Understand Speed Improvements in One Minute: How to Use GTmetrix and What to Check

Find the issues slowing down your website right now.

GTmetrix is a tool that measures website speed and analyzes the problems affecting your site. If you use it well, you can improve the user experience of your website. That leads to better traffic performance and higher revenue.

You can see what an actual measurement looks like.

In this article, I thoroughly explain how to use GTmetrix and the points you should check.

How to use GTmetrix

GTmetrix checkpoints

GTmetrix shows many kinds of analysis results. You may wonder which ones to look at first. Start by checking the following two points.

Use Largest Contentful Paint in Web Vitals as your speed metric

In Web Vitals, check “Largest Contentful Paint” as your speed metric.

LCP measures how long it takes for the largest content element on your page, such as a hero image or heading text, to become visible within your visitors’ viewport.

For a good user experience, aim for an LCP of 1.2 seconds or less. Learn more.

GTmetrix

In many cases, the largest content on a page is an image. Once the biggest visual element on the page appears, website visitors feel that the page has loaded. If it appears smoothly, they can browse the site comfortably without frustration.

If LCP is slow, the page feels slow to load, which increases stress for visitors.

When improving your site with GTmetrix, use this LCP value as a benchmark and work on lowering it.

Find problems in Summary's Top Issues

If you see Reduce initial server response time, consider moving to a faster server

“Reduce initial server response time” means shortening the time from when the server first receives a request until it returns the first byte to the client, in other words the user's browser.

This is called “Time to First Byte (TTFB).”

It is an important factor that shows whether your server is fast or slow. If this result is poor, consider moving to a different server.

Optimize images for Properly size images

“Properly size images” means setting the size of the images used on a webpage appropriately.

You need to optimize image size and image quality. Make good use of WordPress plugins.

For example, try adding Imagify, a well-known plugin for image optimization. It also supports conversion to the next-generation WEBP image format.

Imagify Image Optimization – Optimize Images | Compress Images | Convert WebP | Convert AVIF

Optimize images in 1-click: compress images, convert to WebP...

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★ Five WordPress plugins that dramatically improve speed and other performance tips

Use caching for Serve static assets with an efficient cache policy

“Serve static assets with an efficient cache policy” means serving static assets such as images, CSS, and JavaScript files with an efficient cache policy. This helps improve page loading speed and reduce server load.

★ What Is Cache? Use Temporary Data Storage to Speed Up Websites

You can improve speed dramatically by using cache. If your server offers caching, turn the feature on. If it does not, use a WordPress plugin instead. WP Super Cache is one example.

WP Super Cache

A super-fast WordPress caching engine that generates static HTML files.

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★ Five WordPress plugins that dramatically improve speed and other performance tips

Benefits of registering a free GTmetrix account

You can use GTmetrix without registering. However, if you register, more features become available.

You can choose the test location

If you register a free account, you can choose the location where the test is run. There are seven locations available with a free account.

• Hong Kong
• London, United Kingdom
• Mumbai, India
• San Antonio, Texas, United States
• Sydney, Australia
• São Paulo, Brazil
• Vancouver, Canada

The default setting is Vancouver.

By choosing a location, you can understand the actual speed results in the regions where your website users are concentrated. More accurate information leads to better improvements.

You can choose the network profile, such as LTE or broadband

If you register a free account, you can choose a connection type such as LTE or broadband.

If you test speed using the same types of connections your real users rely on, it becomes easier to decide whether to keep investing in speed improvements or pause those efforts.

Summary

I have explained how to use GTmetrix. GTmetrix is not just a tool for measuring speed. It is a tool for improving speed. Use the analysis results as the basis for your improvements.

If the server itself appears among the elements that need improvement, consider moving to a different server.