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.

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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:

{
  "url": "https://example.com",
  "categories": ["performance", "accessibility", "seo"],
  "device": "desktop",
  "throttling": false
}

Input Examples

Basic audit (all categories, desktop):

{
  "url": "https://example.com"
}

Mobile SEO audit:

{
  "url": "https://example.com",
  "categories": ["seo", "performance"],
  "device": "mobile"
}

Fast SEO-only audit:

{
  "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:

{
  "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.

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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

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

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.

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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.

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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:

{
  "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.

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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

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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.

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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! 🚀