Website speed and load times are fundamental if you want to offer a good user experience and improve your Google ranking. But how do you know how long your site takes to load? How can you measure your site’s speed or performance? It’s easier than you think.
Here are 5 totally free online tools to run a website speed test:
- Pingdom Tools
- Google PageSpeed Insights
- Test My Site by Think with Google
- WebPagetest
- GTmetrix
Why should you run a website speed test?
Even if your site or ecommerce works well, there’s always room for improvement. WPO techniques—Web Performance Optimization—help you improve your site’s speed and load times.
If you apply any of these measures or try to optimize your app, it’s important to measure your site’s speed before and after making changes. That’s the only way to know if your work is paying off or if you need to keep improving.
And remember! Choosing a good hosting plan is essential for a fast, optimized website. For example, if you have a WordPress site, choosing an optimized WordPress hosting plan is the best way to get better results. For ecommerce with PrestaShop or WooCommerce, a professional hosting plan is a smart choice.
5 free tools to test your website speed
As we’ve seen, if you want to improve your site, you first need to analyze load times. These tools not only let you run a free website speed test, but most also give you tips and recommendations to keep improving.
1. Pingdom Tools
Pingdom offers website uptime monitoring, alerts, visitor stats, and more, but one of its best-known features is the free website speed test.
It’s one of the most popular and easy-to-use tools. Just enter your site’s domain and you’ll get results in seconds. You can also choose the test location (Australia, USA, or Switzerland).
After entering your domain, the tool shows key results: performance, load speed, page size, and more. It also gives detailed info and suggestions to help you gradually improve your site’s performance.
2. Google PageSpeed Insights
Google also has its own tool to measure website performance. It gives you tips to keep improving and move up in Google’s results.
Google PageSpeed Insights works much like Pingdom. Just enter your domain and click Analyze.
Google analyzes your site’s performance on both mobile and desktop. With Google’s Mobile First Index algorithm, it’s important to pay attention to mobile results and fix any weak points.
3. Test My Site by Think with Google
Besides PageSpeed Insights, Google also created a speed test specifically for mobile devices.
Once you enter your domain, Test My Site by Google analyzes it using Chrome and a 4G connection.
You’ll get a detailed report with recommendations and adjustments to cut your mobile load times. The goal? A better user experience.
4. WebPagetest
WebPagetest lets you test your site’s speed from a mobile device or desktop. You can also choose the browser, connection, or device model for the test.
Once you access the tool, you have two search options: simple and advanced. Choose your preference and enter your domain.
5. GTmetrix
To run a speed test on GTmetrix, just enter your domain.
For a quick analysis, the default location is Canada. If your site targets Spain and you want a more precise test, you can register for free and choose a different location, browser, or connection type. For example, choose London, Chrome, and unlimited bandwidth.
GTmetrix gives you data on page load speed, URL size, and recommendations to improve your site’s performance.
In conclusion…
Your website’s speed and load times are key factors for Google when ranking your site. If you want to optimize and improve your results, you need to run a website speed test first. That way, you can see what needs improvement and what’s already working well.
There are different online tools to run a completely free website speed test.
These free tools are also very useful if you want to optimize your site for mobile devices. If your site doesn’t work well on mobile, you should fix it as soon as possible. Google now prioritizes mobile searches, so don’t let poor optimization hurt your ranking.
Finally, don’t forget the importance of choosing hosting specialized for your app—like WordPress, WooCommerce, or Prestashop.
