How can I improve the slow loading speed of my website?

Technical Q&A

Topic summary

Main issue: A Shopify store’s pages load very slowly (PageSpeed Insights ~10 mobile, ~37 desktop) after adding many apps and design features, impacting early sales. The store has ~35 apps installed, many unused.

Key causes identified:

  • Excess apps injecting JavaScript/CSS, including “unused JS” contributing over 4s of delay. Some apps leave code behind after deletion.
  • Potentially unoptimized, large images increasing page weight and load time.
  • Infrastructure and network factors (server capacity under load, congestion, throttling, filtering) may add latency.

Context/nuance:

  • Low PageSpeed scores don’t always correlate with poor sales; impact varies by audience location and connection quality. The site lacks PageSpeed “Field Data” (real‑user performance metrics), so lab scores may not reflect user experience yet.

Recommended actions:

  • Remove every non‑essential app; then re‑add selectively based on conversion impact. After uninstalling, clean leftover app code (likely requires a developer).
  • Optimize and properly size/compress images.
  • Re‑test with PageSpeed Insights after each change; monitor for Field Data as traffic grows.
  • If suspecting network issues, run traceroute to the site and review hosting capacity.

Status: No final resolution; consensus leans toward app reduction, code cleanup, and image optimization, with possible developer help.

Summarized with AI on February 6. AI used: gpt-5.
4

Having only a few apps installed can cause a severe impact to page speed - we found that even installing a few apps caused some pages to slow down by as much as 6 seconds. Apps cause major issues - always use custom development when possible for your site features!

Check out this case study if you’re interested: https://speedboostr.com/how-apps-affect-load-speed/