Fast loading website but only 6/100 on Google PageSpeed Insights, why?

WildStone
Excursionist
16 0 0

Hey 🙂

We've been trying to fix our Google PageSpeed Insights result as it's really bad for mobile (6/100). However, I can't figure out what I can do! Our website seems to load really quickly when testing on our own mobiles and laptops, but the score is so low. I've read quite a few times that a big part of it is the Time To First Byte, but I'm unsure if I can do anything about that? Surely not all Shopify stores have a score this low?

Huge thanks in advance for any advice.

Jack

https://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/insights/?url=wildandstone.com

Replies 4 (4)

oreoorbitz
Shopify Partner
242 29 129

The first thing to remember is that the score is based off more of an average user's network performance and device performance, not just an American or other first world fast internet,fast phone experience.

If you look at the Field data section, which reports how your users experience your site, you'll see the metrics are better then the lab data, this is because your user's are probably from places that have faster internet and superior devices.

On average, the loading experience for your users is Ok. You'll still want to speed up your site a bit, since you want as many as your users as possible to have a good load speed for your site to reduce bounce rate.

 

Now as far as improvements you can make, that I have time to list, these are the main ones:

1. Google pagespeed insights registers your images as not being lazyloaded, I suggest you look into that. It could be the threshold for the LazySizes plugin needs to be adjusted , or maybe the images have a src file that is way too large and needs to be reduce in size or removed.

2. You have way too many files that are render blocking, look into how to make javascript and css non render blocking.

3. The hero image is way to large on on mobile, really it should be 700px for a 350px screen at most, but currently its 1600px I think.

4. look into removing apps you don't need.

There are tons of other things you can do to improve your site's speed, but these will have the most impact.

Available for freelance. I specialize in speed improvement and theme development.
https://www.upwork.com/fl/orionholmes



You can also contact me directly if you prefer.

JohnCodes
Shopify Partner
134 10 74

Great question @WildStone!

Google Page Speed Insights (PSI) is a great tool but can produce some confusing results when it comes to Shopify sites.

As you mentioned, PSI says your site is slow but you can see that it loads quickly on Desktop and Mobile. That's because PSI was built to assess all kinds of websites, but the issue is that you cannot compare a basic static site to a Shopify site that has apps, plugins, popups, etc. It's a good tool, but not the most appropriate one for realistic analysis. Here's a few specific reasons why PSI isn't the best tool for the job:

  • PSI does not care about your store’s revenue
  • 3rd party apps will bring down your score
  • PSI score does not correlate to the actual speed
  • Some warnings can’t or shouldn’t be fixed

We tend to avoid using PSI when evaluating websites, which is why we built our tool (Shopify Analyzerthat's specifically engineered to analyze Shopify sites and present potential optimization opportunities. I went ahead and ran your homepage through our analyzer. These results will give you some actionable advice that will likely improve your site's performance if implemented. You can find the breakdown at https://analyze.speedboostr.com/result/fs5nwolqr2.

If your site seems to be performing well, I would not stress about removing key components like apps just so that you can improve your PSI score. At the end of the day, it's all about how we can generate the most revenue.

I briefly touched on why PSI isn't the best tool, but we have an in-depth blog post: The Truth About Google PageSpeed Insights for Shopify that goes into much greater detail if you'd like to check it out.

Hope this helped!

Developer at SpeedBoostr (Shopify optimization and dev agency).
Try out our Shopify Analyzer (free performance analysis tool).
Check out Order Automator (app that auto tags + fulfills orders, and more automation)
More Apps: Theme Scientist (A/B testing tool), Tip Jar (add a tip button to your store), File Optimizer (optimize CSS, JS, Liquid)
WildStone
Excursionist
16 0 0

Thank you all for your replies. I find this all fascinating and really appreciate all of the help. I will try some of your suggestions, but not stress too much about PSI.

Thanks again,

Jack (Wild&Stone)

Swift_PageSpeed
Shopify Partner
5 0 4

Hi Jack

After checking your store, we have a few suggestions for you to optimize:

  1. Lazyload Image: Google show that you have a big problem with lazyload, many images do not loads properly. Try using the loading attribute, loading="lazy", for your images. 
  2. Oversized images: Reports lists many images in your page that aren't appropriately sized. Consider resizing your image before uploading
  3. Render blocking CSS:  Your store has many blocking CSS which comes from your theme and third-party app. Extract critical CSS for your theme or remove third party app if they do not bring a good value
  4. Use Preloading: which predicts contents user are about to click and preload them. Your user would feel instantly 

If you have very little or no coding experience, I recommend using our app Swift for optimizing your store's speed. It's easy and convenient, you can complete optimization in just few clicks.

Swift - Top 3 Page Speed Optimizer app in Shopify App Store.
1. FREE Site Speed analysis and suggestions
2. Theme & Image Optimizer with Smart Lossy compression technology
3. Lazy Loading. Minify JS and inline critical CSS files. No coding required
4. Auto optimize daily without login to the app