Website performance plays a key role in user experience, search engine rankings, and overall business success. One of the best tools available to help you gain deep insights into your site’s performance is Screaming Frog SEO Spider. In this guide, we’ll look at advanced ways to use Screaming Frog for page performance report and give you practical advice to maximize its effectiveness in 2025.
Whether you are an SEO professional, a website manager, or a business owner, advanced ways to use Screaming Frog can give you detailed insights that help you improve your page performance. It’s an invaluable tool that reveals areas for optimization and boosts your website’s overall speed and user experience.
Understanding Screaming Frog and Its Capabilities
Screaming Frog is a popular SEO crawler used by website managers and digital marketers to analyze their websites. It’s a powerful tool that helps audit SEO, track page performance, and identify areas for improvement. It crawls websites much like a search engine bot would, allowing you to view all the pages on your website, identify technical issues, and evaluate page performance.
When it comes to using Screaming Frog for page performance report, it offers in-depth data on various key factors that impact the load time and overall performance of your site. The tool also provides critical insights for page speed, site structure, internal linking, and more, helping you optimize your site effectively.
Setting Up Screaming Frog for Page Performance Audits
Before you begin auditing for page performance, setting up Screaming Frog correctly is essential to getting accurate results. Here’s how you can configure the tool for maximum effectiveness:
- Install Screaming Frog: Download and install the latest version of the tool.
- Connect with Google Analytics and Google Search Console: These integrations allow you to pull valuable data directly into your Screaming Frog reports, adding more insights to the page performance analysis.
- Adjust Crawl Settings: Set the crawl depth to ensure the tool checks all parts of your website, from the homepage to internal pages, and external links.
- Enable JavaScript Rendering: This setting allows Screaming Frog to crawl pages that rely on JavaScript for content and performance.
With these steps, you’ll be ready to generate accurate performance reports that highlight areas needing improvement.
Advanced Techniques for Analyzing Page Speed
Page speed directly impacts user experience and SEO rankings. One of the advanced ways to use Screaming Frog for page performance report is by analyzing the page load time. By running a crawl, you can see which pages are slow to load and need optimization. Screaming Frog also provides detailed information on resources like CSS files, images, and JavaScript files that could be slowing down your site.
- Check Crawl Overview Tab: Screaming Frog’s crawl overview will show you how long each page takes to load and whether the page load time meets industry standards.
- Analyze Page Bloat: Large file sizes can make pages slow. Look for large images, videos, and files and optimize them to improve page speed.
These techniques allow you to address page speed problems and improve performance across your site.
Examining Core Web Vitals with Screaming Frog
In 2025, Core Web Vitals will continue to play a major role in SEO and user experience. Core Web Vitals measure aspects of page performance such as loading time (LCP), interactivity (FID), and visual stability (CLS). Using Screaming Frog for page performance report can help you evaluate your website’s performance against these metrics.
- LCP (Largest Contentful Paint): Screaming Frog helps track how long it takes for the largest element of a page to load. Optimizing LCP helps improve both SEO and user satisfaction.
- FID (First Input Delay): With Screaming Frog, you can analyze how responsive your website is when users interact with it, making sure your pages load quickly enough to avoid delays.
- CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift): This metric measures the visual stability of your page. Screaming Frog helps identify any unexpected shifting of page elements.
By closely monitoring these Core Web Vitals, you can focus on specific areas to improve your site’s overall performance.
Identifying and Fixing Redirects
Redirects can cause delays and negatively affect page performance. When using Screaming Frog for page performance report, you can quickly find and fix any redirects on your website. Screaming Frog highlights all 301, 302, and other types of redirects, allowing you to:
- Remove Redirect Chains: These can slow down page load times by introducing multiple redirects. Fixing them can lead to faster, more efficient page loads.
- Avoid 404 Errors: Screaming Frog also helps you identify pages that are returning 404 errors, which can affect both user experience and SEO.
By fixing redirects and improving URL structures, you can boost site performance and reduce load time.
Evaluating Internal Linking and Site Structure
Internal linking is an important factor in both SEO and page performance. Poorly structured internal links can slow down page speed and make navigation difficult for users. When using Screaming Frog for page performance report, you can:
- Identify Orphan Pages: Pages that aren’t linked from any other part of your site can be identified easily using Screaming Frog. Ensure that all important pages are linked internally.
- Check for Broken Links: Broken internal links can also cause problems. Screaming Frog’s crawler will identify them, allowing you to correct these links for better performance.
- Optimize Site Structure: Screaming Frog helps you visualize your site’s structure and identify ways to improve internal linking for smoother navigation and faster performance.
By improving internal linking and site structure, you can reduce load times and ensure that search engines can crawl and index your pages effectively.
Identifying JavaScript and CSS Issues
JavaScript and CSS files are often the biggest contributors to slow page load times. Using Screaming Frog for page performance report allows you to identify blocking scripts, large files, and other elements that slow down your pages. You can:
- Check for Render-Blocking JavaScript: Screaming Frog identifies scripts that prevent the page from rendering quickly. Minimizing these will boost your site’s performance.
- Optimize CSS Files: Screaming Frog helps you identify CSS files that are too large or inefficient, which can be optimized to reduce load times.
By identifying JavaScript and CSS issues, you can make your website load faster and perform better.
Leveraging Custom Extraction for Performance Data
Screaming Frog allows you to use custom extraction to pull specific performance-related data from your website. This feature can be incredibly useful for tracking performance metrics like load time or script size. By using Screaming Frog for page performance report, you can set up custom extraction rules to gather the exact data you need to optimize your site.
- Extract Data Points: Use custom extraction to pull data about page speed, load time, image sizes, and more.
- Analyze and Improve: Use the extracted data to identify performance issues and improve page load times.
This feature makes it easier to focus on specific performance metrics that matter to you.
Integrating Screaming Frog with Third-Party Tools
For even more powerful insights, integrating Screaming Frog with other performance analysis tools like Lighthouse, GTMetrix, or PageSpeed Insights can provide a broader view of your site’s performance. By combining data from Screaming Frog for page performance report with the insights from these third-party tools, you can get a complete picture of your site’s health.
- Use Data from Lighthouse: Combine your Screaming Frog data with Lighthouse scores for a more in-depth performance analysis.
- Compare with PageSpeed Insights: PageSpeed Insights can give you specific suggestions for optimizing your website, which you can act upon after using Screaming Frog.
These integrations will give you a more thorough understanding of your website’s performance and how to improve it.
Reporting and Sharing Insights
Once you have completed your page performance audit, you’ll need to report your findings. Screaming Frog makes it easy to export your data into various formats, including CSV, Excel, and PDF. This allows you to present performance insights clearly to your team or clients.
- Create Custom Reports: Customize the data in your reports to highlight the most important performance metrics.
- Share Reports Efficiently: Screaming Frog’s reporting tools make it simple to share your findings with others, ensuring everyone is on the same page about improving performance.
Common Mistakes to Avoid When Using Screaming Frog for Page Performance
Even experienced users can make mistakes when using Screaming Frog. Some common issues include:
- Ignoring Small Errors: Sometimes small issues can add up to a larger performance problem. Make sure you address every detail.
- Overlooking Mobile Performance: Ensure you’re auditing mobile pages as well, since mobile performance impacts user experience and SEO.
- Not Prioritizing Issues: Fix the most important performance problems first, such as slow load times or broken links.
By avoiding these mistakes, you’ll ensure that your Screaming Frog audit is as effective as possible.
Conclusion
By using Screaming Frog for page performance report, you can gain detailed insights into your website’s performance and make the necessary improvements for better user experience and SEO. The tool provides a wealth of data that helps you optimize page speed, Core Web Vitals, internal linking, and more. Whether you’re a digital marketer, SEO expert, or website owner, advanced ways to use Screaming Frog will allow you to maximize your website’s performance in 2025 and beyond.