PLS by pageview type

PLS by pageview type breaks down your Perceived Load Speed (PLS) based on whether the pageview is the first in a user session or occurs later (a subsequent view). This helps you understand how quickly your site feels to load at different stages of a user’s journey — from the moment they land to the moment they’re deep into browsing.

First pageviews often carry more performance overhead — such as cold caches, heavy cookie or consent prompts, and larger initial resource loads — which can all influence how fast the experience feels.

Ideally, all pageviews should show green PLS. This reflects good caching, persistent sessions, and light navigation overhead.

When the first pageview has a slow PLS, it hurts first impressions — which often correlates with higher bounce rates. You’ll want to make sure that initial load feels light, fast, and engaging.

When PLS is high across both first and subsequent pageviews, it points to structural issues: heavy layout, large assets, or slow rendering paths that aren’t resolved after initial load. If only the first pageview is slow, the problem likely lies in the cold-start experience — too much data, poor compression, or blocking scripts before interactivity.

This friction delays the moment of perceived readiness and increases the chance users abandon the session.

Go-to action plan to resolve an unhealthy PLS by pageview type:

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