Understanding Total Blocking Time and its implications for SEO

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Total blocking Time

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The world of SEO is constantly evolving, and new metrics are regularly introduced to help us optimise our websites.

These new features include Total Blocking Time (TBT)a webperf metric that measures the impact of performance on a site's responsiveness.

In this article, we'll explore this new concept in detail and show how incorporating it into your SEO strategy can boost your search engine rankings, such as Google.

What is Total Blocking Time?

Total Blocking Time, or TBT, is a webperf metric that evaluates the total time during which a user cannot interact with a web page.

It therefore reflects the length of time during which certain blocking elements prevent a response to user interactions such as clicks or keystrokes. This metric is crucial for understanding whether your site offers a pleasant experience to its visitors.

Why is it important for SEO?

In the past, TBT was not one of the main criteria taken into account by Google when ranking websites, this situation has changed recently with the introduction of Core Web Vitals.

These three key indicators measure the speed, responsiveness and visual stability of a page, and are now essential factors in SEO ranking. TBT therefore plays a crucial role in assessing a page's responsiveness.

Total Blocking Time components

To better understand TBT, it is important to understand its components. Total Blocking Time is divided into two main parts: processing time JavaScript (JS) and browser rendering time. These elements have a direct influence on a site's responsiveness and can therefore have an impact on SEO.

JavaScript processing time

JS processing time is the period during which JavaScript resources are executing. During this time, the browser may be blocked, preventing user interaction. 

Executing these scripts too slowly or too heavily can cause a significant slowdown. and negatively affect TBT anduser experience global. It is therefore essential to take this factor into account when optimising your site.

Browser rendering time

Browser rendering time is the time taken to display the content of a web page. The longer this phase takes, the higher the TBT and the more unsatisfactory the user experience. To minimise this negative impact, it is crucial to optimise the loading and display of the various elements of your site.

Measuring Total Blocking Time

To ensure the quality of the user experience and optimise your SEO, it is crucial to regularly measure the TBT and identify the elements that can slow it down. There are several tools to help you carry out this analysis:

• Google Lighthouse integrated into the Chrome DevTools console, this open-source tool provides detailed information on page performance, including TBT.
• WebPageTest Web analytics: this online service can be used to evaluate the performance of a site, and offers a number of configuration options to adapt the analysis to different situations.

Once you have identified the problems reducing your site's responsiveness, it is then up to you to take the appropriate measures to improve the TBT and thus optimise your SEO.

How can you reduce Total Blocking Time?

To provide an optimal user experience and improve your SEO positioningIt is essential to minimise TBT. Here are a few ways of achieving this:

Optimising JavaScript scripts

As mentioned above, JavaScript resources have a direct impact on TBT. To reduce this, follow these tips:

1. 1. Audit your JS code Identify and delete unused or obsolete codes to improve speed and efficiency.
   2. Minimise and compress your JS files Reducing the size of JavaScript files will speed up their loading and reduce the TBT.

Improve browser rendering

To reduce rendering time, adopt the following practices:

• • Use a caching system Caching your content saves time on subsequent visits, improving overall site performance.
  • Optimise your images Compress your images correctly to reduce their weight without compromising quality.

By working on these elements, you can achieve a significant improvement in your TBT, helping to deliver an optimal user experience.

You will also gain in SEO visibility thanks to compliance with the Core Web Vitals criteria required by Google.

Evaluate your TBT regularly and take account of feedback from users to adjust your efforts and maintain a high level of performance. website and well positioned in the search results.