How can I speed up LCP time without rebuilding my site?

[PatrickAyers]

Hello,

I operate wearoya.com. We use the Symmetry theme. I'm trying to improve our SEO by increasing our speed and getting Google Search Console to label our indexed URLs as "good." To that end, slow LCP loading time seems to be our biggest issue. Would anyone have any tips to speeding it up without rebuilding the site? Is

[NomtechSolution]

Yes, there are several tips you can try to improve the loading speed of your website and address the slow Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) time without having to rebuild the site. Here are some suggestions:

1. Optimize images: Large image file sizes can significantly slow down your website. Compress and resize images to reduce their file size without sacrificing too much quality. You can use image optimization tools or plugins to automate this process.

2. Enable lazy loading: Lazy loading delays the loading of non-visible images until they are about to appear on the screen. This can help improve initial page load times. Consider using a lazy loading plugin or implementing lazy loading manually.

3. Minify CSS and Javascript: Minifying CSS and JavaScript files involves removing unnecessary characters like whitespace, comments, and line breaks. This reduces file sizes and improves loading speed. There are online tools and plugins available that can automatically minify your CSS and JavaScript files.

4. Leverage browser caching: Configure your server to set caching headers for static resources like images, CSS, and JavaScript files. This allows the browser to store these files locally, reducing the need to download them on subsequent page visits.

[PatrickAyers]

Thank you nomtech. does shopify allow lazy loading and browser caching?

[NomtechSolution]

Yes Shopify allows via custom coding in theme

[Cedcommerce]

Hello @PatrickAyers, 

That’s achievable with attention to detail and a clear and precise speed & optimization strategy. Also, site speed is the most critical aspect of any online store, and regular maintenance and speed optimization tasks must be followed to keep your store speed at optimal levels. 

Here are some tips that you should consider for improving the page speed of your web page.

1. Reduce the impact of third-party code: There are a few third-party codes that reduce page speed while loading the page, like Facebook, Instagram, etc. You can lazyload the scripts until the entire page loads and execute the scripts after the whole page gets displayed.

1. Avoid an excessive DOM (Document Object Model): Reducing the DOM size can help increase your website's speed.

1. Reduce Image sizes: High-resolution and large-size images will delay your page load time. Try to reduce image size and use lower resolution yet quality images so that it loads faster and does not affect your webpage quality simultaneously. 

1. Serve static assets with an efficient cache policy: Serving static assets with an efficient cache policy helps improve page load times on repeat visits by storing these files locally in the user's browser.

1. Largest Contentful Paint element: Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) is a Core Web Vitals metric that ensures how fast the main content of a web page loads. A good website must have a lesser LCP for atleast 75% of page visits.

1. Avoid large layout shifts: Large layout shifts can affect your page speed. It can be reduced by using a media query and fixing the image by assigning the width and height of images, thus helping to better page load speed.

1. Ensure text remains visible while Webfont loads:  Fonts are often large, which takes time to load, and browsers hide text until the font loads, causing a blank appearance. To avoid this, you can allow only those fonts to load first that are relevant to that page text.

These points can help increase the page speed of your Shopify store. For more help on page speed and optimization, connect with us.

Regards, 

CedCommerce

[oscprofessional]

Hello @PatrickAyers 

Hope you are doing well. 

I have checked your website in the page insight Chrome tool. your website's LCP score is very low. need to improve on mobile and desktop views.

Below are some factors that might impact the speed of your online store, and how you can address them.

We’ve had the best success for our clients by working with our developers to implement the lazy sizes because it's quite complicated for non-technical people.

You need to work on the following points:

• Theme Upgrade if there is a scope and upgraded theme available
• Reduce JS Payload.
• Use Critical CSS.
• Replace GIFs With Static Images
• Reduce Large Image Sizes
• Migrate Tracking Codes To Google Tag Manager
• Compress Images
• Limit Third-Party JavaScript & Shopify Apps
• Preload Web Fonts. 
• I suggest limiting it to one and using a standard web font.

Also, pass the core web vitals. 

By fixing these issues, your website speed score can definitely improve.

If anything needs to be included or clarified then feel free to ask.  We will surely help you. 

Thank you

Have a nice day!

[flareAI]

Hello @PatrickAyers,

Good day! Gina from flareAI app helping Shopify merchants get $6Million+ in sales from Google Search, on autopilot.

Google uses LCP as one of the key metrics in their Core Web Vitals, a set of performance metrics that influence search engine rankings and user experience. For a good user experience, Google recommends that LCP should occur within the first 2.5 seconds of a page starting to load.

By optimizing the factors that contribute to LCP time, such as image optimization, efficient resource delivery, and minimizing render-blocking resources, you can improve your website's speed, user experience, and potentially achieve better SEO rankings.

Consider following these tips.

1. Large image file sizes can significantly impact LCP time. Compress and resize your images to reduce their file size without compromising quality. You can use online tools or Shopify apps specifically designed for image optimization.

2. Enable browser caching to store static resources, such as CSS and JavaScript files, on visitors' browsers. This allows subsequent page loads to retrieve the cached files instead of downloading them again, improving load times. You can set cache expiration headers or use Shopify apps to handle caching for you.

3. Minification of CSS and JavaScript files removes unnecessary whitespace, comments, and redundant code from your CSS and JavaScript files, reducing their file size and improving load times.

4. Implement lazy loading for images and videos, which defers the loading of below-the-fold content until the user scrolls to it. This helps prioritize the loading of critical content and improves the initial LCP time. Shopify's built-in lazy loading feature can be enabled in your theme settings or by using lazy loading apps from the Shopify App Store.

5. Evaluate the apps and scripts running on your website and remove any that are not essential. Each app and script adds additional requests and potential delays to your page load time. Remove any unnecessary tracking codes, social media widgets, or other third-party scripts that are not critical for your site's functionality.

6. If you have integrated third-party services or plugins, assess their impact on your site's speed. Some integrations may introduce additional overhead and slow down LCP time. Consider optimizing or removing any integrations that are not crucial for your site's functionality.

Remember to monitor the impact of each optimization and test your website's speed using tools like Google PageSpeed Insights or GTmetrix. These tools can provide specific recommendations for further optimizations based on your site's performance.

Gina