> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.seocrawler.app/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Response Time Tracking

> Monitor page load performance and identify slow resources

## Overview

Page speed directly impacts user experience, conversion rates, and search rankings. SEO Crawler tracks response times for every URL discovered during crawls, helping you identify and fix performance bottlenecks.

<Info>
  **Available on**: All plans (basic metrics), Pro/Agency (trend analysis)
</Info>

## What We Measure

### Time to First Byte (TTFB)

The time between our crawler sending a request and receiving the first byte of the response. This measures server-side performance:

* Database queries
* Server processing
* Network latency

### Total Response Time

The time to download the complete response body. This includes TTFB plus:

* Content transfer time
* Network throughput

## Performance Thresholds

We categorize response times into three levels:

| Rating          | TTFB      | Total Time | Impact                              |
| --------------- | --------- | ---------- | ----------------------------------- |
| 🟢 **Fast**     | \< 200ms  | \< 1s      | Excellent user experience           |
| 🟡 **Moderate** | 200-600ms | 1-3s       | Acceptable but room for improvement |
| 🔴 **Slow**     | > 600ms   | > 3s       | Negatively impacts users and SEO    |

<Warning>
  Google considers page speed a ranking factor. Pages with TTFB over 600ms may be deprioritized in search results.
</Warning>

## Why Response Time Matters

### User Experience

Studies show clear correlations between speed and user behavior:

| Delay      | Impact                        |
| ---------- | ----------------------------- |
| +1 second  | 7% reduction in conversions   |
| +2 seconds | 40% of users abandon the page |
| +3 seconds | 53% of mobile users leave     |

### SEO Impact

* **Core Web Vitals**: Google measures Largest Contentful Paint, which correlates with TTFB
* **Crawl Efficiency**: Slow pages consume more of Google's crawl budget
* **Mobile-First Indexing**: Mobile users on slower connections are particularly affected

## Using Response Time Data

### Dashboard View

The Response Time section shows:

* **Average TTFB**: Mean response time across all pages
* **Slowest Pages**: Top 10 pages by response time
* **Distribution Chart**: Histogram of response times
* **Trend Graph**: Performance changes over time (Pro/Agency)

### Identifying Slow Pages

Click any slow page to see:

| Field             | Description                     |
| ----------------- | ------------------------------- |
| **URL**           | The slow page URL               |
| **TTFB**          | Time to first byte              |
| **Total Time**    | Complete response time          |
| **Response Size** | Total bytes downloaded          |
| **History**       | Performance trend across crawls |

<Tip>
  Look for pages that are both slow AND high-traffic. Fixing these provides the biggest impact.
</Tip>

## Common Performance Issues

### Server-Side Problems

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="Slow Database Queries">
    **Symptoms**: High TTFB, especially on dynamic pages

    **Solutions**:

    * Add database indexes
    * Optimize queries (avoid N+1 problems)
    * Implement query caching
    * Use database connection pooling
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="No Page Caching">
    **Symptoms**: Consistently high TTFB on repeat visits

    **Solutions**:

    * Enable server-side page caching
    * Use a CDN for static assets
    * Implement edge caching for dynamic content
    * Add proper cache headers
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Slow Third-Party APIs">
    **Symptoms**: High TTFB on pages that fetch external data

    **Solutions**:

    * Cache API responses
    * Make API calls asynchronous
    * Implement circuit breakers
    * Add timeout limits
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

### Content Problems

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="Large Page Size">
    **Symptoms**: Low TTFB but high total time

    **Solutions**:

    * Compress images
    * Enable gzip/brotli compression
    * Minify HTML, CSS, JavaScript
    * Remove unused code
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Too Many Resources">
    **Symptoms**: High number of requests in waterfall

    **Solutions**:

    * Bundle JavaScript files
    * Use CSS sprites
    * Inline critical CSS
    * Lazy load non-critical resources
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

## Response Trends (Pro/Agency)

<Info>
  Response Trends requires the **Response Trends** scan option to be enabled.
</Info>

Track performance changes over time to:

* **Detect Regressions**: Spot when deployments slow down your site
* **Measure Improvements**: Verify optimization efforts are working
* **Identify Patterns**: Find time-based performance issues (peak traffic)

### Trend Analysis

The trend view shows:

```
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  Average TTFB Over Time                                 │
│                                                          │
│  300ms ─┤                    ╭───╮                       │
│         │               ╭────╯   ╰───╮                   │
│  200ms ─┤    ╭─────────╯             ╰────╮              │
│         │────╯                            ╰───────       │
│  100ms ─┤                                                │
│         └────┬────┬────┬────┬────┬────┬────┬────┬───    │
│            Oct 1  8   15   22   29  Nov 5  12   19       │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
```

<Tip>
  Set up alerts to notify you when average response time exceeds a threshold. This catches performance regressions quickly.
</Tip>

## Optimization Checklist

<Steps>
  <Step title="Identify Slowest Pages">
    Review the "Slowest Pages" report to find your biggest bottlenecks.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Check High-Traffic Pages">
    Cross-reference with analytics to prioritize pages that affect the most users.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Analyze Server Response">
    For high TTFB, investigate server-side code, database queries, and caching.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Optimize Content">
    For high total time, compress and optimize page content and assets.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Enable CDN">
    Serve static assets from a CDN to reduce latency for global users.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Monitor Continuously">
    Enable Response Trends to track improvements and catch regressions.
  </Step>
</Steps>

## Filtering Options

| Filter           | Description                        |
| ---------------- | ---------------------------------- |
| **Speed Rating** | Fast, Moderate, Slow               |
| **Page Type**    | HTML, Images, CSS, JavaScript      |
| **URL Pattern**  | Filter by URL contains/starts with |
| **Time Range**   | Compare different crawl periods    |

## Integration with Other Features

Response time data enhances other analyses:

* **Broken Link Detection**: Timeouts are tracked with response data
* **SEO Analysis**: Slow pages flagged as SEO issues
* **AI Review**: Performance incorporated into health scores

## Related Features

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="SEO Analysis" icon="magnifying-glass-chart" href="/features/seo-analysis">
    Page speed is a ranking factor—see your full SEO picture.
  </Card>

  <Card title="AI Review" icon="sparkles" href="/features/ai-review">
    Get AI-powered recommendations for performance improvements.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>