SiteLens: Automated Website Scanning for Managed Sites

Overview

SiteLens is a powerful new feature within the ITS Web Hosting Services Portal that provides automated and on-demand scanning of managed websites. With SiteLens, users gain valuable insights into their sites' Accessibility, Performance, Best Practices, and SEO metrics, helping to ensure an optimal experience for end users and compliance with industry standards.

SiteLens runs Google Lighthouse automatically once each week to provide a comprehensive evaluation of each website, providing clear, actionable scores and reporting to help site managers track and maintain site health over time.  Website owners can also trigger SiteLens manually to get a current evaluation of the site.

Key Features and Benefits

• Automated Scanning: Each site is automatically scanned weekly, ensuring a regular and up-to-date evaluation of site health.
• Customizable Path Monitoring: Users can add specific paths (e.g., /articles, /contact) to be scanned, allowing for targeted insights into key sections of the site.
• Aggregated and Individual Scores: View both an aggregate score that represents all scanned paths and individual scores for each path.
• Ad Hoc Scanning: Users can run on-demand scans if they want an immediate update on site metrics.
• Detailed Reporting and History: Track scores over time and access detailed reports on past scans for historical analysis.
• Exportable Reports: Downloadable reports for easy sharing and offline analysis.

How to Use SiteLens

Accessing SiteLens

SiteLens is automatically available to all managed sites once the live Pantheon environment is initialized. By default, each site will scan its root path ("/") in both mobile and desktop modes, giving an initial snapshot of core metrics. Site owners should expand this coverage by adding additional paths and choosing to scan in either mobile or desktop mode or both.

Currently, only website owners (owners of the site's MCommunity group) have access to SiteLens through the ITS Web Hosting Services Portal by clicking on "Website Management", then the label of the website, and then the SiteLens button.  Members of the site's MCommunity group do not currently have access to SiteLens because only owners of the group can access the portal.

SiteLens can be accessed from the ITS Web Hosting Services Portal. To open SiteLens,

1. Go to https://admin.webservices.umich.edu/
2. Click on Website Management
3. Either
   1. Click on the Accessibility score for the website, OR
   2. Click on the label for the website to go to the Site Details page, then click the SiteLens button on that page.

From the SiteLens page, you can view the overall results, history, and individual reports, configure monitored paths, and run additional scans as needed

Viewing Your Site’s Overall Health

On the main SiteLens page, you’ll find a high-level overview of your site’s health:

• Aggregate Scores: These scores give a quick snapshot of your site’s health across Accessibility, Performance, Best Practices, and SEO.  Each score is an average of the scores for that metric for each path you have configured.  For information about how the scores for each path are calculated, see Viewing Detailed Reports, below.
• Score History: Below the main score, the previous scores are displayed in smaller text with arrows indicating changes in score (up or down), allowing you to track recent trends at a glance.

Monitoring Individual Paths

The Monitored Paths section provides a detailed breakdown of scores for each path being scanned. For each path, you’ll see:

• Path: The URL suffix being scanned (e.g., /articles).
  • To make SiteLens as useful as possible, add paths that cover each type of page/layout that the site has.
• Platform: Indicates whether the path is scanned in mobile or desktop mode.
  • If you select Desktop, the scan for that path will be done as if a visitor with a typical desktop browser visited the site.
  • If you select Mobile, Lighthouse will emulate a typical mobile browser when accessing the site.
  • Best practice is to add each path twice, once as Desktop and then again as Mobile, unless you have a reason not to.
• Scores: The latest Google Lighthouse scores for Accessibility, Performance, Best Practices, and SEO for that path.  Click the Details button for information on how each score is calculated.
• Actions: Options to edit or delete the path, or to perform an ad hoc scan if desired.

Running Ad Hoc Scans

While SiteLens automatically scans all paths weekly, you can initiate a manual scan when needed:

• Full Site Scan: On the main SiteLens page, click Scan All to run an immediate scan for all monitored paths.
• Single Path Scan: From the path details page, click Scan Now for an on-demand scan of that specific path.

Viewing Detailed Reports

Click on a path details button to view its details page, which includes:

• Accessibility Score History: A graph displaying up to the 10 most recent accessibility scores, allowing you to track progress or identify any areas needing attention.
• Lighthouse Report: A detailed Google Lighthouse report, with individual scores for Performance, Accessibility, Best Practices, and SEO, including information on how each score was calculated.

To view a specific past report, click on any data point in the score history graph. To export the report, use the three-dot menu in the Lighthouse Report section.

Configuring Monitored Paths

Adding a New Path

To add a new path for scanning:

1. Click Add New Configuration in the Monitored Paths section.
2. Enter the path suffix (e.g., /articles rather than the full URL https://mysite.org/articles).
3. Select Platform(s) to scan (mobile, desktop, or both).
4. Optionally, provide a description for the path. If left blank, the page title will be used by default.

Editing or Deleting a Path

You can edit or delete any path by clicking the Edit or Delete buttons next to the path in the Monitored Paths section. The default paths cannot be modified or deleted.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

• Can I monitor additional paths beyond the site root?
  Yes, you can add as many paths as you like. For each path, choose whether to scan in mobile, desktop, or both modes.  For meaningful scores, add paths for each major piece of functionality on your website.
   
• What should I enter for a path when adding a new configuration?
  Enter the suffix of the path that follows the domain, such as /contact. Avoid including the full URL.
   
• How often are scans performed?
  Scans are performed automatically once per week (usually on Sunday mornings), though you can initiate an ad hoc scan at any time.
   
• Can SiteLens scan private pages (pages that require U-M Weblogin)?
  No, SiteLens can currently only scan pages that are publicly accessible.  We hope to add the ability to scan private pages in the future, but we currently do not have a timeline for this.
   
• Can I download the reports?
  Yes, reports can be exported from the Lighthouse Report section by clicking the three-dot menu.
   
• Who should use SiteLens?
  SiteLens is designed for site managers who need a high-level view of site health. Developers should use manual scanning tools in their own environments before publishing updates to production.
   
• Why is SiteLens unavailable for my site?
  To use SiteLens, your site must have an initialized Live environment in Pantheon. Initializing is part of the development process.  To initialize, a developer must visit your site’s dashboard in Pantheon, navigate to the Live tab, and click Initialize Live Environment. There is no need for this to be done until your site is naturally ready for this step.

• WordPress and Drupal Multisite support?
  There currently is a known issue with WordPress or Drupal multisite in Pantheon where SiteLens is proving inaccurate statistics.  This will be fixed in a future release of the ITS Web Hosting Portal.

Contact Us: If you have any questions or need support with SiteLens, please reach out to our support team by sending an email to [email protected].