Youtube videos are great! If you can help it, of course, you shouldn’t add them to your website. Sometimes it’s necessary, like when you miss the old days of Myspace. I am creating this page just so I can do a Google Page Speed Index and show the results before and after a Youtube video is added.
Before Adding A Youtube Videos
Adding the Youtube Videos
After Adding The Youtube Videos
Ah fuck it, the Google scores still look great because I have WP Rocket Lazy-loading the Youtube, so it’s JS isn’t even loading during an analytic check! Problem solved. Lazy-load the youtube using WP Rocket or that Youtube lyte plugin, and then make the video below the folds of your site and it’s not that bad.
Did my speed go down, yes, but this is lab data, it’s a simulated test using slow mobile speeds, it can be affected by anything, that is not a very large change at all. It used to load about 1MB of straight javascript when I embedded a Youtube video, really slowing down the site. I’m not too worried about this though. I can still probably fix this with optimization.
The point still stands though, it’s noticeably worse, so don’t go crazy with Youtube videos, just pick a page you hate, and fill it with them, and let that page take the hit! Advice from the Batman of SEO.