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PLS by redirects

PLS by redirects without noise

Vasil Dachev avatar
Written by Vasil Dachev
Updated over a week ago


What is PLS by redirects

PLS by redirects shows how Perceived Load Speed (PLS) is impacted when users arrive at your page after a redirect. It compares perceived loading times for sessions with and without redirect chains — helping you assess how redirection influences how fast the page feels to your users.

PLS (Perceived Load Speed) is Uxify’s real-user metric that reflects how quickly a page feels visually ready. Redirects — especially multiple or delayed ones — can impact that feeling by delaying the visual content load or causing jarring transitions.

Redirects can occur for many reasons, such as:

  • Non-www to www domain routing

  • HTTP to HTTPS enforcement

  • Marketing campaign tracking

  • Geo or language-based redirects

While often necessary, poorly managed redirects can slow down the entire perceived experience. Users might feel a brief pause or see a flash of blank screen before the actual page begins to load — affecting their sense of performance and trust.

Healthy PLS by shopping cart sample


Should you worry

A healthy redirect breakdown shows little to no difference in PLS between redirected and non-redirected sessions. This means your redirection logic is fast and invisible to the user.

If PLS is significantly worse on redirected pageviews, it signals that:

  • Redirect chains are too long

  • The initial response or redirection logic is slow

  • Visual loading is delayed until after the final URL resolves

This affects user perception, especially when arriving from ads, emails, or other external links. It can lead to higher bounce rates and reduced engagement if the page feels slow before it even starts rendering.

Unhealthy PLS by shopping cart sample

A common pattern in unhealthy redirect performance is that redirected users experience noticeably slower PLS than direct visitors. This typically reflects backend delays, multiple hops, or blocking scripts tied to the redirection process.

Resolving unhealthy PLS by shopping cart

Go-to action plan to resolve an unhealthy PLS by shopping cart:

  1. Ask Uxi to analyze your PLS by shopping cart and suggest improvements.

  2. Use Filters to see if specific redirect sources (like campaigns or locales) correlate with slower perceived load.

  3. Simulate LCP of the suspected lens to see if fixing it will resolve the PLS by shopping cart. If yes, this is where the resolution focus should be.

  4. Use an automated optimization tool like Navigation AI to improve your PLS by shopping cart.

  5. Once you’ve improved PLS, set an alert to be the first to know if it starts worsening again.

Try it yourself

Discover how your website performs with real user data.

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