How to Speed Up Magento 2 Website
Magento 2 speed optimization has a significant impact on your ecommerce business. Customers want fast-loading sites for a smooth shopping experience.
Speed matters in terms of user experience & allow for better conversion rates. An Errisson report shows that site delays are mentally stressful for users.
The ecommerce site speed is essential to boost business revenue. It helps keep the customers engaged on the site & reduces bounce rates.
Site speed is also a ranking factor for Google Search. It also has a direct impact on your revenue. Users are more likely to abandon carts on a slow-loading site.
A COOK study showed a 7% increase in conversion rates. It was by improving page load time by less than a second.
This article shows ways to improve Magento 2 site speed.
12 Effective Ways to Speed Up Magento 2 Website
1. Varnish Caching
Varnish is an HTTP accelerator for managing content-heavy dynamic sites.
It reduces the time to process the server requests. You save network bandwidth consumption. It also decreases server load as Varnish processes the requests. That way, the server does not have to process the same request again.
Varnish caching improves the overall Magento 2 site speed. Magento offers native Varnish support for full-page caching.
To configure it, from the admin panel, go to Stores > Configuration > Advanced > System
In this section, you can set time-outs for the page cache. Add access lists for IP addresses.
2. Minify CSS and JS Files
Minifying is the process of removing any unnecessary data from the code. It can be characters or white spaces. The process does not affect the functionality of the general code.
Minifying the CSS & JS files helps make the Magento site very light. That way, it helps boost site performance. You get faster response times as the server processes smaller size files.
To configure Minifying in Magento go to Stores > Configuration > Advanced > Developer > JavaScript Settings
You can also merge the JS & CSS files to optimize speed. Merging & minifying code is also parsed & compiled faster. You can minify Javascript files for faster loading. The page is rendered more quickly & you get better performance.
3. Image Optimization
A slow-loading product image affects the user’s shopping experience. Optimizing the images will load them faster on the Magento site.
There are many ways you can compress & optimize images. Some of the primary methods include:
- Using the new WebP file format for product images
- Resize & compress the images
- Enable Fastly image optimization
- Use a lightweight theme that fits your brand
- Get extensions to optimize the images
- Use vector images to improve image quality
4. Set Up a CDN
A Content Delivery Network (CDN) is a network of geographically distributed servers worldwide.
It reduces the distance between the client’s browser & the primary server and useful for Magento 2 speed optimization. As a result, you get high availability & performance.
The content files are stored in CDN servers. If a request is made, it is sent to the CDN first, which servers the request.
That way, the content is delivered faster to the client’s browser. It allows to improve Magento site speed & keep it consistent across the target regions.
Magento supports CDNs, but you have to configure it. Here’s a guide to Configure CDN in Magento 2
5. Choose Fastest Magento Hosting
Magento hosting is one of the essential aspects of Magento 2 speed optimization. Inexpensive and unmanaged hosting will lead to slow performance.
Shared hosting plans are not a good option if you want fast-loading sites.
Opt for managed Magento hosting with a secure infrastructure. The right hosting plan should fit your scaling & speed requirements.
Ensure that you check the technology stack & SLAs of the hosting company.
A reliable Magento hosting provider will offer high performance & uptime.
6. Clean Magento Logs and Database
Magento stores a large number of database logs to keep your site running. The logs have to be cleaned, or else they take up space & the database grows heavy. It can slow down the Magento performance.
Cleaning the logs helps improve database performance. It reduces the site latency & you get a responsive site. Get a backup so you do not lose data before cleaning the logs. You can also use Flat Catalog Category and Flat Catalog Product is a great solution for optimizing Magento store. This will help to reduce queries to database a lot.
7. Check the Third-Party Extensions
Custom third-party extensions can cause performance issues in your store. Ensure that the plugins are from a credible source, such as the Magento Marketplace.
Too many plugins can also cause functional delays. Remove unnecessary plugins from your store.
You can turn off the modules one by one and also clear their cache. Check if the disabled modules affect site performance. If you see any performance difference, contact the extension provider to resolve the issue.
Some primary ways to analyze Magento 2 plugins include:
- Audit the extensions to find bottlenecks
- Update the extensions to the latest versions
- Resolve plugin issues quickly after detection
- Find a replacement for a faulty extension
- Check the versions of Magento compatible with the plugin.
8. Avoid JavaScript Bundling
JavaScript bundling is an optimization technique for Magento 2 stores. It helps to reduce the number of HTTP server requests for JavaScript files.
However, the bundling may have a reverse effect on Magento Performance. Bundled JS file is a heavy file that will take longer to load.
You can disable JS bundling at Stores > Configuration > Advanced > Developer > Javascript Settings.
Under the section, click on Enable and select the No option.
9. Site Audit to Identify Bottlenecks
Site audit identifies the issues that are causing slow site speed. The developer team should perform a Magento custom code audit.
The Magento code experts have to review the code. Along with that, they also check the third-party extension code.
It helps to check the overall Magento code quality. You can find mistakes that were left during the development stage.
Some other components of Magento site audits include:
- Magento performance audit
- JavaScript/CSS/HTML Review
- Database audit
- UX/UI review
Magento site & code audits will identify performance bottlenecks. These can be lazy page elements and lazy page loading. You should also check the number of server requests as well as the page weight.
10. Optimize Time To First Byte
Time to First Byte (TTFB) is a speed metric to check the response time.
TTFB shows the milliseconds it takes for your server to respond to the browser request. It is used to analyze the site speed and also helps in SERPs.
Calculate the TTFB of your Magento site with performance testing. Profiling can help to analyze the slow-loading queries.
Some of the ways to optimize TTFB includes:
- Browser caching
- Optimize server to match incoming traffic
- Remove unnecessary extensions
- Reduce web page sizes
- Image compression
Auditing the TTFB is essential to speed up Magento 2
11. Magento Updates
Magento releases updates to optimize the platform’s security & functions. Ensure that you update the Magento store regularly to avoid performance issues.,
Magento 1 version has come to an End of life cycle. That means you will not get software updates for the old version.
It is essential to update your store to the latest Magento 2 version. The latest version offers high site performance.
It includes support for the latest tech stack such as PHP 7x, 8x, and MySQL 8x. You require the latest technology for better site speed.
The new version also offers quality-check for extensions. It reduces the risk of integrating extensions that may slow your site.
12. Optimize the PHP Code
Unoptimized code can make the site heavy & lead to slow speed. One of the ways to boost Magento site performance is to optimize the PHP code.
Code optimization is essential on a complex ecommerce platform like Magento. It allows your server to handle more requests per second.
You can use** PHP accelerators** that cache the scripts for fast loading. Along with that, you can disable the PHP modules that are not required for your site.
There are many PHP code optimization techniques. You can use native PHP functions & profiling for performance tuning. Profiling will identify the slow code that is causing speed issues.
Magento open source can become code-heavy, with layers of custom functions. Profiling will help review the code quickly to find the bugs.
Additional ways for Magento 2 speed optimization
- Turn production mode on for fast performance
- Optimize the site speed for mobile devices
- Performance best practices from Magento’s official docs.
- Configure Redis caching along with Varnish
- Enable gzip compression for fast page loading
- Enable flat catalog for a large number of products
- Disable features & modules you do not use
- Monitor site speed with regular testing
Conclusion
Magento 2 speed optimization will give you higher search engine rankings and more potential customers. High-performing sites can effectively engage & retain customers. It is essential to monitor & optimize Magento performance to get a fast site.
In this article, we covered the effective ways for Magento 2 speed optimization. However, it does require technical expertise & regular maintenance. Opt for Magento-level experts that will help optimize your store speed.
To learn more about Magento & to optimize its speed, check out the MGT Commerce blog.
