Google Lighthouse Scores breakdown and what it all really means
by Matthew Rhoads,
Google Lighthouse Breakdown and What It Really Means
Why Google Lighthouse Scores Matter and How Hand-Coded Websites Outperform Page Builders
What Are Google Lighthouse Scores?
Google Lighthouse is an open-source, automated tool developed by Google to help developers evaluate and improve their web pages. Lighthouse analyzes a page and provides a detailed report with scores on five key metrics:
- Performance: Measures how fast your site loads and becomes interactive.
- Accessibility: Assesses how user-friendly your site is for people with disabilities.
- Best Practices: Evaluates if your site follows the latest web development standards.
- SEO: Checks how optimized your site is for search engines.
- Progressive Web App (PWA): Determines if your site offers a seamless experience, even offline.
Each of these scores is out of 100, giving you a clear picture of your website's overall health and performance.
The Impact of Lighthouse Scores on Google Search Rankings
While Google uses many factors to rank pages in search results, performance metrics play a crucial role. Here’s why:
- User Experience: Google prioritizes websites that provide a great user experience. If your site is slow, difficult to navigate, or has accessibility issues, Google is less likely to recommend it to users.
- Mobile Optimization: With more users browsing on mobile, Google emphasizes mobile-friendly sites. Lighthouse scores can help you identify areas where your site needs improvement for mobile users.
- SEO: A strong SEO score in Lighthouse indicates your website is well-structured, making it easier for search engines to crawl and understand its content.
For small business owners, this boils down to one key takeaway: Better Lighthouse scores often translate into better Google rankings and visibility.
Page Builders vs. Hand-Coded Websites
Many small businesses turn to page builders—platforms that allow users to create websites using drag-and-drop blocks and pre-built templates. While convenient and cost-effective, page builders come with significant trade-offs, particularly in performance and optimization.
Potential Issues with Page Builders:
- Redundant Code: Page builders often generate bloated code that includes elements you may never use, slowing down your site.
- Limited Customization: Although they offer many design options, page builders can be restrictive when implementing unique or advanced features.
- Slower Performance: The excess code and unnecessary scripts can lead to slower load times, negatively impacting user experience and SEO.
In contrast, hand-coded websites are crafted with precision. Every line of code serves a specific purpose, leading to superior performance, faster load times, and a more tailored user experience.
Benefits of Hand-Coded Websites:
- Custom Design and Functionality: Hand-coded sites offer full flexibility, allowing for a design that’s 100% tailored to your business needs.
- Optimized Performance: Clean, minimal code results in faster load times and a more responsive website.
- Better Lighthouse Scores: Since hand-coded sites are optimized from the ground up, they tend to score higher on Lighthouse, which in turn can boost search engine visibility and drive more traffic.
In Conclusion
For small business owners, your website is often the first impression customers have of your business. Ensuring it performs well, ranks high on search engines, and offers an exceptional user experience is essential.
While page builders might be a quick and easy solution, the long-term benefits of investing in a hand-coded website are undeniable. If you want to improve your website’s performance and boost your business’s online presence, a custom-built, hand-coded website is the way to go.