Why is my store speed score low despite having fast loading time?

[catanomaly]

Hi everyone, here's the deal: according to shopify, my store has a "store speed score" of only 32/100 and it also says, I quote, that it is slower on average than other shopify stores. But when I go to a site like gtmetrix to get an audit, my store speed score only gets above average ratings for all categories. Btw, I am using the Konversion paid theme which should be faster than most themes. Also, my store seems pretty fast to me, so why the low score given by shopify? If my store seems as fast as it need to be with a score of only 32, than how much faster would it be if the score was like 70? Doesn't make sense or add up.

[oreoorbitz · Accepted solution]

I recommend you take some time to read the information that Google has on how pagespeed insights creates it's score.

https://web.dev/performance-scoring/?utm_source=lighthouse&utm_medium=unknown

This has information on how the score is calculated, and links to information on all the metrics.

A very key factor to take into account when you say your store is fast to you, is that PageSpeed Insight created its scoring scale based off the universal average for user connection speed. That is to say the global average.

So for countries with low internet prices and good average speed, your average shopify site will load in a breeze, for someone in rural india, it might be unusable. 

Personally I think it was silly of shopify to add the pagespeed score as it just stresses users out, and the current infrastructure shopify has makes it harder really get a high score.

Edit: also most paid themes don't adhere to the up to date standard of pagespeed improvements like non render blocking resources, or avoid jquery and its unneeded 30kb.

[Melshyl]

Hi everyone, here's the deal: according to shopify, my store has a "store speed score" of only 29/100 and it also says, I quote, that it is slower on average than other shopify stores. But when I go to a site like another one to get an audit, my store speed score only gets above average ratings for all categories. Btw, I am using the boundle  free theme .but tell  me if i suppose to buy another theme  thank you

[Sim_]

Hi Melshyl, 

Welcome to Shopify community !!!

As the above reply by @oreoorbitz explains well that, the score is based off many factors. It shouldn't be a problem if most of the store traffic is coming from countries with good internet speed and users NOT with very old/slow devices.  However, you as a merchant can take care of following things which can help to improve the store speed  - 

1. Optimizing images and using only fewer/necessary images for slideshow and products.

2. Delete any Shopify app which is not used anymore.

Thank you

If helpful then please Like and Accept Solution.
Do you need custom changes on store or want to boost speed ? Hire me.
Feel free to Contact me on simranjeetsingh6076@gmail.com

[theteebro]

I can share, i'm on my fourth theme now and that Javascript and Apps matter, especially with Mobile. (ie, less is better).  I won't name any poor themes as to not disparage any developers out there; but i can share that we recently installed Air Theme One and went from 10-12 Google PageSpeed score to the upper 70's - low 80's on Mobile.  I was also able to remove some Apps by adding this theme (which saves money). 

I'm seeing my organic search increase in ahrefs by just finding the right theme, so i'm hopeful.

Hope this helps

Dave - TeeBro

[augustlashes]

Hi @theteebro 

Thanks for the recommendation

I can't find "Air Theme One" in the shopify themestore. Do you mind sharing how I can find it?

Thanks, really appreciate your help

[theteebro]

Hi,

I actually found it by google searching fastest shopify mobile themes and believe i found a listing on Reddit for it.  From there, i googled Airtheme one and it took me to their site: 

https://airthemeone.com/

From there, I installed it and tried it out. I don't know if it's on the shopify theme store or not, but it's legit.

Dave

[Kjankko-US]

Hi @theteebro @catanomaly @augustlashes @Sim_ @Melshyl ,

I ask here my question about the files on Shopify. Does the Shopify store's speed score slow a much - if I load files in the store?

I sell digital products (PDF -files) in my store and I have a lot of them in the future.

BR,

- KJ

[Jason]

Adding files to the Admin of your shop (eg, into settings/files) has no impact on the speed.
The content that a user will see when browsing your site, and the code that creates that layout will impact on the speed.

[Kjankko-US]

Great to hear!

Thank you soo much @Jason ! 

[ruthpossible]

Hi,

my pagescore is 18! I really like the look of my store, but I worry it's too slow... I don't want to change design. Only speed.

What can I do?

Greetings

Ruth

[Sim_]

Hey @ruthpossible, 

Could you share store url, I can take a look into it.

Thank you

---

[Ruboaz]

Hi, so what can be done to improve that score?

[Sim_]

Hey @Ruboaz, 

This can be only told after auditing the site. However, here are the most common ways to improve speed performance - 

1. Clean up code left from apps.

2. Minify images and code.

3. Remove render blocking code.

4. Lazy load images/videos.