Test Setup

Proper setup is crucial for accurate speed measurement, so please pay close attention to this text.

Before proceeding, ensure you understand how we test your sites and the differences between speed data from CrUX (Chrome UX Report) and synth. Setup is especially critical for professional web speed monitoring using PLUS tests.

In the test setup, make sure not to forget the following:

1. Choose the URL of your site for detailed testing (synth and CrUX).
2. Select domains wisely (yours and competitors').
3. Set up alerts for changes (email, Slack, Teams).

Let's delve deeper into each part of the test setup in the monitoring app.pagespeed.cz.

Test Name#

Select a test name. Examples: “Website XYZ.cz”, “Competitor for XYZ.cz”… If you don't provide a test name, we will name it based on the domain of the first URL. You can change it at any time.

The name helps identify the test on your team dashboard.

URLs#

Enter the URLs of the pages you want to test and obtain CrUX data (speed from Google users) or synthetic measurement results (from our tests), including data from the Watchdog.

Set the correct entry URLs for testing.

We recommend entering the most important page types of your site here. Also, add naming (an alias like “Homepage” or “Product”) to simplify your graphs.

🔐 In free tests, you can enter three addresses, in PLUS tests five.

These URLs will then appear in the Pages and Technical reports.

Well-chosen URLs meet these criteria:

All important entry page types are represented#

For instance, a smaller e-shop might include the homepage, product category, product detail, and perhaps a blog post.

Measuring the cart, for example, isn't as crucial since it's not an entry page, but for larger sites, it's recommended.

They are the most visited URLs and have CrUX data#

Ignoring the homepage, you'll often have several URLs to choose from for each page type. Always choose the most visited ones, as they will be more heavily loaded and impact Google user data (CrUX) more.

Also, it helps if these URLs have their own CrUX data. Not every URL has its own CrUX data. Even for large websites, only dozens of URLs will have their own data. If the entered URL has data, it will make measuring changes easier.

You can easily check if your URL has its own CrUX data in PageSpeed Insights. Enter the URL and see if metric data appears in the “This URL” switch.

They are content-rich pages#

Always choose page types with more content components. For example, e-shops often have simpler and then more complex page types for categories.

Choose the more content-rich ones, as they'll better reveal potential user experience issues.

Google Analytics or Google Search Console can help you select suitable page types by showing their traffic.

Beware of URLs with parameters#

You might want to enter URL variants with parameters, such as:

example.com/some-url
example.com/some-url?id=203
example.com/some-url#anchor

It's important to know that from a CrUX data perspective, all these URLs are identical, as anchors and parameters after the question mark are not stored in CrUX data.

URLs are from one domain#

For the proper functioning of the Watchdog and other reports, we highly recommend not entering URLs from different domains or subdomains.

Exceptions can be made when different page types “sit” on different domains, like:

www.heureka.cz
mobilni-telefony.heureka.cz/xiaomi-redmi

Domains#

Enter the addresses of your domains. In the Domains and other reports, we will then display speed data from Google for these domains (CrUX).

Set up your own domains as well as competitors'.

Besides the main domain of your monitored site, we recommend entering:

• competitors' domains
• language versions of your site
• subdomains of the site (if you direct significant traffic to them)

Indicating the type of domain will clarify reports and especially email notifications, so don't forget to select them. If you mark a site as “competitor” or “other”, we won't send you change notifications for them.

🔐 In free tests, you can enter three domains, in PLUS tests five.

What if five URLs or domains are not enough?#

Some of our clients cannot manage with just five URLs or domains. Large sites, for example, have a greater number of entry pages that need testing.

Other clients have many language versions of the site they want to monitor in domains. In such cases, it's possible to add more URLs or domains to the test for an additional fee, up to 20. See pricing.

If interested, contact us at info@pagespeed.cz.

How to test websites behind a login?#

We can test sites hidden behind a login, but usually, some preparation will be needed on your part.

Testing a site behind HTTP authentication is of course possible, just anticipate a delay in loading speed.

Another option is to detect our bot and remove the login for it.

The second option is authentication via htpasswd. In such a case, contact us at info@pagespeed.cz.

Speed Watchdog Alerts#

🔐 This feature is available only for PLUS tests.

Receive alerts if the Watchdog detects significant deterioration or improvement in the speed of tested URLs.

Ensure that Watchdog reports reach where your team communicates.

By default, alerts go to the email of all team members until they unsubscribe.

If you use Slack or Teams for internal communication, we recommend adding a channel and receiving alerts there.

You can of course add multiple channels. One for developers, another for the agency. We recommend naming these channels as well, so you can distinguish them.

More information, including how to set up notifications for Slack or Teams, can be found in the notification help.

Test Start Time#

🔐 This feature is available only for PLUS tests.

Advanced settings should only be adjusted if you know what you're doing.

In the “Test Start Time” field, choose the time at which speed tests will begin each day. This might be useful if testing conflicts with server maintenance, such as various cron jobs running at night.

Note, the test start time is approximate. Tests occur within tens of minutes of the set time.

The default approximate start time for PLUS tests is 4

AM.

Do you have everything set up correctly? Now explore other parts of our speed monitoring and focus mainly on the Speed Watchdog.