Insights and Inspiration – The Hostnicker Blog

Analyzing Webflow Site SEO with Google Lighthouse

December 13, 2024

To improve your Webflow site's SEO using Google Lighthouse, follow these steps to enhance performance and search visibility in a clear and straightforward manner:

Step 1: Understand Google Lighthouse
Google Lighthouse is an open-source tool designed to improve web page quality by providing actionable insights into performance, accessibility, progressive web apps, SEO, and more.

Step 2: Access Google Lighthouse
There are multiple ways to access Google Lighthouse:

1. Google Chrome DevTools: Open your website in Google Chrome, right-click the page, select Inspect, and then go to the Lighthouse tab in the DevTools panel.
2. Google PageSpeed Insights: Visit pagespeed.web.dev, enter your site URL, and run an audit to receive SEO metrics.
3. Lighthouse Chrome Extension: Install the Lighthouse extension from the Chrome Web Store to run audits directly from your browser.

Step 3: Run the Audit
Choose the categories you wish to analyze, such as Performance, Accessibility, Best Practices, SEO, and PWA. Click Generate Report to run the audit, which will take a few moments.

Step 4: Review the Report
Once complete, the report will give scores from 0 to 100 for each category. Focus on the SEO score and suggested improvements to enhance it.

Step 5: Analyze Specific SEO Metrics
Pay attention to key SEO elements in the report:

1. Meta Tags: Ensure title tags and meta descriptions are unique, descriptive, and contain relevant keywords.
2. Alt Attributes: Verify all images have descriptive alt texts to help search engines and improve accessibility.
3. Structured Data: Check for the presence of structured data markup, which can improve search visibility with rich snippets.
4. HTTPS: Confirm your site is served over HTTPS, an important ranking factor.

Step 6: Implement Recommendations
Make necessary changes to your Webflow site based on Lighthouse’s insights:

1. Update title tags and meta descriptions in Webflow settings using relevant keywords.
2. Add descriptive alt texts for images in the Webflow Designer.
3. Implement structured data through Webflow's custom code section if applicable.
4. Ensure your site is secured with HTTPS by enabling SSL in your project settings.

Step 7: Re-run the Audit
After making changes, run the Google Lighthouse audit again to assess the impact of your improvements. Monitor your SEO score and tweak further if needed.

Step 8: Regularly Analyze Your Site
SEO is ongoing, so regularly perform audits with Google Lighthouse. Schedule monthly checks to keep your site optimized as search engine algorithms change.

Conclusion
By regularly using Google Lighthouse to analyze and implement recommendations, you can significantly improve your Webflow site’s search engine visibility. Effective SEO requires ongoing efforts to maintain a user-friendly and accessible site, driving more organic traffic to your business.