How do I read a Google PageSpeed Insights report?
By Dylan Bartie, Founder of DrivnLast updated
Look at the real-user section first, if it appears: it shows how fast your site is for actual visitors, measured by Core Web Vitals. The 0 to 100 performance score underneath is a lab test on a simulated phone. It's useful for spotting problems but varies between runs, so don't chase a perfect 100. Fix the issues it flags that affect mobile visitors.
What is PageSpeed Insights?
A free tool from Google at pagespeed.web.dev that tests how quickly a page loads and how smoothly it behaves, on mobile and desktop. Paste in any address, including your competitors', and it gives you a report in under a minute. Google explains the details in About PageSpeed Insights.
Why are there two sets of results?
Because they measure different things. The top section, when it appears, is real-user data: how the page actually performed for real Chrome visitors over the previous 28 days. Smaller sites often don't have enough visitors for this section to show, which is normal.
The section with the big 0 to 100 score is a lab test: Google loads the page once on a simulated mid-range phone with a throttled connection. It's great for diagnosing problems, but it can vary noticeably from one run to the next, so don't panic over a few points either way.
What are Core Web Vitals?
Three measurements Google uses to describe how a page feels to use. In plain terms, from Google's Web Vitals guidance:
- Largest Contentful Paint (LCP): how long until the main content appears. Good is 2.5 seconds or less.
- Interaction to Next Paint (INP): how quickly the page responds when someone taps or clicks. Good is 200 milliseconds or less.
- Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS): how much things jump around while loading. Good is 0.1 or less.
What usually makes a local business website slow?
The same few things come up again and again:
- Huge photos uploaded straight from a phone or camera, several megabytes each.
- Page builders and themes that load a lot of code the page doesn't use.
- Too many plugins, chat widgets, pop-ups and tracking scripts.
- Sliders and auto-playing video at the top of the page.
- Cheap or overloaded hosting.
Some of these are quick fixes, like resizing photos. Others are built into how the site was made, which is why some sites can only get so fast without a rebuild. My comparison of Wix and Squarespace vs a custom website goes into that trade-off.
Should I aim for 100?
No. Aim for the real-user Core Web Vitals to be in the green, and for the page to feel fast on your own phone on mobile data. A perfect lab score is nice but won't win you jobs on its own; a clear page that loads quickly and makes calling easy will.
For what it's worth, the home page shows this site's own live mobile score whenever it's 90 or above, with a link so you can run the test yourself. You can also run the free SEO audit, which pulls PageSpeed data alongside 60+ other checks.
Who this is for
- Small business owners who've run PageSpeed Insights and aren't sure what the report means.
- Anyone comparing their site's speed with a competitor's.
Who it's not for
- Developers looking for detailed optimisation techniques. Google's web.dev documentation goes much deeper.