Guide To Speed Up Your Shopify Website

Your Shopify store’s speed has a significant impact on the user experience. A faster-loading site often has happier customers, which can lead to lower bounce rates, higher satisfaction, and potentially more sales. If you want to speed up your Shopify website, boosting site performance should be your first concern.

Furthermore, site performance is an important feature in Google’s ranking algorithm. Improving the speed of your store is a highly effective method for increasing its presence in search results. Focusing on strategies to speed up your Shopify website improves both user experience and search engine optimization (SEO).

However, deciding where to start might be difficult. This article will give you 9 actionable ideas to speed up your Shopify Website.

How to Speed Up Your Shopify Website

Speed Up Your Shopify Website is crucial for both SEO and user experience. Here are key steps to Speed Up Your Shopify Website and boost your website’s performance:

1. Optimize Images

Images are often the largest files on your site, so optimizing them can significantly improve loading times. Here’s how:

• Select the Correct Format: Use JPEG for product photographs and blog entries, and PNG for logos and icons. For even reduced file sizes, consider converting photos to WebP format, if available. A free WebP converter can assist with this.
• Compress Images: By reducing file size without sacrificing quality, you can speed up your website. You can manually compress photographs using Photoshop or any other image compression software available online.
• Optimize GIFs: Large or poorly optimized GIFs can cause your website to slow down. GIFs should be compressed using lossy compression, converted to HTML5 or MP4 format, or replaced with static pictures if possible.
• Adjust Image Dimensions: Make sure photos are the right size for their purpose. They should be responsive, not exceed 20 MB, and have dimensions of no more than 4472 x 4472 pixels.

Implementing these image optimization techniques will help improve your Shopify store’s loading speed and overall performance.

2. Enable Lazy Loading for Below-the-Fold Images

Lazy loading is a strategy for improving website load speeds by only loading images and components that the user sees right away. Elements that are not immediately visible (below the fold) will load when the user scrolls down the page. This shortens the initial load time and can considerably improve your site’s speed.

How Lazy Loading Works:

• Initial Load: Only the images and content visible on the screen are loaded initially.
• Scroll-Based Loading: As the user scrolls down, images and content that were initially below the fold are loaded.

A typical strategy is to display low-resolution placeholder images at first. These placeholders are replaced by high-resolution photos as the viewer scrolls.

Implementing Lazy Loading in Shopify:

• Manual Method: If you’re comfortable with coding, you can manually enable lazy loading by downloading the LazySizes JS file and integrating it into your Shopify theme’s code.
• Using Apps: For a simpler solution, consider using third-party apps like TinyIMG. These apps offer easy-to-use features for implementing lazy loading without requiring coding skills.

By enabling lazy loading, you can improve your Shopify store’s speed and overall user experience.

3. Disable Unused Apps

Each app you install on your Shopify store adds its own scripts, which can impact your site’s performance. Reducing the number of apps and their associated scripts can help improve your site’s speed.

Steps to Remove Unused Apps:

1. Access Your Apps: Go to Shopify’s Settings and select “Apps and sales channels.”
2. Uninstall Apps: Find the app you no longer need, click the three dots next to it, and select “Uninstall.”

Tip: Opt for multifunctional apps that address multiple needs instead of multiple single-purpose apps. This approach helps minimize the number of scripts running on your site, enhancing overall performance.

4. Optimize Your Theme

A theme overloaded with customizations and unnecessary code can slow down your Shopify store. Here’s how to optimize your theme for better performance:

• Limit Customizations: Avoid making too many custom changes, as they can add extra resources and slow down your website.
• Keep Your Theme Updated: Make sure your theme is always up to date to take advantage of latest version speed and performance enhancements.
• Use CSS or HTML: CSS or HTML are faster to render than JavaScript for basic functionality. Use internet tools such as Minifier.org or Toptal to condense your code.
• Change to a Static Hero Image: Replace sliders or carousels on your homepage with a static Hero image to speed up loading.
• Reduce JavaScript Usage: Using online minifiers, you can reduce and optimize JavaScript code while maintaining functionality.

5. Switch to System Fonts

Custom fonts can slow down your website since browsers must download them. If your site’s typography isn’t crucial, consider employing system fonts.

System fonts, also known as web-safe fonts, come pre-installed on the majority of devices, eliminating the need for further downloads and perhaps improving load times.

To Change Fonts in Shopify:

1. From the Shopify Admin dashboard, go to Online Store and then Themes.
2. Click Customize.
3. Go to Theme Settings and select Typography.
4. Click Change next to the text type, choose a system font, click Select, and then Save.

6. Fix Redirect Chains and Loops

Redirects are useful for guiding users from outdated content or merging duplicate pages, but poorly managed redirects can slow down your site. Redirect chains and loops are common issues:

• Redirect Chains: Occur when a redirect points to another redirect, creating a series of redirects that can slow down loading times.
• Redirect Loops: Happen when two or more URLs point to each other, causing an endless loop of redirects.

To Identify and Fix Redirect Chains and Loops:

1. Use Screaming Frog SEO Spider Tool:

• Download and install Screaming Frog (free for up to 500 URLs).
• Enter your website’s URL and click Start.
• After analysis, go to Response Codes and check the Redirection (3xx) tab.
• Export the report by going to Reports > Redirects > All Redirects to identify problematic chains and loops.

1. Update Redirects: Once identified, adjust the redirects to ensure they point to the correct final destination, eliminating unnecessary chains and loops.

7. Fix Broken Links

Broken links, often known as 404 errors, can degrade the user experience and slow down page load times. These frequently arise when pages are deleted without useful redirection.

To Fix Broken Links:

1. Identify Broken Links: Use tools like Google Search Console or the TinyIMG app to find pages linking to broken URLs.
2. Implement Redirects: Set up redirects from broken links to relevant, active pages to guide users correctly and maintain site functionality.

Enhance User Experience: By resolving broken links and setting up proper redirects, you’ll improve both the user experience and your store’s speed.

8. Reduce HTTP Request Count

HTTP requests are made every time a browser loads a resource from your server, such as images, scripts, or stylesheets. Reducing the number of HTTP requests can help improve your Shopify store’s speed.

Ways to Reduce HTTP Requests:

• Delete Unnecessary Plugins and Files: Remove any plugins or files that are not required for your store’s functionality.
• Optimize photos: Remove any extraneous photos and optimize those that are needed to reduce file size.
• Remove Non-Essential Buttons: Get rid of any buttons or interactive features that aren’t necessary for the user experience.
• Remove any videos: that do not bring considerable value to your site’s content.

9. Host Videos Externally

Hosting videos directly on your Shopify store can slow down your site since these videos are loaded from your server. Instead, host your videos externally on platforms like Vimeo or YouTube.

How to Embed External Videos in Shopify:

1. Upload the Video: First, upload your video to an external platform such as Vimeo or YouTube.
2. Generate Embed Code: Use a responsive embed code generator to create a code that ensures the video adjusts to various screen sizes. Copy this code.
3. Insert the Video:

• Go to Shopify Admin and navigate to the page where you want to add the video.
• Click on the Insert video button.
• Paste the copied embed code and click Insert video.

4. Save Changes: Ensure you save the changes to update your page with the embedded video.

Reduce HTTP requests and host videos externally to improve the loading time and overall performance of your Shopify store.

Best Tools to Check your Shopify Website Speed

PageSpeed Insights

Google PageSpeed Insights is a useful and free tool for assessing your website’s performance. It delivers a clear and actionable review of your website’s performance on both mobile and desktop platforms.

How to Use PageSpeed Insights:

1. Analyze Your Site:

• Enter the URL of the page you want to test into PageSpeed Insights.
• Click the Analyze button.

1. Review Core Web Vitals:

• The initial results will display Core Web Vitals metrics. Yellow or red indicators suggest areas that need improvement.

1. Check Performance Score:

• Scroll down to see the overall performance score. Aim for a score of 90 or higher for optimal performance.

2. Identify Issues:

• The report will include diagnostics that detail specific issues affecting your site’s performance.

Shopify Web Performance Report

You can also monitor your eCommerce site’s speed directly from Shopify:

1. Access the Report:

• Go to the Analytics tab in your Shopify Admin dashboard.
• Click on Reports and then select the Web Performance tab.

2. Understand the Metrics:

• Shopify’s report will include metrics on loading speed, interactivity, and visual stability, reflecting the latest Core Web Vitals standards.

3. Get Improvement Tips:

• The report provides actionable tips and resources to help enhance your site’s performance.

Final Thoughts

Regular usage of tools such as PageSpeed Insights and Shopify’s Web Performance report ensures that your site is optimized for performance and user experience, which can improve your SEO and customer happiness.

How Can a Slow Website Affect Your Shopify Store?

A slow website can have several detrimental effects on your Shopify store:

1. Poor User Experience:
Visitors expect websites to load quickly, and delays can frustrate them, often leading them to leave before engaging with your brand. According to Google Marketing Strategies research shows that a page load time increase from 1 to 3 seconds can raise bounce rates by 32%.

2. Negative Impact on SEO:
Page speed is a significant factor in Google’s SEO ranking criteria, as it aims to deliver the best experience for users. Consequently, performance issues combined with higher bounce rates can diminish your search engine ranking, making it harder for potential customers to find your site.

By focusing on how to speed up your Shopify website, you may improve customer satisfaction, lower bounce rates, and potentially increase your store’s search engine rankings and sales. Prioritizing performance on your Shopify website results in a more seamless shopping experience, encouraging visitors to remain longer and finish their orders.

Conclusion

Speeding up your Shopify site is a continuous activity, not a one-time task. You may substantially enhance the efficiency of your site by optimizing pictures, exploiting browser cache, limiting HTTP queries, and using Shopify’s built-in features. A quicker site provides a better user experience, increases conversion rates, and boosts SEO rankings. Implement these tactics immediately to guarantee that your Shopify store is fast, efficient, and ready to drive success.

If you want to speed up your Shopify website and improve its overall design, our professional Website Design and Website Speed Optimization services will assist. With our skills, we can design a visually appealing site that loads quickly, assuring a smooth experience for your customers. Don’t let a slow website hold back your business; call us immediately to find out how we can improve your online store!