Insights Dashboard

How it works

The dashboard runs Google PageSpeed Insights audits on your key pages and presents the results as clear scores with actionable recommendations. Each recommendation is mapped to a specific plugin setting, so you know exactly what to enable or adjust.

Key settings

Enable Insights

Master on/off switch for the performance measurement dashboard.

PageSpeed API Key

Required to run audits. Get a free key:

1. Go to the Google Cloud Console
2. Create a new project (or select an existing one)
3. Enable the PageSpeed Insights API
4. Create an API key under "Credentials"
5. Copy the key and paste it here

The PageSpeed Insights API is free for reasonable usage (25,000 requests per day).

Telemetry Opt-in

Share anonymous, aggregate performance data to help improve the plugin. When enabled, the plugin sends:

• Aggregate performance scores (not per-page)
• Plugin settings in use (which features are enabled)
• WordPress and PHP version information

The plugin never sends:

• Page content or URLs
• Personal data or visitor information
• License keys or credentials
• Individual audit results

Telemetry is opt-in only and can be disabled at any time. You can also disable it globally:

define( 'CACHINGOUT_DISABLE_TELEMETRY', true );

Custom Pages

Add specific URLs to track beyond the default set. The dashboard automatically tracks:

• Homepage
• A sample post
• A sample page

Add any additional pages that are important to your site's performance (landing pages, product pages, etc.). Enter one URL per line, relative to your site root (e.g., /products/best-seller/).

Mobile Audits

Run separate audits for mobile devices. Mobile scores are typically lower than desktop scores due to network and CPU constraints. Mobile audits reveal different optimization opportunities and are essential for sites with significant mobile traffic.

Auto Audit

Schedule automatic audits to track performance trends over time. Available frequencies:

• Weekly: Good for active sites with frequent content changes
• Bi-weekly: Balanced approach for most sites
• Monthly: Sufficient for stable sites with infrequent changes

Auto-audit results are stored and displayed as trend charts, so you can see whether your performance is improving, stable, or declining.

Understanding your scores

PageSpeed Insights provides scores from 0-100:

• 90-100: Good. Your page is well-optimized.
• 50-89: Needs improvement. Review the recommendations.
• 0-49: Poor. Significant optimization opportunities exist.

Scores are provided for:

• Performance: Overall page load performance
• LCP (Largest Contentful Paint): How quickly the main content loads
• INP (Interaction to Next Paint): How quickly the page responds to user input
• CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift): How much the page layout shifts during loading
• TBT (Total Blocking Time): How long the main thread is blocked

Recommendations

Each recommendation is tied to a specific plugin setting:

AI Assistant

The AI Assistant tab (Caching Out Pro) is a chat that already knows your setup: which plugins and theme you run, which Caching Out settings are on, what the Page Audit found and, if you allow it on the Cache tab, a short summary of your recent changes from the Activity record. Ask it why a page is not cached, which setting caused a layout fault, or what to switch on next, and it answers from this documentation and from the rules it holds for your plugins, citing the article or rule it used so you can check it.

What is sent

Your question, a fingerprint of your site (plugin and theme names and versions, PHP version, server type), the settings that are on and, when the Filesystem Check is on, a pass-or-fail summary of those checks. When "Let the AI Assistant see recent changes" is on, the last few entries of the change record go with each question. No page content, visitor data or user information is transmitted, and nothing is sent until you ask a question. See Privacy.

What it needs

• An active licence. The assistant is a Pro feature and is switched off while Pro is unlicensed.
• A connection from your server to the Caching Out service. If the service cannot be reached the tab says so before you type, names the cause it could see (timed out, unreachable, licence rejected, question limit) and offers Check again.

Reading an answer

Answers are AI-generated and can be wrong. Every answer points at the documentation or the specific rule it came from; open that reference before acting on anything consequential, and try changes on a staging site first. If the assistant proposes reverting a change, the revert is done from the Activity page, never by the assistant itself.

Troubleshooting

Audits fail with an API error. Verify your API key is correct and the PageSpeed Insights API is enabled in your Google Cloud project. Check that you haven't exceeded the daily quota (25,000 requests).

Scores seem too low. PageSpeed Insights uses simulated throttling for mobile audits. Real-world performance is typically better. Focus on the trend (improving or declining) rather than the absolute number.

Recommendations don't match my site. The recommendation mapping is based on common patterns. Some recommendations may not apply to your specific setup. Focus on the ones that do.

Page Audit findings do not go away after I apply their fix (for example "stylesheets are served unminified" while Minify CSS is on). The audit shows the results of its last run, and it does not re-run itself when you change a setting, purge the cache, or switch the Pro add-on on with your licence. Findings from before such a change stay on screen and look current. Purge the cache, then click Audit pages now and read the fresh results. If a finding survives a fresh run, its text names the files it still applies to: for the minification findings those are files that are excluded, served from another domain, or added to the page after caching, and the finding is advice about them rather than a toggle to switch.