Why is my website loading so slowly recently?

[Cheekymonkey13]

Hey 🙂

During the last days I got complains from customers, that my website (www.nyfter.com) is not loading and in fact, if I use incognito, it takes 10+ seconds to even show anything, even though I think prestige theme uses lazy-load. Google speed test shows a reasonable first-paint, for me it is ok if the reviews etc. take some times, but there should be an immediate visual response on load.

Has anyone experienced something like that?

Cheers

[speedboostr]

This loaded normally for me, so it might just be a temporary regional issue, or something random.

Couple notes though to help you out (I'm from Speed Boostr, the Shopify optimization team that's made over 1500+ Shopify sites faster and regularly contributes free tools and guides for the community):

- Having a large multiple image slider banner right at the top negative affects performance. Speed-wise it's better to have a single image instead of using a multiple image slider plugin. Conversion-wise, it depends on the store, you'd have to A/B test to be sure

- That reviews badge loads right away, if that's taking significant resources I would lazy load that (you can lazy load apps with a technique mentioned here: How to Optimize Shopify Apps

- The easiest way to see if you have optimization issues is to run your site through the Shopify Analyzer. That will tell you the most common issues + how to solve them.

- You might be able to alleviate some of that delay by implementing preloading tactics (there are various forms, most common is improving the page-to-page transition, but also DNS prefetching may help if you're sometimes experiencing slow load times). Here's a guide to that technique: How to Use Preloading Tactics for Faster Loading Shopify Pages.

Our guides are written by developers experienced in Shopify performance optimization, and meant to help you handle in-house. But if you're bored by optimization or want to have a professional handle it for you, feel free to reach out to us at speedboostr.com/contact.

[Cheekymonkey13]

Thank you for the answer. I actually solved the problem. 

I had previously uninstalled the textfield app by inspon-app.com and they left a piece of code in my theme which caused this.

Each new pageload in incognito was 15-25 load until first elements were visible. I didn't notice it on my end, as the browser had the cached version ready all the time.
Sad, that most shopify apps leave code on uninstallment.

[speedboostr]

Nice, that makes sense, the majority of sites we work on have old app code. The problem is that when you delete an app Shopify immediately revokes access, so the app can't clean up after itself. Responsible apps will auto send an email with uninstallation instructions, but many don't 😄

That guide How to Optimize Shopify Apps I shared touches on that, but in summary it's good to periodically check your theme.liquid file and other templates where apps could have added code, to make sure there isn't any old wasteful code loading that.

[Adarsh2030]

Hello @Cheekymonkey13 
Hope you are doing very well!

As i checked your current store speed is 25 which is considered as poor,
Live current store speed -- (https://pagespeed.web.dev/report?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nyfter.com%2F) =, you can use this link and check your current store speed, due to several factors, store speed may depend -- 

The following things would be done to optimize your store speed: -
1. Full speed optimization Audit.
2. Check and fix all halting Java scripts if any.
3. Check and remove apps' obsolete code if any.
4. Check and optimize all website assets (images, CSS, JS, etc.)
5. Images optimization & compression.
6. Optimize the video section to an optimized version if any.
7. Apply Lazy loading per section wherever required.
8. Check and defer scripts wherever required.
9. Improve liquid rendering time.
10. Improve Largest Contentful Paint LCP [Web Vitals] as per Gtmetrix.
11. Improve Cumulative Layout Shift [Web Vitals] as per Gtmetrix.
12. Improve TBT - Total blocking time as per GTmetrix.
13. Improve FID - First Input delay
14. Pre Load critical assets.
15. Handle third-party script [ app ].
16. Font loading.
17. Compress js and CSS files.
18. Apply CDN where required.
19. Lazyload images and iframes.
20. Remove unused JavaScript from the theme.
21. Preload assets where required.
22. Optimize videos and Gif
23. Improve overall page loading time
24. Implement AMP pages if required.
25. Improver overall core web vitals score based on lighthouse policy.

So these are the major factors that affect your store speed.

Let me know if you have any other concerns regarding this.

Thank you

Adarsh Tripathi

[Cheekymonkey13]

Thank you for your detailed reply and tips.

Concerning the page speed, I am actually happy. However, google shows a poor performance. This is, because some reviews etc. are loading slowly, but the page is visible before that.

Is the page speed ranking ignorable then? I mean, the page loads quick, just some reviews get added after 1-2 secs, but that's not bothering anyone and the shop converts better with these review apps..

[flareAI]

Hello @Cheekymonkey13,

The faster your site is, the more users you are likely to convert.

Follow the below tips that will help you decrease the load on your web pages.

1. Image compression is important and a necessity for faster loading web pages. Make sure your images are of good quality and do not add too many images on a single page.
2. Reduce the HTTP requests. For example: Combine & inline your CSS scripts
3. Minimize broken links and redirects - Avoid unnecessary Redirects and fix broken links
4. Using slideshow, which are high-quality images combined with transitions, take time to load when the user clicks the link to the homepage. So instead you can use a single high-quality hero image.
5. Always choose a theme that is responsive, fast, and takes minimal time to load the page
If you choose a theme with numerous sliders, fancy animations, advanced navigation systems, etc., will affect your page speed. If your theme is loading slow, consider disabling the theme features you don't need.
6. Don't add too many images on a page
Adding too many images on a page can be frustrating. It can significantly slow the load time of your website. Also, it can overwhelm visitors, which will ultimately result in a poor user experience, a high bounce rate, and a high probability of lower rankings in relative search results.
7. Use Lazyload wherever required to reduce initial load time
8. Remove all unwanted Shopify Apps which you are not using
You should disable app features you don't use, or you can remove the app if you don't need it. If you are removing an app make sure to remove code that was added as part of the app install process.
9. Replace GIFs with static images
10. You can run the Shopify Theme Inspector for Chrome to identify the lines of code that are slowing down pages in your online store.
11. You can use Google PageSpeed Insights to view more detailed metrics for pages in your store.

Google Search, the world's largest and most trusted FREE ecommerce channel will show more of your store to customers on Google Search if your site is fast. So site speed is critical for organic channel sales. Did you know, ecommerce on organic channels is greater than all paid ads and social media combined. We created flareAI to deliver feeds to organic channels on a regular basis without taking your time. flareAI helps to get your products found on Google, the world's largest FREE eCommerce service. Let flareAI help you to grow your revenue on the world's best free sales channels. 

Hope this was helpful,

Gina
Add flareAI Shopify App today!

[Cheekymonkey13]

Thank you for your detailed reply and tips.

Concerning the page speed, I am actually happy. However, google shows a poor performance. This is, because some reviews etc. are loading slowly, but the page is visible before that.

Is the page speed ranking ignorable then? I mean, the page loads quick, just some reviews get added after 1-2 secs, but that's not bothering anyone and the shop converts better with these review apps.