Jetpack Boost was launched by Automattic, the parent company of WordPress. The plugin helps you prepare your website in WordPress for Google’s Core Web Vitals.
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Those Core Web Vitals are a collective term for three new factors that Google will use from June to determine the ranking of search results: how fast page loads, how fast a page is interactive, and how many (unexpected) layout shifts occur.
What is Jetpack Boost?
Jetpack Boost is a plugin with which you can optimize your website for the Core Web Vitals in a few clicks. For now, Jetpack Boost has three functions:
- Optimizing CSS
- Defer non-essential JavaScripts
- Lady loading of images
In short, the plugin helps make your website faster for a positive impact on SEO. Below we look at each of the three features that Jetpack Boost offers.
Optimizing CSS Structure
CSS, in full Cascading Style Sheets, is the code that browsers use to build your website. These stylesheets determine what color your font is, how elements of your website are positioned, and other things that determine how your website looks.
A web page is only visible when the CSS has been completely downloaded by a browser. And that takes time. Jetpack Boost speeds up that process by generating critical CSS. The plugin ensures that the most important part of the CSS is downloaded first so that a web page can be displayed faster.
Although not all CSS has been downloaded yet, your web page is already readable for visitors. Once the most necessary code has been retrieved, the rest will follow.
Defer non-essential JavaScript
The second function has to do with JavaScript. Similar to CSS, Jetpack Boost distinguishes between essential and non-essential code.
Once again, your visitor will immediately see the most important information. JavaScript under the fold of the screen will not load until later. In other words, a video on your website that a visitor only sees when he or she starts scrolling will only be loaded when the necessary code has been retrieved.
Thanks to this optimization, visitors get a readable and interactive website faster.
Lazy Image Loading
Lazy loading means that images on a page, below the fold of the screen, are only loaded when visitors scroll. The third function in Jetpack Boost also ensures a faster website.
Whether the latter feature makes a big difference is not entirely clear. This function is already included in WordPress itself.
In any case, the handy thing about Jetpack Boost is that you choose which functions you switch on and off. So you don’t have to turn on lazy loading.
Early version of Jetpack Boost
For experienced web designers or developers, Jetpack Boost is not an earth-shattering novelty. You can also dive under the hood of your website to optimize CSS or JavaScript. But for those with less experience, the plugin is worth trying.
Once you have installed and activated Jetpack Boost, all you need to do is enable one or more features. When you enable the CSS function, you have to wait for the plugin to generate critical CSS.
Conclusion
Keep in mind that Jetpack Boost is still in its infancy. The plugin has just reached its first official version. The plugin is compatible with the latest WordPress version, but you should check after every function that you enable whether your website still looks and works as it should.
In case of errors, a function can be disabled or, if necessary, the entire plugin.
Automattic is still working on improvements behind the scenes. We can also expect new functions in the future.
We hope this Jetpack Boost Plugin Review is helpful. If you have any questions, then don’t hesitate to share your thoughts in the comment box.
