Site speed, loading times, and performance scores are elements that contribute to SEO in a couple of ways. While these factors are a small fragment that search engines consider, their impact on site visitors is potentially more significant. Faster websites tend to reduce bounce rates and increase engagement, which are key factors in SEO. Therefore, although search engines like Google may not rank sites based on these optimizations, the improved visitor interaction they facilitate can positively impact search engine rankings.
Testing for optimization can be challenging. Most testing tools use a simulated environment. While these tools can give an idea of what visitors might experience, they don't provide real-world data. It's important to understand that the results from these tools are approximations and may not fully reflect actual user experiences. Therefore, scores from these tools may not accurately predict how SEO is being affected.
For the most accurate assessment, complement simulated testing with real-world performance monitoring using tools like Google Search Console.
The most accurate testing tools using simulated environments are Google’s Lighthouse and PageSpeed Insights. Both tools leverage Lighthouse technology to provide detailed performance insights.
Note
Google's WebPage Test tool is no longer an industry recommended tool.
While not the primary focus, we prioritize real-world performance, our sites can score highly on Google's PageSpeed Insights and Lighthouse if best practices are followed (see Core Web Vitals Best Practices: Site Performance and Optimization). This is partly because these tools test some of the same metrics as Google's Core Web Vitals.
These tools examine many technical details of how webpages are built and check to see if they adhere to best practices that enable quick loading. The most important aspect these tools evaluate is how the website code is structured. Google ensures that the code is organized in a way that allows the browser to load the content as quickly as possible.
For information on what can potentially cause low scores and possible solutions, see the FAQ in this article, How do I Increase Google's PageSpeed Insights or Lighthouse?.
If there isn't a tool that tests in a real-world environment, how is optimization monitored? This is where Google's Core Web Vitals come into play. Once a site has around 2,000 unique visitors in a month, a set of metrics are tracked to evaluate performance.
Because it uses real-world data, Core Web Vitals is the most accurate method for monitoring optimization. This approach provides insights based on actual user experiences, making it a reliable indicator of site performance.
Website Builder focuses on these metrics not just for scoring purposes, but because they best reflect what site visitors are experiencing.
For more on Google's Core Web Vitals, see Core Web Vitals.
Out-of-the-box, Website Builder sites are developed for optimization, focusing on real-world interactions and, ultimately, Google's Core Web Vitals.
While Website Builder sites can score well with tools that test in a simulated environment, these simulations are not the primary focus of our optimization efforts. Although these tools can provide useful information, they may not accurately reflect the built-in optimization.
The out-of-the-box optimizations serve as the building blocks for Website Builder sites. While we provide a solid foundation, the way sites are designed and built can significantly impact their optimization. For instance, placing a video at the top of a page or adding scripts in the head HTML can affect site performance.
Optimizing is an ongoing practice at Website Builder. We will continue to stay up to date and implement changes to ensure continuous improvements.
Further reading:
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For more in-depth information on the built-in optimization, see Built-in Site Optimization.
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See Core Web Vitals Best Practices: Site Performance and Optimization for tips on maintaining optimal site performance.
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For more information on Google's Core Web Vitals, see Core Web Vitals.
While Website Builder strives for the most optimized sites, some components cannot be changed due to the nature of drag-and-drop editors.
These components should have minimal impact on site performance.
The components that are not able to be changed are:
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Leverage browser caching
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Minify HTML / CSS / JS
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Optimize CSS delivery
While Website Builder works hard to ensure sites perform at their best, you should be aware of the implications of adding scripts and custom code to your site as they have the potential to decrease page speed.
There are ways to avoid performance costs when adding scripts. We recommend learning about the scripts you add to your site in order to optimize its performance. Google has helpful resources, such as: web.dev.
There can be other contributing factors, for tips on optimizing your site, see Core Web Vitals Best Practices: Site Performance and Optimization.
While Website Builder wishes every website we run would always rank high, it’s not something we can promise. This is because our customers can add their own code, content and designs to the website, so we don’t have full control over what they can or can’t add. For this reason, there are some scenarios in which Website Builder websites will not score in the high 90s.
Below is a list of errors/issues we see Google PageSpeed reporting to us and solutions for fixing them.
Note
There are issues reported by Google that cannot be fixed:
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Leverage browser caching
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Minify HTML / CSS / JS
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Optimize CSS delivery
If you place a map element at the top of your website, custom code/script in the header, or embed a custom iframe into a Website Builder website above the fold.
Solution:
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Move the map element to the bottom of the page.
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Place the code in the body-end.html file or make sure the script is loaded asynchronously (see Note below).
Tip
To enable async on scripts, alter it as follows:
Old Code:
<script src=”https://example.com/script.js”></scrip>New Async Code:
<script src=”https://example.com/script.js” async defer</script>Please note, while we can offer suggestions, we are not able to assist with custom code.
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Move embedded iframe lower down the page or remove it completely.
Images may not be optimized due to size or file type, which can negatively impact page speed.
Solution:
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Website Builder’s image optimization works only on JPG and PNG images. If you are uploading a TIFF, GIF, or other image formats, Website Builder might not be able to optimize it. If this is the case, we recommend running the image through an image optimization tool. These tools can typically be found doing a quick search for "image compression tool".
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Resize large images by downloading, resizing in photo editing software, and re-uploading
Warning
While Website Builder optimizes images to make sure they're compressed at a smaller size, Website Builder doesn't actually resize your image for you in the desktop version of your site. In these cases, you will need to resize in photo editing software and re-upload.
If you include custom code in your website, it will often load from a 3rd party website. If this website does not enable caching, then Google will find this and recommend enabling browser caching.
Solution: Contact the third-party service to request that they implement this change on their server.
Website Builder is moving our websites to fully responsive design technology that uses CSS media queries to change the layout, hide content or display different elements based on screen size. This is standard across the web of how content is hidden for smaller or larger screen sizes.
When you hide a widget, section, or any content in the Website Builder editor on a specific device, we hide it using CSS Media Queries. What this means is that the HTML (although hidden on the website) still exists within the web page when a viewer looks at the content.
This can sometimes cause a problem where an audit tool that scans the website will identify this hidden content.
Why Hidden Content isn't an issue with search engines)
Google (and other popular search engines) are able to identify if certain content is hidden and not index it. Google uses a mobile-first index, where they crawl the website using a mobile device. So, you should make sure that the mobile layout has all of the content you expect Google to be able to index and discover.
If a deceptive tactic is used to hide content, it can be detrimental to SEO. An example of a deceptive tactic is placing repeated keywords on a site for the benefit of ranking and hiding them by setting the font size to 0 or camouflaging the text (making it the same color as the background) to make it not visible to the site visitor. Search engine algorithms are smart enough to recognize this and potentially penalize sites that use it.
This is a deliberate act carried out by a person, Website Builder technology would not do this and is not capable of it.