Test Lighthouse
A test method to improve the quality of web pages is Lighthouse. It is an automated open-source tool to perform audits on speed, accessibility, best approach and SEO.
Google Lighthouse
Lighthouse analyses web apps and web pages and collects modern performance figures and insights into developers' best practices.
Lighthouse analyses
- Performance
How fast does your website or app load? How quickly can users open or view the content? - Accessibility
How well is your website optimised for people with disabilities? Do key elements such as buttons, hyperlinks and images contain additional information available to assistive devices such as screen readers? - Best Practices
Does your website take into account website security issues and modern standards? Do you use secure JavaScript libraries? - SEO
How well can your website or app be indexed by search engines?
Lighthouse score
- 0 - 49 (red): Poor
- 50 to 89 (amber): Need improvement
- 90 to 100 (green): Good
Google Chrome web browser
The tool is included by default in the Google Chrome web browser. Go to the website or page you wish to test and launch Lighthouse:
- Click with the mouse anywhere on the page, select "Inspect" from the menu, choose the tab "Lighthouse".
- Or press Command+Option+C (Mac) or Control+Shift+C (Windows, Linux, Chrome OS)
Then choose what you want to test and click on the "Generate Report" button.
For a good test result
- Perform the analysis with a good connection
- Run the test in "incognito mode" (also called privacy mode). Any browser extensions will then not interfere with the test.
Use the results and tips from Lighthouse to improve your own site.
Variable results
The results of the Lighthouse analysis can vary due to
- the internet connection (e.g. changes in routing of internet traffic)
- Advertisements shown on your website
- A/B-tests in which the same page is shown differently to different users in order to test which page works best
- Testing on different devices. A desktop computer with a fast CPU often scores better than a laptop with a low performance
- Browser extensions
- Antivirus software
The best website
- Performance: 100%
- Accessibility: 100%
- Best Practices: 100%
- SEO: 100%
