Nowadays, with the advent of various technological advancements, the online platform has become very popular to the common people. Especially e-commerce companies like Shopify, Amazon, and others have become indispensable in our lives. So today, let us discuss Shopify speed optimization as it is a sure way to ensure optimal performance of your store. Moreover, if you have your own ecommerce store, you would want to know more about it.
Therefore, in this guide, we compiled some actionable tips on how to speed up the Shopify website. So let us share with you some relevant tips that will help you a lot in your e-commerce business. Stay with us until the end as we discuss some of the essential aspects of Shopify speed optimization. These tips will also help you speed up your store. Let us have a look!
What are The Shopify Speed Factors That You Cannot Control?
Since you are reading this article, it is evident that you are curious to know more about this topic. Well, you are at the right place as we will share some interesting tips to help you speed up your store. First, let us discuss those Shopify site speed factors that you cannot control.
- One of the major aspects that you need to keep in mind is your customer’s device and internet connection. However, that sadly remains beyond your control.
- Another aspect that determines the speed of Shopify is CDN or Content Delivery Network. Since Shopify uses Fastly powered CDN, it becomes easier for you. So you can also check the status of Shopify’s CDN on the Fastly status page. Quite simple, right?
- Also, the local and server-side cache is one of the points that you need to keep in mind.
Here you might have a question on your mind as to whether these aspects are downsides of Shopify or not. Well, other than seeing them as downsides, consider them as three more reasons for which you can invest effort into Shopify store optimization tasks. Now let us find out more about how you can speed up your Shopify store so that you can do your work more seamlessly.
Also read: Top Reasons To Hire A Dedicated Shopify Expert for Your Business
Tips That You Can Follow To Speed Up Your Shopify Store
So previously, we looked over the points where we have very little control; however, if we are to optimize the speed, we need to focus on the areas within our reach. Therefore, here we have summed up a rundown list of tips that will help you speed up your Shopify site. Let us have a glance:
1. Select A Lightweight & Swift Theme
Are you in doubt about what to prioritize when choosing a Shopify theme? Well, at that time, you can prioritize your website speed. In fact, to speed it up, you have to choose a Shopify theme that is highly optimized. However, many Shopify themes have codes, CSS files, or Javascript. So you have to work accordingly.
2. Compress Images
Another easy tip that we can give you is to compress the images. As you know, good quality images are essential to do justice to your products. Therefore, the conversion rates won’t be shiny if the images are slowing down your website.
So how can you ensure that your customers are looking at the best presentation of your products without compromising on the website speed? Let us share with you the details. Well, Shopify solves your problem by serving WebP images to all their customers. However, you can always opt for image compression to optimize the speed.
3. Host Videos Externally
If you want an increase in sales, you would indeed like to showcase your product from every angle, right? Well, in that case, you will have a fair share of videos on your Shopify store. However, putting every single video directly on your website is unsuitable for your store speed. This is because the customers are loading videos directly from your website server, so they might face problems.
So what you can do is host all your Shopify videos externally. You can also opt for alternative video hosting platforms like YouTube, Vimeo, and others. This will help you enjoy a dynamic Shopify store that works incredibly fast.
4. Make Use of Google Tag Manager
This is another factor that we often neglect. You must know that tags get added to your Shopify store whenever you install a new app. So these tags send data any time you perform an action like clicking a link. In fact, the tags also add up and slow down your store. Therefore, you can optimize the process by migrating the tracking code to Google Tag Manager. Even if you are using Google Tag Manager for the first time, you won’t face any problems and will become comfortable with it in no time.
5. Use Shopify Apps Effectively
Often you might not know about this aspect if you are using Shopify for the first time that you need a Shopify app to optimize SEO. At the same time, you will need it to implement push notifications, set up email marketing campaigns, manage inventory, run discounts, view reports, etc.
However, ensure that you do not fall into the trap of installing an app for every aspect of the store. So in such cases, you can install Shopify multifunctional apps. These apps will have different functions that will solve your problems or improve store performance. So you can indeed make use of them.
6. Fix Redirects & Broken Links
Do you know that a big part of any shopper’s journey is browsing through your product pages before making a choice? So to attract your customers, you must make sure that they like your entire store. Therefore, you have to make it smooth and exciting.
You must know that if there are broken links, redirects, and pop-ups, no one will like to browse through your store. So you have to fix those issues by removing and replacing them with a direct link to a live page. It will indeed do wonders to your store speed.
Ending Note
So as we conclude, we can say that Shopify is presently one of the top e-commerce companies that customers opt for while shopping. Therefore, if you own a store there, you have to make sure that your store looks attractive and exciting to the customer. You can follow the above tips to give your customers a smooth navigating experience in your store.
Also read: What is Dropshipping? Pros & Cons of Dropshipping
