What is GTmetrix?

How to use GTMetrix ?

To run a GTMetrix performance report for your website, follow these steps:

1. Use your browser to go to https://gtmetrix.com.
2. In the text box, type the URL for your web site:

1. Click "Test your site". GTMetrix analyzes your site.

The duration of the analysis on GTmetrix can vary based on the current website's activity and the speed of your own site. The process may take anywhere from a few seconds to a minute to complete, depending on the workload of the GTmetrix website and the complexity of your site's performance. It's essential to be patient during the analysis and consider external factors that might affect the processing time. The accuracy and depth of the insights provided by GTmetrix make the brief wait worthwhile for optimizing website performance.

After GTMetrix completes the analysis of your website, it displays a performance report for your site.

The page details are the most important and immediate info you can have on your website performance:

Fully Loaded Time

The length of time required for your page to become interactive in the test browser , expressed in seconds.

Total Page Size

The total amount of data downloaded to the test server, in MB, including all media assets such as images.

Requests

This the number of individual HTTP requests generated by your site via scripts, CSS, etc.

GTMetrix's reports are divided into five different sections including PageSpeed, YSlow, waterfall breakdown, video, and history.

The individual tabs under the performance summary area in the gtmatrix results , are where you can see what specific areas your website is performing well, or poorly, in.

Pagespeed

The Pagespeed section of GTmetrix provides fundamental insights and identifies easy-to-implement optimizations to improve your site's loading speed. Recommendations are categorized using a lettering system, ranging from A to F, indicating their effectiveness from best to poor. The Type column specifies the content or area to which each recommendation pertains (e.g., Content, Server, JavaScript), and the Priority column assigns a level of importance (High, Medium, or Low) for each issue's impact on the overall performance. This section serves as a starting point for addressing key areas and enhancing website speed.

Using the small arrow on the left hand size of each recommendation , you can expand the section.

YSlow

YSlow, the following category of results in GTmetrix, complements the Pagespeed test by identifying crucial factors contributing to your website's slow performance. It offers valuable recommendations to optimize your page's speed and presents detailed statistics relating to the page's components. This section provides a comprehensive summary of various page elements, enabling you to focus on specific areas for improvement and enhance overall website performance.

Waterfall

The Waterfall chart in GTmetrix presents a comprehensive breakdown of every request made by your website, encompassing media files, JavaScript, CSS, and more. It offers a visual representation of the loading behavior of your site, displaying the order in which each resource is requested and loaded. This chart provides detailed insight into every script, media file, and third-party resource utilized by your page, enabling you to analyze loading times and optimize the loading sequence for improved website performance.

Timings

The timings tab displays some advanced results, these events include:

1. Redirect duration
2. Connect duration
3. Backend duration
4. Time to First Byte (TTFB)
5. First paint time
6. DOM interactive time
7. DOM content loaded time (and JavaScript event duration)
8. Onload time (and JavaScript event duration)
9. RUM Speed Index

GTmetrix's unique timeline visualization offers a chronological representation of event occurrences, providing a clear overview of their sequence. The events are presented in order, allowing users to quickly identify when they take place during page loading. However, the timeline is not necessarily drawn to scale because webpages can exhibit significant variations in event durations, ranging from substantial to negligible differences between events. This visualization aids in identifying bottlenecks and areas for optimization during the loading process, despite not being strictly proportional.

Video

The video option in GTmetrix is a valuable feature accessible to registered users. It provides a comprehensive video breakdown of your website's loading process, showcasing the key milestones analyzed in the Timings tab. This video allows users to visually observe the loading sequence and identify specific areas where improvements can be made to enhance website performance. It offers a dynamic and informative perspective on the loading behavior of the site, making it a useful tool for optimizing overall user experience.

History

GTmatrix History tab contains all of the graphs that were previously under the "Performance History" tab, also added tool tips to the nodes that allow you to:

1. View the highlighted report (if you're not already viewing it)
2. Compare the highlighted report to the currently viewed report
3. Delete the highlighted report
4. This provides our users with a more visual way of keeping track of past reports.

Conclusion

GTmetrix is indeed a valuable gem for website optimization, offering a comprehensive solution to enhance site performance. Instead of relying on separate tools like YSlow extension or Google Webmaster Tools for specific performance metrics, GTmetrix provides an all-in-one platform to assess both YSlow and Google Page Speed scores. This streamlined approach saves time and effort for users, making GTmetrix a go-to tool for optimizing websites and improving overall performance in a convenient and efficient manner.