Introducing a new resource for the performance community: Page Speed Benchmarks!
Here are some common questions I’m asked when I talk with people about performance:
- Which metrics should I care about?
- What types of devices and connections should I test on?
- Which third parties should I be most concerned about?
- How fast should I be?
- What are some good sites I can use for benchmarking?
Today, I’m very excited to announce the release of a new project that helps answer those questions – and more!
Page Speed Benchmarks is an interactive dashboard that lets you explore and compare web performance data for leading websites across several industries – from retail to media.
With Page Speed Benchmarks, you can do things like:
- See what the different metrics actually mean in terms of user-perceived performance
- Compare how the same page renders on fast vs slow devices and connections
- Understand what makes fast sites fast (and slow sites slow)
- Get insights into how third parties can perform on different sites
- Identify sites you can use for your own competitive benchmarking
If you already like tools like the HTTP Archive, I think you'll love how you can use Page Speed Benchmarks to complement the insights you're already getting. Keep reading to find out how we set up these benchmarks, and how you can mine our test data – even if you're not a SpeedCurve user – for your own performance research.
A retailer's guide to web performance
I’m at Shop.org this week, having really interesting conversations with online retailers. What I love about talking with this crowd is that – like me – they're super focused on user-perceived performance. Not surprisingly, we have a lot to talk about.
Making customers happy is the not-so-secret secret to retail success. Delivering a fast, consistent online experience has been proven to measurably increase every metric retailers care about – from conversions and revenue to retention and brand perception. (In fact, there's so much research in this area, I dedicated an entire chapter in my book to it. You can also find a number of great studies on WPO Stats.)
Delivering great, fast online experiences starts with asking two questions:
- What’s making my pages seem slower for my users?
- What can I do about it?
The good news is that most of the issues that are making pages slow for your shoppers are right on your pages, which means you have control over them. Here's an overview of the most common performance issues on retail sites, and how you can track them down and fix them.
