settings.

GTmetrix will now monitor the specified URL.

3. How many URLs can I monitor?

Basic/Free users can only monitor 1 URL Daily, Weekly, or Monthly. Upgrading to GTmetrix PRO allows you to monitor more URLs down to an Hourly frequency.

4. My PageSpeed Insights scores are different from my GTmetrix scores; Why is that?

To answer this question, we need to clarify the background of each tool in general.

PageSpeed Insights and web.dev are Google's own tools that use Lighthouse in their own ways. The key difference is that PageSpeed Insights provides Chrome User Experience (CrUX) data - actual user data collected from Chrome browsers around the world to provide data on real user performance. Web.dev (and GTmetrix) are considered more lab/synthetic tests, where analysis is performed in controlled environments and scenarios.

With regards to results, there are various reasons why your Performance Score on either platform differs from GTmetrix. Read more about this here.

5. How long does GTmetrix keep my reports for?

All report history and data will be retained for a specified number of months depending on the plan you're on:

Guest (non-logged in) users: 1 month
Basic: 3 months
Solo, Starter, Growth: 6 months*
Champion, Team: 12 months*
Enterprise: 24 months*

The retention time starts from the report generation date. After the time has elapsed, reports will be purged from our database and are not recoverable.

* If your plan includes more data retention time via an Add-on, it also will be included.

6. Are there any privacy settings?

Yes - If you don't want anybody to see a particular report for your URL, click on "Page Settings" on the right hand side. Under the "Privacy" heading you can choose whether or not to make the report private, or allow anybody to see it.

Keep in mind that though a private report is protected from public view, anybody can create a report for any URL. If you can load the URL in your browser, you can analyze it in GTmetrix.

7. My graphs don't seem to be changing. Why?

A good reason could be that there haven't been major changes or optimizations done to that URL. GTmetrix tracks the performance of URLs, but unless any development or improvements have been done, the graphs will keep a straight line.

Monitoring is good for developers who are doing ongoing testing or optimizations for their site and want to track it over time.

8. What is the GTmetrix Bookmarklet and how do I use it?

Test with GTmetrix

The GTmetrix bookmarklet is a snippet of JavaScript tool that allows you to analyze the performance of the current page with a single click.

9. How do I compare URLs?

After having generated a report for a URL, click "Compare" in the top right. A menu will appear where you can enter the URL you wish to compare with the report. You will then be taken to the Compare screen with the comparison results.

If you would like to compare more URLs, click the "Add another URL" button - you are able to add up to 4 different URLs.

Note: The report from which you clicked "Compare" will be the base report. All additional reports will be compared against this report.

10. Can I compare an existing report with another report?

Yes! See instructions on how to compare GTmetrix Reports here.

11. How do I read the Waterfall Charts?

For those who are new to Waterfall Charts, here's an article we wrote to get you started: How to read a Waterfall Chart for Beginners

12. I have a page that requires HTTP Authentication. Can GTmetrix analyze it?

Yes! Log into your GTmetrix account and expand the "Analysis Options" drawer.

Click "Advanced Options" to reveal the HTTP Authentication fields.

Enter in your .htpasswd Username and Password and click "Analyze". GTmetrix will pass in the credentials and analyze the page.

You can also enter the username and password using the http://username:password@example.com/ syntax, but usernames or passwords containing @, :, or / must be URI encoded.

The login details will not be displayed in the report (and will also be stripped from the HAR file), but will be saved for future use - you will be able to re-analyze the page without entering the login details.

Note: this feature only works for HTTP Authenticated webpages (eg, pages protected using an .htpasswd file) - this is different from a cookie based session (see the next FAQ item for more details).

13. How can I analyze a page that requires a login?

Session cookies can be entered to allow GTmetrix to analyze pages which use cookies to store your login state. This will also work for sites that use cookies to save other user information like user preferences.

To do this, login to your GTmetrix account, go to the "Analysis Options" dropdown and enter the cookie session information, enter the associated URL and click "Analyze".

GTmetrix will analyze the page and send the supplied cookies with the request.

Cookie information should be entered as follows (one per line):

cookie option(s) cookie(s)

Where:
cookie option(s) = zero or more cookie options (format: name=value [values should be URL encoded]), separated with spaces. Available cookie options: host, path, httponly, samesite. If no host or path is supplied, the cookie will default to using the analyzed URL's domain for host and / for path.
cookie(s) = one or more cookies (format: name=value) separated with semi-colons.

Examples:

A single cookie:
my_session_cookie=123456789

Allow cookie to be used on sub-domains:
host=.gtmetrix.com metrix_session=QadlvUk3h

More than one cookie (with the same options):
host=.gtmetrix.com metrix_session=QadlvUk3h; username=gtmetrix

Same as the previous, but on multiple lines:
host=.gtmetrix.com metrix_session=QadlvUk3h
host=.gtmetrix.com username=gtmetrix

Please use a test account. While cookie information is stripped from the report, it's still best to use a test account for security purposes. To avoid having to update the cookie information every time, we recommend using a cookie from a permanent session.

If you'd like any more information on cookies, please feel free to ask us a question!

14. How can I get my session cookies?

First visit the site on your own computer. Log in, or do whatever you need to make the site generate the cookie(s). If you wish to monitor this page, make sure you log in with a permanent session. Depending on your browser, do one of the following to view the cookies:

Firefox users: Click the "Hamburger" menu button, then "Preferences", "Privacy", then "remove individual cookies".

Chrome users: Click the "Three Stacked Dots" menu button, then "Settings", "Show advanced settings...", "Content Settings...", then "All cookies and site data...".

Internet Explorer users: Unfortunately, viewing cookies in IE can be difficult; we recommend downloading a program like IECookiesView to view cookies.