RebelMouse is a cloud-based enterprise CMS for high-value sites that take digital seriously. As a platform, we are always looking for ways to increase performance. This is because performance is a vital part of our clients’ growth and business model, due to the fact that it has a direct impact on user traffic, pageviews, and revenue.
In our pilot test, we found that Google Search’s support of prefetching signed exchanges (SXG) via Cloudflare delivers better site performance for users on Android devices. Currently, SXG only works for Android users, but it’s a feature that’s specified and encouraged by standards bodies such as
IETF and W3C, and Google hopes that other browsers will soon adopt support of it as well.
Case Studies
The following case studies demonstrate the improvement in traffic and site performance after taking advantage of SXG.
For the three sites in our pilot, we compared Android-device traffic in the 30-day period before and after SXG was implemented. The results were fantastic for all three participants, and resulted in a reduction of average page download time by over 97% for each site!
PAPER Magazine
PAPER is a storied and beloved cultural site featuring stars like Lady Gaga, Kim Kardashian, Miley Cyrus, and thousands of other celebrities. The site performs very well when it comes to search traffic, and has an audience that returns to the site frequently. While their content is known for “Breaking the Internet,” PAPER’s site has always been stable and performant, which has helped them build an incredibly loyal audience over the years.
Narcity is a local news site based out of Canada that covers 18 cities across Canada and the U.S. Traffic from Google is a key component of their audience.
Page Speed Metrics From Google Analytics
Decrease in Avg. Page Load Time: -1.9%
Decrease in Avg. Redirection Time: -25%
Decrease in Avg. Domain Lookup Time: -33.3%
Decrease in Avg. Page Download Time: -97.6%
Impact on Core Web Vitals
Decrease in CLS: -11.7%
Decrease in LCP: -41.1%
Decrease in FID: -11.7%
MTL Blog
MTL Blog is another local news site that’s run by Narcity, and it specifically focuses on the Montreal, Québec area.
Page Speed Metrics From Google Analytics
Decrease in Avg. Page Load Time: -21.3%
Decrease in Avg. Redirection Time: -50%
Decrease in Avg. Domain Lookup Time: -33.3%
Decrease in Avg. Server Connection Time: -40%
Decrease in Avg. Server Response Time: -25%
Decrease in Avg. Page Download Time: -98.3%
Impact on Core Web Vitals
Decrease in LCP: -3%
Decrease in TTFB: -13%
Decrease in FID: -16.1%
Lessons Learned: Watch Device Detection
In our first implementation of SXG, we noticed that while some numbers like server response time improved, the average page download time increased. After further review, we realized that we were not serving the mobile version of the sites to the Googlebot that was doing the prefetching.
RebelMouse normally serves highly optimized pages based on device and network speed that automatically adapts to serve smaller image sizes and HTML code, but we unintentionally skipped that in our first implementation of SXG.
If you see your average page download time increase in your implementation, it’s highly likely that you need to configure your server response to give the mobile version of your site to Googlebot. (We use RegExp based on the value(s) specified in this
Google crawler documentation.)
Technical Configuration
We implemented SXG using Cloudflare’s SXG feature. We had to change our TTL for post pages to have a 23-hour cache control using this setup:
cache-control: public, max-age=82800
Since editorial teams need to be able to update content that is timely and doesn’t get delayed by a long cache, we implemented ETags to accommodate for this.
At RebelMouse, we obsess over processes like SXG to ensure that our clients deliver a superior site experience to their users. If you want to transform your publishing experience and keep up with the speed of the web,
request a proposal today and let’s start working together.
Our platform is a complete digital publishing toolbox that's built for modern-day content creators, and includes game-changing features such as our:
Why RebelMouse?
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RebelMouse sites reach more than 120M people a month, with an always-modern solution that combines cutting-edge technology with decades of media savvy. And due to our massive scale, 1 in 3 Americans have visited a website powered by RebelMouse.
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Ryan Bujeker
Director, Social Media Strategy & Digital Engagement United Airlines
We're in a much better position to make it through the current crisis in part due to RebelMouse and their platform. We've not only saved on overhead costs, we've more easily optimized our traffic with their smart measuring and SEO tools, as well as their social integrations.
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Tim Grieve
Executive Editor Protocol
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Partner Development Manager Google
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Nick Smith
CEO Investing News Network
Working with RebelMouse is an actual treat. From the CEO down, every single member of the team has partnered with us to meet our needs. Everyone willingly (and with endless patience!) shares their expertise and insights to ensure we optimize search and create a great audience experience. As we have implemented the various search tactics, positive results are almost instantaneous. Training our content creators has been simple. The system is incredibly user friendly. As a co-worker commented, "RebelMouse doesn't just sell you something, they partner with you to deliver exactly what you want." I couldn't agree more!
Emma Schofield
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Douglas Fischer
Executive Director Environmental Health News
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Susan Hassler
Editor Emeritus IEEE Spectrum
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Terrence O'Hanlon
Founder and Chairman Reliabilityweb
RebelMouse's Layout & Design Tool is one of the most comprehensive and flexible tools I have ever used of any CMS. Their product team is also extremely helpful and constantly supports to make sure your properties are up to date and use the best industry standards, especially in terms of page speed.
Chuck Lapointe
CEO Narcity Media
The best thing about RebelMouse is how much they care about their customers. When working with them, I always get a sense that they go above and beyond for their customers. When working with the RebelMouse team, I very much consider them to be a partner, rather than just a vendor. Upon migrating to their technology, we have seen tremendous improvements in many key areas, particularly technical SEO. They have out-of-the-box functionality that is tremendously helpful to customers. At the same time, their system is flexible enough to allow us to adapt it to any new business needs that we have.
David Nguyen
Senior Director of Digital Marketing Investing News Network
RebelMouse has shepherded us through the modernization phase, and has been keen, practical, and nimble throughout the entire journey. They have helped modernize our website through an infinite scroll setup that allows us more advertising real estate while creating more time on site to capture reader engagement. Plus, the RebelMouse team has helped educate our own team on the various aspects of programmatic advertising and worked to best implement them. Premier Guitar joining forces with RebelMouse in 2020 was one of the best choices we could have made!
Luke Viertel
Digital Strategist Premier Guitar
RebelMouse has stepped up our content management process by providing a user-friendly interface, robust customization options, and seamless collaboration tools. The platform's analytics and reporting capabilities have empowered us to make data-driven decisions, while their exceptional customer support ensures any issues are promptly addressed in a professional, respectful, and friendly way!
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