Why is my Shopify store speed score incorrectly displayed?

Mark_Hughson
Tourist
9 0 3

Our online speed score currently displays as 38 and the 3 tests that shopify uses show this as a result. However, when we click the links and run the tests we have a mobile result of 98 for all 3 tests. they cannot explain to me why the displayed result is so wrong. Just to explain - we had some work done to optimise our site and got our score to 98. For a while the speed score on shopify was the same (98) but a couple of weeks ago it dropped back to 38 in 2 days. how can this be when the lighthouse links still return three 98 scores - the same results we get on google page speed insights. It doesn't make any sense. Is Shopify dysfunctional?

Replies 22 (22)

Tira
Shopify Staff (Retired)
1260 90 223

Hey, @Mark_Hughson

Tira here to help.

Thank you for posting your question and I appreciate all the details you’ve provided here. This is helpful.

It sounds like you were viewing the online store speed report on the Shopify admin. Is that right? If so here are the steps to view the report:

  • From your Shopify admin, go to Online Store > Themes
  • In the Online store speed score section, view your speed score. 
  • To view your full speed report, click View report

The report contains additional information such as which pages were analyzed, and how your score compares to the scores of similar Shopify stores. 

You can also find these steps in our help doc: Viewing your online store's speed score and report. Can I get you to try these steps? I would love to know what shows up in your report after!

It also sounds like your store experienced a significant change in the Shopify admin. I am not exactly sure why this would happen, but here is some insight from our online store speed FAQ:

Why did one of my scores change? 

Your scores might change from day to day, even if you didn't make any changes to your online store. Scores can change because of the following factors: The relative scores of other stores. If another store made improvements to their score, then your score might be ranked lower in comparison. Other variability factors. Your scores can also change when you make changes to your online store. For example, you might have imported several new products, created several new collections, changed your theme, or introduced a new app. Learn about the factors that can impact your online store speed. Your score might not change for a few days after you make changes to your online store.

Does this resonate with what you’re experiencing?

To learn more visit the Shopify Help Center or the Community Blog.

Mark_Hughson
Tourist
9 0 3
No not really. It doesn't explain it at all.

There is a link "see how your score is calculated" which takes you to the 3
pages (home, collection, product) which show scores for these pages - in my
case 39,36,41. HOWEVER, if I use those links my score on lighthouse is 98,
98 ,98. How does that compute?

I have attached screen shots of the tests I ran on these Shopify links
recently and a screenshot of the reults for the last 30 days. There is no
reason for this decline the scores have not changed from 98, 98, 98.

Please explain how this can be.

Cheers Mark


CartTurbo
Pathfinder
89 4 25

What is the URL of the pages your testing?

Vierettt
Tourist
10 0 3

Hi! 

I'm having the same issue. My speed score on Shopify has been kept on a level around 80 and suddenly it started dropping this month to 27, but I didn't make any changes on my website (no images, videos or apps added). There were no events. On PageSpeed Insights it still shows scores between 80-90 for all pages (mobile and desktop). I'm adding a document with screenshots below. My website URL is https://carreaudiamondpainting.com/

Mark_Hughson
Tourist
9 0 3

HI,
Weird eh. Did you have anyone optimse your site for you? We did but now feel like we wasted our money.
Cheers, Mark

oreoorbitz
Shopify Partner
242 29 129

@Vierettt 
Yes, your theme is also using the trick where the page is showing a limited amount of actual site content to PageSpeed Insights.

 

Screenshot_109.jpg

See that image on the right, what you should be seeing there is the top of your page, but what is being displayed is your footer, that's becuase all the page content is being hidden in order to get a higher score.

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.
Mark_Hughson
Tourist
9 0 3

Just tested our site again. No tricks here - not a great score either

 

Mark_Hughson_0-1630102088862.png

 

oreoorbitz
Shopify Partner
242 29 129

@Mark_Hughson 
But now the score isn't 98 as compared to the lower one on shopify's dashboard, so issue solved, right?

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.
Mark_Hughson
Tourist
9 0 3

,

The optimisation work was done by a "Shopify Expert" we employed. I would not know what they did to improve our site speed.
If you are interested we still need someone to sort our site out.
Mark

Vierettt
Tourist
10 0 3

@oreoorbitz  

Thank you. I had no idea how to look for this.  Yes, I had someone a few months ago. Now it became clear. 

Is there any way I could show again what's hidden to have a real view of what's going on on my website? 

Mark_Hughson
Tourist
9 0 3

Pages tested  were:

Site: https://weebits.co.nz 

Product: https://weebits.co.nz/products/baby-headbands

Tira
Shopify Staff (Retired)
1260 90 223

Hey, Mark and thanks @CartTurbo for chiming in to help. 

I would love to take a closer look. You mentioned attaching some screenshots but I don't see any screenshots in your second post, please post them here and the community and I can take a look for you.

Chat soon,

To learn more visit the Shopify Help Center or the Community Blog.

oreoorbitz
Shopify Partner
242 29 129

And you are sure that when you optmized your store, the develoepr didn't use a hack to hide your site content specifcally from PageSpeed Insights? If they did this, then if shopify is running the Lighthouse test from their server, the content isn't being hidden.

To test, use chrome's Lighthouse pane to run the test locally, with network and cpu throttling enable. If the result is in the 30's, then what I said above is probably the reason.

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.

VonRueden
Visitor
1 0 0

Hey,

 

I just wrote my first blog ever about how to improve your Shopify store loading speed.

 

I discovered some great techniques in the previous months and I want to share it with the Shopify Community to improve loading speed and it's will have a positive impact on user experience and also conversion rate

 

 

skylight paycards

AiTrillion
Shopify Partner
4167 244 733

Hey @Mark_Hughson, I hope you are doing well!

To know how you can improve the site speed, you can refer to this blog: https://www.aitrillion.com/improve-your-ecommerce-site-performance-speed-to-boost-conversions/

 

Thanks

 

Sachin D | Shopify Growth Expert @ AiTrillion

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Mark_Hughson
Tourist
9 0 3

AiTrillion.
We had our shop optimized and it was tested on GTmetrics where it scored 85-90 with  site speed of 2.2sec. This is great but it only scores low 50's on Google page speed and this is the only score that counts for e-commerce - they decide where your site ranks.

Mark_Hughson
Tourist
9 0 3

/@

Mark_Hughson
Tourist
9 0 3

@

I should add that, as explained to me, the quickest way to see whether you have been scammed or not is to run your site through Google page speed test. If you don't see your full page on the staged images below the results you have the hack from a fake optimisation.

nuova-idea
Explorer
46 0 20

Shopify made big fail with an open source in which they make money on the store, apps and developers. This open a window to scams and unprofessional people.

 

Also, Shopify should make an official statement asap about this to stop the propagation of the issue instead to try to leave it under the carpet.

 

 

 

 

 

Andytaylor
Shopify Partner
6 0 0

I am very confused about this and see the information provided by google is totally inaccurate. Using their own metrics, Page Speed Insights my store is 95 on desktop and 75 on mobile however Shopify ranks me at 25.  My store loads quickly, so can only lead me to believe that Shopify is not providing the correct data.  I can not rely on Shopify’s suggestions or data when it suggest speeding up the page.  I may have to find a better platform 

oreoorbitz
Shopify Partner
242 29 129

@Andytaylor 
Have you read this thread and other threads on this forum discussing the cloaking method? It makes things quite clear on what might cause a huge diference between a shopify speed score and the score PageSpeed insights gives.

 

Also, you should study the documentation that google provides on pagespeed metrics so you understand the scoring better. The scoring is based off a global ideal, so if you have 100mb download speed, that'll make a huge diference when visting the site compared to someone from rural india visting the site on their Xiaomi.

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.

Andytaylor
Shopify Partner
6 0 0

Nope.  I understand a little about what appear to have happened but ultimately don’t trust Shopify. I will likely move to Big Commerce