Hello,
My website just launched April 1 and already my site speed is slow in performance and best practices.
I have optimized images as suggested but still it’s bad. I’m completely stuck. I am using MINIMAL theme.
Thank you for any guidance!
Lynda
Hey, @Linnea641 .
Thanks for reaching out! Congrats on your recent store launch. I completely understand the importance of your store speed, as this will have great benefits on your shop. You can check the Shopify Status page and it will show if there are any system issues impacting store speed. Otherwise, there are typically four main things that you can consider:
- Theme customizations: When you edit or customize themes, file sizes can increase and affect your store speed. If you have a heavily customized theme, this may be something to take into consideration.
- Too many apps trying to load at one time: The more apps that are running at once, the longer the loading times will be. Determine if you really need all those apps and If you’re not using them at all, then you should remove them.
- Image sizes: You mentioned that you’ve optimized your images already, which is great. The larger the image size and the more videos and slideshows you display, the longer it will take to load. You can use an app such as Image Optimizer. We also have a great blog article with 10 Must Know Image Optimization Tips.
- The end-user/customer browser, device, and internet connection: This is something you won’t have control over of course, but it is good to keep in mind.
I recommend checking out this Shopify document in regards to Improving your Online Store Speed, as it contains many great suggestions. Since you’re using a free Shopify theme, our team may be able to help with basic performance improvements. You can learn more about the support available, in our Support for Themes document.
Please let me know if you have any questions! In the meantime, your website is looking fantastic. Where are you planning to market your online store?
Hello Luna,
Thank you for your reply! Also, I ran my site through the Shopify Analyzer and got all A ratings and one C rating as seen here:
However, when I go into my site, I see this:
So at this point, I’m unsure which outcome to believe.
Thank you for any guidance!
Lynda
using MINIMAL theme
Hi @Linnea641 ,
Here are some proven steps that will improve your website speed dramatically for both mobile and desktop.
- Minify Javascript, CSS
- Limit unnecessary app use
- Reduce the Large Image Size
- Eliminating the halting problem in Javascript
- Apply Lazy loading per section wherever required
- use this app to optimize: SEO:Image Optimizer Page Speed
If you feel like my answer is helpful, please mark it as a SOLUTION. Let me know if you have any further questions.
Hello @Linnea641 I have checked your store performance on google page speed https://pagespeed.web.dev/report?url=https%3A%2F%2Fthewatercanshop.com%2F&form_factor=mobile
You can try to fix the following issue to improve speed
Eliminate render-blocking resources
Reduce unused JavaScript
Reduce the impact of third-party code
Reduce initial server response time
Here some resources you can follow
https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/online-store/store-speed/improving-speed
https://gofishdigital.com/blog/shopify-speed-optimizations/
https://www.semrush.com/blog/9-tips-for-boosting-the-speed-of-your-shopify-website/
If you need help feel free to contact me Thanks.
1 Like
Hey, @Linnea641 .
Thanks for getting back to me. I’m more than happy to continue looking into this with you!
To clarify, Your ranking represents how your online store’s speed score compares to Shopify stores similar to yours. Your score is based on a weighted average of the Lighthouse performance scores for your store’s home page, your product page with the most traffic over the last 7 days, and your collection page with the most traffic over the last 7 days.
Since your website is relatively new, then your score might be less accurate online store speed score is an average of multiple days of Lighthouse performance scores. Performance scores can vary slightly between tests, and an average over multiple days better represents your store’s day-to-day performance. To learn more, check out: Online Store Speed Report.
Please let me know if you have any questions about that! From the report you shared, it looks like the only area for improvement is coming from 3rd party file modification. Have you downloaded some third-party apps to test out?
Talk soon,
Hi Luna,
Below are the only apps I have in my shop:
I also do not understand what “3rd party file minification” means in my only “C” rating.
thank you!
Lynda
Hey @Linnea641 ,
How are You!
I have checked with the page insight tool, Your store score is very low, you need to work more on codes too instead of image optimization.
3rd party apps & codes which take time to load and their size. They decrease the speed.
- Apps can have a significant performance impact on the stores they are installed on.
- First of all, I am not trying to say that you shouldn’t install apps on your store.
- use fewer applications on your Shopify store. Use such APIs for the Apps.
- use cookies without an app
Some code can be removed or reordered to improve your online store’s performance. If you’re not using an app, then you can remove it.
- Disable app features you don’t use, or remove the app if you don’t need it. Consider the balance between online store features and speed.
If you’re removing an app, then consider removing code that was added as part of the app install process. Some apps help you with this process by wrapping their code in {% comment %} tags that mention the app name. Removing unused app code is a best practice that avoids running code for unused features, and makes your theme code easier to read.
Need to work on following points
- Reduce JS Payload.
- Use Critical CSS .
- Reduce Large Image Sizes
- Compress Images
- Limit Third Party JavaScript & Shopify Apps
- Preload Web Fonts.
- I would suggest limiting to one and using a standard web font.
See where exactly google speed index tools want you to target your code to optimize the site .
Theme Upgrade if there is a scope and upgraded theme available.
We will recommend that Shopify users switch to Dawn and take advantage of the better site speed performance score and take advantage of the new features available in Shopify 2.0. If you don’t have technical knowledge, then we will surely help with the Shopify 2.0 migration.
By fixing these issues, your website speed score can definitely improve. We will provide you free audit report for optimization.
And we will provide an assured guarantee plan for the website speed optimization.
For more details please check the link below.
https://www.oscprofessionals.com/shopify-performance-optimization/
If anything is missed out or unclear then don’t hesitate to ask. Email us or Connect with us on Skype
Have a nice day !
Hello @Linnea641 ,
By following the below steps, you can significantly speed up your Shopify store:
- Removing unused app code is a best practice that avoids running code for unused features, and makes your theme code easier to read.
- Use a theme which is optimized for performance
- Themes contain CSS, JS, HTML which can increase and affect your store speed. So disable theme features you don’t use.
- Loading extra data your customers aren’t using can impact your store speed without adding value.
- If you are using slideshows, keep slideshows of featured images to 2-3 slides, or use one featured image.
- Use a System font which is a font that is already installed on most computers. For example: Segoe UI, Times New Roman. If you use a font that does not yet exist on your customer’s computer, then the font has to be downloaded before your text can be displayed. This impacts the time that your store takes to load.
- Reduce the use of large-sized images and also compress images without losing the quality
- Use minified CSS and JS files
- Replace GIFs with static images
- To reduce the initial load time, you can use Lazyload technique
- Remove third-party JS scripts and Shopify App which you are no longer using
- Minimize HTTP requests
- Avoid unnecessary redirects and fix broken links
A slow-loading website can reduce your conversions and profits. A fast-loading website is essential to welcome massive traffic to the website. In the case of eCommerce stores, speed and page loading time play a pivotal role in the success and growth of businesses. Apart from speeding up your store, for getting better conversions, make sure your store products are Found on Google. When your customers search on Google, your product can be found only if the page is indexed. Note that once a URL gets indexed, customers will start finding your store through organic searches, you will start getting order conversions for virtually zero cost. Making it sustainable business growth. flareAI helps to get your new products found on organic channels. flareAI works every day for you. Get sales from 20+ world’s largest free sales channels, Single click start!
Hope that the above tips will help you decrease the load on your web pages and increase the Shopify website speed.