flyfisher842 on "[Plugin: Autoptimize] Eliminate Render Blocking CSS"

Hi flyfisher842,

Google also says they are ranking on page load so it would seem some attention to page load would be important. ie. page load of 10 seconds with a user of 99 would not do as well as the same page loading at 0.8 with a UX of 99.

It's complicated. But the bottom line is:

1.) PageSpeed Insights is a basic best practices tool. People -- and it's not their fault -- attribute WAY more to this tool than what it actually is (more info available upon request).

2.) Page Load/Document Complete is only a problem when it is *lea more*. And this is where things get fuzzy for the layman (no insult intended)... If, for example, one's site has a Speed Index of 942, BUT, their Document Complete time is upwards of 18+ seconds... yeah, that MIGHT be a problem. MIGHT be, but not necessarily...

What Google wants, because it is what your website’s users want, is an optimal User Experience. Simply stated, the user’s perception of speed is the by-far-and-away most important performance characteristic. This is, of course, why Google is so adamant about optimizing above-the-fold content.

Or is all this google page speed just smoke and mirrors

No, not at all. There must needs some sort of major reworking, however, of the general public's perception of what GPSI actually is and the Inteet isn't helping. WpFASTER is attempting to lead this charge.

Again -- and I cannot stress the simplicity of this enough -- GPSI is a basic best practices tool. That's it. That's all. End of story. No different than, say, GTmetrix or Pingdom.

And a big thanks for the webpagetest.org link. I will check it out today.

I just ran a couple of test very cool site. I like the ability to check with different browsers and locations. This tool makes more sense than any I have tried. Thanks again for the tip.

My pleasure. If you're looking... you will see that WebPageTest is a real test...

What Google -- and your site's users -- ultimately want is real world performance.

It is in fact the only thing that matters.

Be well,
AJ