What slows down my Magento shop?

Google is super proficient in meeting needs of internet users all over the world. One can see that in the great work Google made in improving the loading speed of a website, and not a speed of a search. It sounds paradoxical, but it is as it is–the faster the speed of the site is the longer a user would stay n it. Two major online retailers in the globe Amazon and Walmart were the first ones to experience the benefits of such an approach. Their profits raised 10% high per every second that was obviated. This sounds impressive. It doesn’t matter if you run a big business or a small online shop for the local community — speed is something that matters. Almost every second online shopper (40 percent, to be exact) closes the page if it wasn’t loaded within 3 seconds! It can be assumed, that this tendency will keep on growing. Therefore, any kind of business must set up the speed of a web page as a priority. 

It is highly recommended utilizing the opportunities that Magento gives to your site to its maximum. Be sure to check up the loading speed of your site and liquidate the factors that can slow it down. Below you can find the top 5 typical issues users meet, as well as recommendations of how to deal with them.

1. Misconfiguration of a server

Such things as misconfiguration of a server may cause the site to not work properly. Each of the following configurations has to be checked:

• PHP settings. There are many PHP versions and tweaks for it. Make sure to visit DevDocs at Magento if you set up your own server, or in case the host you are on is not accustomed to Magento.
• MySQL Query Cache is disabled. Your site might not show its full power production due to the default settings of your MySQL server. Make it certain that MySQL Query Cache is enabled.
• Shortage of Random-access memory. It has to be verified that there is enough free space in your RAM storage. Why is it so important? A system shift data to a disk when there is no space for it on RAM. As a consequence, a website would run significantly slower. This also applies to virtual servers. Even a composer update running on a small virtual server may cause the problem due to the lack of free space.
• Disk I/O is slow. A solid-state disk (SSD) is vital and it has to be provided by your host.

2. 3rd-Party Extensions/Apps are out of date.

Needless to say that the variety of apps and extensions help to make a website better and more attractive for an online shopper, implementing payment options, communication with buyers, content creating, and so on. Using 3-rd party extensions should not be a problem unless they are not out of date. Every extension that is used should not be left uncontrolled. Revision is something that has to be done periodically. Also, those extensions you do not use anymore have to be deleted. This way you can optimize the space and help the website work properly.

CRM, EPOS, and ERP integration might be a cause of site slowing down. Errors logs are a useful source of information for Apps developers. Do not hesitate to contact them, as it is up to them to point the problem and eliminate it. After such optimization is done, site speed will rise exceedingly.

GraphQL gives great help in speed optimization. What exactly benefits can it provide? It helps to deal with holdup cases caused by slow API connections with a help of queuing service. That is why Magento works steadily on broadening the scope of GraphQL.

Missing just one point can lead to a long raw of them, every of which leads to slowing down your website. Underestimating the business can play a bad trick. A business owner has to be aware of the site’s capacity when it is loaded to the limit. For this purpose, the estimated traffic of a site should be multiplied by 10 and then checked. NewRelic or similar tools detect Achilles’ heels in the code. In the context of speed optimization, every specific problem should be eliminated.

3. Cashing is being disabled

For fast site running cashing has to be always enabled. In case when it was disabled it is better to fix it as soon as possible because that is where speed would become a pain point for the customers. Who can set the cashing off? It can be done by a Magento developer by accident or any other person who has access to the Admin capabilities. The good news is that to enable cashing back is not a problem and usually it can be done without outside help in a couple of minutes. Below you will find a manual for Cashing enabling:

1. First of all, login into Magento Back-end
2. Navigate to System
3. Select Cash Management there
4. Check for the cash types to be enabled. It will have a label saying that and will be colored into green color.

Consider utilizing the Varnish cache application if your site is running on Magento2.

4. A front-end Content is not optimized

Let’s imagine all the needed checks of the back-end are done, but site speed conduct is not perfect yet. The cause of a big problem can be such a simple thing is not optimized images and themes of the front-end content. Highly customized themes, as well as the use of not suitable size images, can entail glitches. Images have to be compressed and optimized for better work of the whole system. In addition to this, Content Delivery Network has a positive effect on a website’s loading speed. That is why implementing it is unquestionable. To resolve those front-end issues, which hold back your site from being on its maximum speed do the pay attention to the recommendations given below:

–Theme changing. For making website speed remarkably higher change the theme of your shop’s front-end. Use a fast and lightweight Magento theme. 

– Images optimization. A bride variety of pictures you may need to show up any product and even underline its keynotes can be found at eCommerce stores. Using a lot of images on a website will cause no problems for its speed provided all of them are optimized properly. Here are the main steps you have to follow to ensure that site images do not affect a website loading speed: 

• Start from the easiest and the most obvious thing – image compressing.
• Online Store’s logo has to be in PNG or SVG format only. 
• All photos of the products have to be in JPEG format only.

5. A Content Delivery Network is vital for site speed. 

A Content Delivery Network (CDN) helps to keep the speed higher since it takes the load off our server. Also, a CDN posses many static assets on servers at its disposal. Images and scripts content automatically loads from those servers, which are close to the customers of your website. These two factors have a direct impact on a website running fast. That is why using a CDN will bring your business benefits, by meeting your customers’ speed-load expectations.

6. Use of an insufficient hosting

Suppose, you have checked all the clauses mentioned in this article and your site is still loading not fast enough. What can be the reason for it? Your hosting partner can be the issue. It is the most common reason for slow Magento websites. To address the problem one can upgrade the host capabilities. Another option is to change a host partner if you do not wish to wait for the speed problem to occur occasionally. It is forcefully suggested cooperating with the hosting, that has abundant assets for a growing website.  

To sum up, to keep your hand on the pulse with a website speed you have to be aware of the factors that have an impact on it. They have to be checked and coped with, as the loading speed instantly affects profits. To make this work easier for a business owner Wagento introduces a special Commerce Boost Package. With its help retailers of all sizes can come in for a personalized review efficiency of their sites, to see the weaknesses of their online shops, receive directions for site optimization, and much more. You can make your eCommerce site better starting today! Learn more about the offer by clicking on the link…