Google Lighthouse Checker - SEO-Focused Website Auditor ## What does Google Lighthouse Checker do? This powerful SEO-focused website auditor runs comprehensive Google Lighthouse audits and delivers actionable, agency-ready insights for digital marketing agencies, SEO professionals, and web developers. With Google Lighthouse Checker, you can get: - Indexability snapshots with instant "Can Google index this page?" answers - Core Web Vitals with clear pass/fail status for LCP, CLS, TBT, and FCP - On-page SEO analysis including title tags, meta descriptions, and canonical URLs - Normalized issues categorized by severity (high/medium/low) and category - SEO agency summaries with executive headlines and ready-to-use tickets for project management - Beautiful HTML reports perfect for client presentations - Structured JSON data optimized for batch analysis and integrations ## How to audit websites with Google Lighthouse Checker? Google Lighthouse Checker is user-friendly, offering a smooth start even for those who have never run website audits before. Here's how to audit websites in 5 steps: 1. Create a free Apify account using your email. 2. Open Google Lighthouse Checker. 3. Add the URL you want to audit. 4. Click the "Start" button and wait 30-90 seconds for the audit to complete. 5. View your reports - Get beautiful HTML reports or download data in JSON, CSV, Excel, or HTML. For more detailed instructions, see the Input and Output sections below. --- ## Input To start your website audit, simply fill in the input form with your target URL and preferences: Required: - URL - The full website URL to audit (must include https://) Optional: - Categories - Choose which Lighthouse categories to test: Performance, Accessibility, SEO, Best Practices (default: all) - Device - Select device emulation: desktop or mobile (default: desktop) - Throttling - Enable network/CPU throttling for more realistic results (default: false) Here's what the filled-out input looks like: json { "url": "https://example.com", "categories": ["performance", "accessibility", "seo"], "device": "desktop", "throttling": false } ### Input Examples Basic audit (all categories, desktop): json { "url": "https://example.com" } Mobile SEO audit: json { "url": "https://example.com", "categories": ["seo", "performance"], "device": "mobile" } Fast SEO-only audit: json { "url": "https://example.com", "categories": ["seo"], "throttling": false } --- ## Output After the Actor finishes its run, you'll get three types of output: ### 1. Beautiful HTML Report (Client-Ready) How to access: - Go to the Storage tab → Key-value store → Click "View" on report.html - Or get the direct URL from the Dataset → reports.htmlReport field What's included: - 🎨 Professional, client-ready design - 📊 SEO Agency Summary with health indicators - ⚡ Core Web Vitals with color-coded pass/fail badges - 🚨 Top 5 SEO Risks highlighted - 🎫 Suggested Tickets ready for Jira/Asana/Monday - 📈 Performance metrics and detailed recommendations ### 2. Structured Dataset (For Analysis) How to access: - Click the Dataset tab - Choose your format: Table, JSON, CSV, Excel, or HTML Perfect for: - Filtering issues by severity - Comparing multiple URLs - Building dashboards - Automating workflows - Bulk analysis in Excel/Google Sheets ### 3. SEO-Focused JSON (Lightweight) How to access: - Go to Storage tab → Key-value store → Click "View" on SEO_REPORT Contains: - Scores (Performance, SEO, Accessibility, Best Practices) - Indexability data - On-page SEO metrics - Core Web Vitals status - Issues array - SEO agency summary Here's an example of the main dataset output: json { "url": "https://example.com", "fetchTime": "2024-11-29T08:00:00.000Z", "scores": { "performance": 0.89, "accessibility": 0.95, "seo": 0.92, "bestPractices": 0.87, "overall": 0.91 }, "coreWebVitalsLab": { "lcp": 1850, "lcpStatus": "pass", "cls": 0.05, "clsStatus": "pass", "tbt": 180, "tbtStatus": "pass", "fcp": 1200, "fcpStatus": "pass" }, "indexability": { "isIndexable": true, "httpStatus": 200, "robotsTxtStatus": "valid", "hasCanonical": true, "canonicalUrl": "https://example.com/" }, "onPage": { "title": "Example Website - Best Products", "hasMetaDescription": true, "metaDescription": "Shop the best products online...", "hasH1": true }, "issues": [ { "id": "meta-description", "title": "Document does not have a meta description", "description": "Meta descriptions help search engines understand your page content", "severity": "high", "category": "seo", "score": 0 } ], "seoAgencySummary": { "overallHealth": "good", "coreWebVitalsPass": true, "criticalIssuesCount": 2, "readyForIndexing": true, "suggestedTickets": [ { "priority": "High", "title": "Add meta description", "description": "Create compelling meta description (150-160 characters)" } ] }, "reports": { "htmlReport": "https://api.apify.com/v2/key-value-stores/ABC123/records/report.html", "seoReport": "https://api.apify.com/v2/key-value-stores/ABC123/records/SEO_REPORT" } } --- ## How can I use the data from Google Lighthouse Checker? ✨ Monitor and track website performance over time and identify optimization opportunities. 📋 Create client reports with professional, actionable insights ready to present. 🎯 Prioritize fixes using severity levels and impact assessments. 🔍 Batch audit multiple client websites and export to CSV for analysis. 📊 Build dashboards using structured JSON data for real-time monitoring. 🎫 Generate project tickets with ready-to-copy tasks for Jira, Asana, or Monday. 🚀 Track Core Web Vitals and ensure compliance with Google's performance standards. ✅ Verify indexability before launching new pages or making SEO changes. 📈 Compare scores across different time periods or competitor websites. 🛡️ Identify accessibility issues to ensure WCAG compliance. --- ## Integrate Google Lighthouse Checker with any app Google Lighthouse Checker can be connected with almost any cloud service or web app thanks to integrations on the Apify platform: - Make - Zapier - Slack - Airbyte - GitHub - Google Sheets - Google Drive - and much more Alternatively, you can use webhooks to trigger actions whenever an event occurs, e.g., get a Slack notification whenever an audit successfully completes. --- ## Understanding the Output ### Core Web Vitals Thresholds | Metric | Good (Pass) | Needs Improvement | Poor (Fail) | |--------|-------------|-------------------|-------------| | LCP (Largest Contentful Paint) | < 2.5s | 2.5s - 4.0s | > 4.0s | | CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift) | < 0.1 | 0.1 - 0.25 | > 0.25 | | TBT (Total Blocking Time) | < 200ms | 200ms - 600ms | > 600ms | | FCP (First Contentful Paint) | < 1.8s | 1.8s - 3.0s | > 3.0s | ### Score Interpretation Performance/SEO Score (0-100): - 90-100: Excellent - Best practices followed - 50-89: Good - Minor improvements needed - 0-49: Poor - Significant issues to fix Issue Severity: - High: Critical issues affecting SEO/performance - fix immediately - Medium: Important issues - should be fixed soon - Low: Minor optimizations - fix when possible --- ## Use Cases & Examples ### Use Case 1: Client Audit Report Workflow: 1. Run actor with client's URL 2. Get the HTML report URL from Dataset → reports.htmlReport 3. Send URL to client: "View your audit: [link]" 4. Client sees beautiful, professional report ### Use Case 2: Batch Website Audits Workflow: 1. Run actor multiple times with different URLs 2. Go to Dataset → Export to CSV 3. Open in Excel/Google Sheets 4. Filter by indexability or severity ### Use Case 3: Weekly Monitoring Workflow: 1. Schedule actor to run weekly (Apify Schedules) 2. Set up webhook to notify your team 3. Compare scores over time 4. Track improvements ### Use Case 4: Integration with Project Management Workflow: 1. Run audit 2. Extract seoAgencySummary.suggestedTickets 3. Automatically create tickets in Jira/Asana 4. Assign to development team --- ## API Usage ### Using the Apify API with Node.js javascript const { ApifyClient } = require('apify-client'); const client = new ApifyClient({ token: 'YOUR_API_TOKEN' }); // Run the actor const run = await client.actor('YOUR_ACTOR_ID').call({ url: 'https://example.com', categories: ['performance', 'seo'], device: 'desktop' }); // Get the dataset const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems(); const result = items[0]; // Access data console.log('SEO Score:', result.scores.seo * 100); console.log('Indexable:', result.indexability.isIndexable); console.log('HTML Report:', result.reports.htmlReport); // Get critical issues const critical = result.issues.filter(i => i.severity === 'high'); console.log(`${critical.length} critical issues found`); ### Using the Apify API with Python python from apify_client import ApifyClient client = ApifyClient('YOUR_API_TOKEN') # Run the actor run = client.actor('YOUR_ACTOR_ID').call(run_input={ 'url': 'https://example.com', 'categories': ['performance', 'seo'], 'device': 'desktop' }) # Get dataset items items = client.dataset(run['defaultDatasetId']).list_items().items result = items[0] # Access data print(f"SEO Score: {result['scores']['seo'] * 100}") print(f"Indexable: {result['indexability']['isIndexable']}") print(f"HTML Report: {result['reports']['htmlReport']}") # Get critical issues critical = [i for i in result['issues'] if i['severity'] == 'high'] print(f"{len(critical)} critical issues found") Check out the Apify API reference docs for full details or click on the API tab for more code examples. --- ## FAQ ### How much does it cost to use Google Lighthouse Checker? Google Lighthouse Checker uses Apify's standard compute pricing. Costs depend on: - Run time: Most audits complete in 30-90 seconds - Compute units: Each audit uses approximately $0.10 worth of compute - Storage: Reports stored in Key-value store (free for 7 days) Typical costs: - Single audit: ~$0.10 - 10 audits: ~$1.00 - 100 audits: ~$10.00 Free tier includes: - $5 of free credits per month - ~50 free audits per month - 7-day report retention 💡 Tip: The free tier is perfect for occasional audits or trying out the Actor. For agencies running 100+ audits/month, consider Apify's paid plans for better value. ### How can I access the HTML report? There are two ways: Method 1 (Direct view): 1. Go to the completed run 2. Click Storage tab → Key-value store 3. Click "View" on report.html Method 2 (Shareable link): 1. Go to Dataset tab 2. Find the reports.htmlReport field 3. Copy the URL (e.g., https://api.apify.com/v2/key-value-stores/ABC123/records/report.html) 4. Share this URL with anyone ### How long are reports stored? - Free tier: 7 days - Paid tier: Indefinite retention available Tip: Download important reports within 7 days on the free tier! ### Can I audit password-protected pages? Not currently. The actor can only audit publicly accessible pages. For authenticated pages, you would need a custom solution. ### Why does my audit timeout? Very slow websites (>2 minutes to load) may timeout. Solutions: 1. Set throttling: false for faster audits 2. Audit only specific categories: ["seo"] 3. Try during off-peak hours when the site is faster ### Can I audit multiple URLs at once? Yes! Use one of these methods: 1. Run multiple times: Call the actor separately for each URL 2. Apify Batch: Use Apify's batch running feature 3. API loop: Programmatically run the actor for each URL Then export all results to CSV for analysis. ### Is it legal to audit websites with Google Lighthouse Checker? Yes. Google Lighthouse Checker only accesses publicly available data that anyone can see in a browser. It does not: - Bypass authentication - Extract private data - Violate terms of service - Scrape personal information However, be mindful of: - Rate limiting (don't audit the same site hundreds of times per hour) - Terms of service of the website being audited - Privacy laws if reports contain any personal data This tool is designed for legitimate SEO and performance auditing purposes. --- ## Troubleshooting ### "Cannot find HTML report" Solution: 1. Check that the actor run completed successfully (look for ✅ in logs) 2. Go to Storage → Key-value store → Look for report.html 3. Or find the URL in Dataset → reports.htmlReport field ### "Report URL returns 404" Cause: Key-value store data expired (7-day limit on free tier) Solution: - Upgrade to paid tier for longer retention - Download important reports before they expire - Re-run the audit to generate a new report ### "Audit is very slow or times out" Solution: json { "url": "https://slow-website.com", "throttling": false, "categories": ["seo"] } Use throttling: false and audit only essential categories. ### "Missing some data in output" Note: The actor provides what Google Lighthouse exposes. Some custom metrics (like word count, H1 analysis beyond presence) require additional crawling not included in Lighthouse. --- ## What makes Google Lighthouse Checker different? | Feature | Standard Lighthouse | Google Lighthouse Checker | |---------|---------------------|---------------------------| | Performance Score | ✅ | ✅ | | SEO Score | ✅ | ✅ | | Indexability Check | ❌ | ✅ Complete analysis | | Core Web Vitals Pass/Fail | ⚠️ Just numbers | ✅ Clear pass/fail/needs-improvement | | Issue Severity | ❌ | ✅ High/Medium/Low | | Recommended Actions | ⚠️ Generic | ✅ Specific, actionable | | Executive Summary | ❌ | ✅ SEO-focused | | Ready-to-Use Tickets | ❌ | ✅ For Jira/Asana/Monday | | Beautiful HTML Report | ⚠️ Technical | ✅ Client-ready | | Batch Analysis | ❌ | ✅ CSV export | | Agency Workflow | ❌ | ✅ Optimized | --- ## Your feedback We're always working on improving the Actor's performance. If you have any technical feedback or found a bug, please create an issue on the Actor's Issues tab in Apify Console. --- ## Summary Google Lighthouse Checker gives you: ✅ Beautiful, client-ready HTML reports ✅ Clear pass/fail status for Core Web Vitals ✅ Instant indexability checks ✅ Severity-based issue prioritization ✅ Ready-to-use project tickets ✅ Batch-friendly CSV exports ✅ API integration ready Start auditing smarter today! 🚀