I Got 95/100 Google PageSpeed Insights Score!?

Insight-ing a Riot

I have spent days of my life trying to tweak and plead with Google PageSpeed Service and PageSpeed Insights to get a score in the 90s on GoDaddy-hosted WordPress installations (for desktop scores; I still find a “green” score for mobile to be as elusive as Bigfoot riding a unicorn).

This activity is proof I lead a life of breathtaking excitement, experimentally changing the active plugins mix and .htaccess scripts before once again pressing the blue “ANALYZE” button… Only to face Google’s omniscient mirror, soberly reflecting the wicked server latencies in my heart, the displeasing javascript snippets woven into the fabric of my unworthy soul.

I’m Taking My PageSpeed Desktop Talents to South Beach.

Today I checked my PageSpeed Insights score again. I didn’t really believe what I saw. I got a 95 out of 100 (SOLIDLY GREEN TERRITORY!!) on the desktop assessment.

Server Speed… Is Good?

Very surprisingly, PageSpeed said my server response time was quick, which it has NEVER done before (on all GoDaddy shared hosting server installations I’ve checked). It’s frustrating to get docked on this point, as it’s the least controllable aspect of the analysis. And it can get pricey for a dedicated hosting server, confirming my suspicions that Google wants only Fortune 500 corporations to own web sites. The rest of us will have to fight for market share in their comment sections.

The Elusive PageSpeed Mobile Score

I think my mobile score went down from last I checked, but it also did not display the mobile-friendly theme screenshot that’s supposed to serve when a mobile browser is sniffing.

Google PageSpeed Mobile, I feel like we're not communicating. It's like you're giving me mixed signals. Your approval is very important to me. Please tell me how to please you. — Google PageSpeed Mobile, I feel like we’re not communicating. It’s like you’re giving me mixed signals. Your approval is very important to me. Please tell me how to please you.

Mobile Friendly Test

So it’s kinda weird that if I use Google PSI to test a post URL, it gets served the desktop theme. But if I test the blog homepage URL, it picks up on the mobile version of the blog.

I had a bunch of other stuff here about how I figured out PSI was getting desktop pages instead of mobile pages, and that screwed up my mobile score, and how I solved it. But it was really specific to my setup, so I deleted it. The next page is specific also, but you might get something out of it if you have a WordPress site and Apache setup with Cpanel (or ability to change .htaccess files).