Fast page loading is so, so important.

[Trapbarn]

I am so chuffed since I ditched the Avada theme. I had tried to improve it with a plugin AC Pro and whilst that improved page speed quite a bit (but not enough) I ditched Avada. It has so much in-built bloat that page load times were so slow. Instead went for Storefront which is free and is designed by the team at Woocommerce.

If you have a straight forward e-commerce site with products and variations, I would recommend going with Storefront . Since I changed, the ratings on PSI, GTMetrix the loading speeds have improved tremendously and my order intake has also improved substantially.

According to HubSpot " 70% of consumers admitted that page speed impacts their willingness to buy from an online retailer. Furthermore, of all the people surveyed, half said they’d be willing to give up animation and video for faster load times."

 

[fisicx]

Is it load speed that has improved conversions or changing the theme?

 

[Shopclicks]

That was a smart move. Page Speed Insights showing remarkable improvement.

 

[Trapbarn]

Here's the GTMetrix comparison with my two main competitors. We are the one in the middle.

 

[Trapbarn]

Is it load speed that has improved conversions or changing the theme?

Well, we sell simple products to people who are not impressed with fancy graphics and gizmos. They are mostly rural folk who want a no-frills web site that it easy and intuitive to use. So I guess it's the overall package - fast and lean without any distractions.

 

[fisicx]

That actually applies to most sites. In general the simpler the better. There are a few exceptions but they are rare.

 

[Shopclicks]

Here's the GTMetrix comparison with my two main competitors. We are the one in the middle.

This is all great but you really shouldn't be looking at GTMetrix. PSI gives a far more accurate picture of what's going on and how your Core Web Vitals scores are going.

Give it up to 28 days and if your pages are getting enough traffic, you'll start passing CWV. This will help your ranking.

However, if you want to compete in Google's search results, there's a lot more you could be doing.

 

[Trapbarn]

On PSI Mobile I am getting the h=following. The only negatives from PSI is " Avoiding Chaining Critical Requests".
I would welcome offers from an expert to fix this for me.

​

 

[Shopclicks]

On PSI Mobile I am getting the h=following. The only negatives from PSI is " Avoiding Chaining Critical Requests".
I would welcome offers from an expert to fix this for me.

Forget that. You have nothing to be concerned about. You're not failing Core Web Vitals because of it. It takes up to 28 days for Google to gather enough data for your CWV's to pass (If you have the traffic)

You are far better off looking at your on-page headings and meta.

People kill for less than 96

 

[thetiger2015]

I really wouldn't worry about chasing a perfect 100 score - the only way to achieve that is probably to have a blank web page with just a word in the middle and nothing else.

If you're getting 90+ scores then its probably time to focus on other areas of your business/marketing and not spend too much on trying to get higher scores just to please Google imo.

 

[fisicx]

@Trapbarn - stop worrying about Google. Focus on the things that make you money.

 

[Trapbarn]

Google is the only factor outside my control that influences how much money I make from the site.

The purpose of my post was to extol the virtues of a free theme that works really well with Woocommerce. With these two plugins one can built a most effective e-commerce site without spending a penny. Plus there is a huge community out there that has designed plugins and code snippets for free.

Previously I had used Avada and Astra. The first has colossal bloat and the free version of the latter is just bait to entice you into the pro version.

 

[antropy]

I am so chuffed since I ditched the Avada theme.

If you want a really fast ecommerce site ditch WooCommerce and use OpenCart.

Paul.

 

[Shopclicks]

If you want a really fast ecommerce site ditch WooCommerce and use OpenCart.

You think that's slow?

 

[antropy]

You think that's slow?

What's slow?

Paul.

 

[fisicx]

Google is the only factor outside my control that influences how much money I make from the site.

Yes, but page speed is a tiny factor. Sometimes a slower site can get more conversions if the UX is better.

 

[Shopclicks]

What's slow?

The OP's Woocommerce integration.

 

[antropy]

The OP's Woocommerce integration.

Well the OP says their theme was before. From our experience WooCommerce is pretty slow.

Paul.

 

[thetiger2015]

Well the OP says their theme was before. From our experience WooCommerce is pretty slow.

Paul.

The OP isn't going to get a better score though, they've almost maxed out what you can achieve in PSI. OpenCart would probably achieve the same results, a score over 90%, with optimisation etc.

I just wonder if the OP is focusing way too much on speed and less on UX/CRO which, even with a slower website, can yield better results.

I don't know the industry. Maybe not. Maybe speed is the crucial factor here, I just think it's important to be improving across multiple metrics and gradually enhancing things like product images, page descriptions, search position, conversion rates etc. The score achieved here is already far beyond many others who use PSI to improve their website.

 

[manojspsmobile]

I think open cart is best platform for website speed

 

[antropy]

I think open cart is best platform for website speed

Well it's one of the best.

Paul.

 

[alesoftstore]

Is it load speed that has improved conversions or changing the theme?

Load speed is very important. I use shopify tools for my Software Shop and my website speed is increased for 40%

 

[fisicx]

Load speed is very important. I use shopify tools for my Software Shop and my website speed is increased for 40%

What’s more important is getting content on the page as soon as possible. Overall page speed is less important. If you want a fast site don’t use shopify.

 

[alesoftstore]

What’s more important is getting content on the page as soon as possible. Overall page speed is less important. If you want a fast site don’t use shopify.

Everything is important, not just content. Content + SEO + Speed

 

[Fagin2021]

Yes, but page speed is a tiny factor. Sometimes a slower site can get more conversions if the UX is better.

Google has retired Page Speed, Page Experience, Secure Site and Mobile Friendly from their ranking systems. That doesn't mean they're not important - as you say, UX is critical- just that they won't affect rankings.

 

[Shopclicks]

Google has retired Page Speed, Page Experience, Secure Site and Mobile Friendly from their ranking systems.

Source?

 

[Shopclicks]

That doesn't mean they're not important - as you say, UX is critical- just that they won't affect rankings.

You really should get the whole story if you're going to post a blanket statement.

28/04/2023

"Our guidance on page experience is here, as we shared last week along with our blog post: https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/page-experience

It does *not* say page experience is somehow "retired" or that people should ignore things like Core Web Vitals or being mobile-friendly. The opposite. It says if you want to be successful with the core ranking systems of Google Search, consider these and other aspects of page experience."

 

[Fagin2021]

You really should get the whole story if you're going to post a blanket statement.

28/04/2023

"Our guidance on page experience is here, as we shared last week along with our blog post: https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/page-experience

It does *not* say page experience is somehow "retired" or that people should ignore things like Core Web Vitals or being mobile-friendly. The opposite. It says if you want to be successful with the core ranking systems of Google Search, consider these and other aspects of page experience."

You really should read the post if you're going to mis-interpret it.

Google Drops Mobile-Friendly, Page Speed, Secure Sites & Page Experience As Retired Ranking Systems

Google has updated its documented ranking systems page over here to remove four ranking systems from the list, including removing three ranking systems. Google has removed the page experience system

www.seroundtable.com

 

[Shopclicks]

You really should read the post if you're going to mis-interpret it.

They qualified its meaning in the quote from the 28th which is what I posted.

Page Speed, Page Experience, Secure Site and Mobile Friendly are still ranking factors.

 

[DontAsk]

What’s more important is getting content on the page as soon as possible. Overall page speed is less important. If you want a fast site don’t use shopify.

What really p****s me off is when some content loads and then starts jumping around as the remaining content follows. Usually just as I am clicking a link, and I end up clicking a different link.

I would rather wait for the *whole* page to be rendered, and stable.

 

[fisicx]

What really p****s me off is when some content loads and then starts jumping around as the remaining content follows. Usually just as I am clicking a link, and I end up clicking a different link.

I would rather wait for the *whole* page to be rendered, and stable.

Adverts are often to blame for this. Adblockers reduces the jumping about a lot.