Improve Performance with Magento Code Audit

• What is a Magento Code Audit?

• Magento Code Audit Checklist

• 7 Signs Your Magento Store Needs a Code Audit

• Tools for Conducting a Magento Code Audit

• Best Practices to Maintain Code Quality in Magento

• FAQs

• Summary

What is a Magento Code Audit?

A Magento code audit thoroughly reviews your Magento store’s codebase and configurations. It helps identify performance and coding issues.

The audit helps detect outdated code and conflicts. These are between custom modules and third-party extensions. It enhances website speed and security. It also ensures compliance with Magento’s best practices.

Regular audits prevent technical issues and simplify future upgrades. It helps maintain a stable and high-performing website if your store faces security threats or frequent crashes.

Magento Code Audit Checklist

1. Performance Analysis

Performance enhances user experience and conversion rates. A slow Magento store can lead to higher bounce rates and lost revenue. The code audit assesses:

• Identifying slow-loading pages and issues.

• Checking for unoptimized database queries and excessive API calls.

• Evaluating server resource usage, including CPU and RAM.

• Analyzing caching strategies and CDN implementation for faster load times.

2. Security Assessment

Security is essential for a Magento store to protect customer data and prevent cyberattacks. The audit examines:

• Scanning for malware and unauthorized access points.

• Ensuring compliance with Magento’s best security practices.

• Checking for outdated third-party extensions that may pose security risks.

• Validating SSL certificates and proper encryption methods.

3. Code Quality Review

The quality of your Magento store’s codebase affects its maintainability and performance. The audit checks for:

• Identifying bad coding practices and unnecessary complexity.

• Ensuring adherence to Magento coding standards and PSR compliance.

• Reviewing core file modifications that may affect future updates.

• Checking for hardcoded database queries can slow down performance.

4. Extension & Module Evaluation

Magento’s flexibility relies on extensions. Poorly developed plugins can conflict with core functionalities and slow down the store. The audit examines:

• Identifying conflicts between third-party extensions and custom plugins.

• Ensuring proper Magento plugin structure and compatibility.

• Checking for excessive or unnecessary extensions that may slow down the store.

• Evaluating extension security to prevent vulnerabilities.

5. Scalability & Maintainability Check

A Magento store should be scalable and easy to maintain for future growth. The audit assesses:

• The codebase can support future business growth and traffic spikes.

• Areas for refactoring to improve efficiency and readability.

• Ease of Magento version upgrades and patches.

• Compliance with Magento’s latest framework updates.

7 Signs Your Magento Store Needs a Code Audit

1. Slow Website Performance

Speed is essential for e-commerce success. A slow-loading store frustrates customers, leading to higher bounce rates. The signs of performance issues include:

• Pages taking too long to load, above 3 seconds.

• Slow product searches and checkout processes.

• High server resource usage, including CPU and disk I/O.

• Performance fluctuations despite having a powerful hosting plan.

The possible causes of slow performance include:

• Inefficient database queries.

• Poorly coded third-party extensions.

• Lack of proper caching mechanisms, such as Redis and Varnish.

• Overloaded event observers and cron jobs.

2. Frequent Bugs & Crashes

A stable Magento store should function smoothly. If you're constantly experiencing:

• Broken pages, such as 404 errors.

• Checkout failures lead to abandoned carts.

• Random site crashes, especially during high-traffic periods.

• JavaScript errors are causing UI issues.

The possible causes of slow performance include:

• Poorly coded or conflicting third-party extensions.

• Hardcoded modifications to Magento core files.

• Custom themes with unoptimized JavaScript and CSS.

3. Security Vulnerabilities & Unauthorized Access Attempts

Magento is a prime target for cyberattacks. If you notice:

• Unauthorized admin logins or failed login attempts.

• Suspicious redirects or changes in website behavior.

• Your store is getting flagged by Google Safe Browsing.

• Outdated version of Magento or missing security patches.

The possible causes of security vulnerabilities include:

• Unpatched Magento core vulnerabilities.

• Outdated or insecure third-party extensions.

• Weak file permissions and unsecured API keys.

4. High Abandonment Rates & Poor User Experience

If customers frequently leave your site without purchasing, your store may have:

• Slow-loading pages affect user engagement.

• Glitches during checkout, causing frustration.

• Navigation issues due to broken menu structures or search functionality.

The possible causes of high abandonment rates include:

• Unoptimized front-end code, including JavaScript and CSS.

• Extensions conflicting with the checkout process.

• Poor theme structure, causing layout inconsistencies.

5. Checkout Errors & Payment Failures

Your checkout should be smooth. If you experience:

• Customers are unable to complete purchases due to errors.

• Multiple payment gateway failures or declined transactions.

• Cart and session data disappearing unexpectedly.

The possible causes of checkout errors include:

• Database inconsistencies affecting cart sessions.

• Extensions interfering with payment plugins.

• SSL certificate misconfigurations cause security warnings.

6. Extensions & Custom Code Conflicts

Magento stores often rely on third-party extensions for additional features. However:

• Extensions may conflict with each other, causing unexpected behavior.

• Custom code might override core Magento functionalities incorrectly.

• Extensions could be outdated or abandoned, leading to security risks.

The possible causes of the conflicts include:

• Poorly developed third-party plugins.

• Excessive use of event observers and plugins.

• Lack of version compatibility testing before installing new extensions.

7. Poor SEO Performance Due to Technical Issues

Magento sites should be SEO-friendly, but technical issues can impact rankings. Signs include:

• Duplicate content problems, including wrong canonical tags and indexation issues.

• Missing structured data.

• Broken internal links or incorrect redirects.

• Slow page speeds affecting Core Web Vitals.

The possible causes of poor SEO performance include:

• Misconfigured robots.txt or meta tags blocking search engines.

• Excessive AJAX calls slow page rendering.

• Poorly structured HTML and JavaScript files affecting crawlability.

Tools for Conducting a Magento Code Audit

Magento Code Audit Tools	Explanation
1. CloudPanel	Analyzes server performance and database load. Provides caching and optimization features for ecommerce stores. Helps fine-tune MySQL and web server settings.
2. Google PageSpeed Insights	Evaluates Core Web Vitals and overall page performance. Provides recommendations on JavaScript and image optimization.
3. GTmetrix	Measures page load speed and server response times. Identifies unoptimized assets, including images and scripts.
4. Magento Security Scan Tool	Scans for known security vulnerabilities and outdated patches. Checks for malware and XSS risks.
5. Sucuri SiteCheck	Detects blacklisting issues and website security flaws. Provides firewall protection recommendations.
6. PHP CodeSniffer with Magento Coding Standard	Check if custom Magento plugins follow Magento 2 coding standards. Detects deprecated PHP functions and bad coding practices.
7. SonarQube	Evaluates duplicate code and security flaws. Helps in code refactoring to improve maintainability.
8. MySQL Slow Query Log	Identifies long-running queries slowing down checkout and page load speed. Provides query execution plans for optimization.
9. Magento Database Repair Tool	Fixes corrupt database tables and inconsistencies. Ensures database schema integrity.
10. Magento Dependency Injection Profiler	Identifies extension conflicts and dependency issues. Helps in debugging plugin and observer performance.
11. n98-magerun2	Lists all installed Magento extensions and plugins. Detects disabled or unused plugins slowing down the store.
12. Google Lighthouse	Checks accessibility and frontend performance. Provides recommendations on lazy loading and render-blocking resources.
13. WebPageTest	Analyzes TTFB and page rendering speed. Shows waterfall breakdown of loading sequences.
14. Screaming Frog SEO Spider	Identifies broken links and missing meta tags. Analyzes redirect chains affecting SEO.
15. Ahrefs Site Audit	Checks for technical SEO issues like slow-loading pages and missing structured data. Provides recommendations to improve search engine rankings.

Best Practices to Maintain Code Quality in Magento

1. Follow Magento Coding Standards

Magento has a well-defined coding standard that ensures consistency across the codebase.

• Use PSR-1 and Magento 2 coding guidelines.

• Follow Magento’s coding style guide to structure PHP and XML files properly.

• Use PHP CodeSniffer with Magento coding standards to check code compliance.

2. Use Magento’s Built-in Framework & Design Patterns

Magento follows practices in software architecture. Developers should adhere to them.

• Use Dependency Injection instead of Object Manager.

• Follow Model-View-ViewModel architecture for separating logic.

• Avoid direct database queries and use Magento’s object-relational mapping.

• Implement Service Contracts APIs to interact with plugins.

3. Keep Magento Core Files Untouched

Modifying Magento core files can break upgrades and cause maintenance issues.

• Use plugins to override core functionality instead of modifying core files.

• Use preference or observers instead of changing core logic.

• Extend Magento themes and layouts using custom themes and child themes. You don’t need to modify the default ones.

4. Write Modular & Reusable Code

Avoid monolithic code by breaking functionalities into smaller, independent plugins.

• Each plugin should have a single responsibility.

• Avoid hardcoding configurations; use Magento’s Configurable System Settings.

• Keep controllers and blocks lightweight, and shift business logic to models.

5. Optimize Database Queries & Avoid Performance Bottlenecks

Poorly optimized queries slow down Magento performance.

• Use Magento’s ORM instead of raw SQL queries.

• Indexes and keys should be used to make database lookups faster.

• Avoid loading unnecessary data in loops; fetch only required attributes.

6. Use Magento Logging Properly

Magento provides structured logging mechanisms for debugging and monitoring.

• Use \Psr\Log\LoggerInterface for logging instead of var_dump() or print_r().

• Differentiate between debug and error logs.

• Ensure logs do not expose sensitive data.

7. Optimize Frontend Code for Performance

Magento’s front end should be optimized for speed and responsiveness.

• Minify and merge CSS and JavaScript in production mode.

• Enable Magento's built-in bundling and lazy loading.

• Use SVG and WebP images instead of large PNG/JPG files.

• Optimize Lighthouse and Core Web Vitals for better UX.

8. Use Composer for Dependency Management

Magento 2 relies on Composer to manage plugins and dependencies.

• Avoid manually adding libraries; use Composer to install dependencies.

• Ensure all dependencies are compatible with your Magento version.

• Keep composer.lock updated for consistency across environments.

FAQs

1. Why is a Magento Code Audit essential for Adobe Commerce stores?

A code audit is a technical audit that analyzes the code base of Adobe Commerce. Businesses must audit their Magento 2 store to identify whether the code meets best practices. A performance audit process conducted by Magento experts improves scalability.

2. How does a Magento Security Audit improve store performance?

A Magento security audit ensures compliance with the top 13 Magento security best practices. It protects the Magento admin panel and core files. It helps prevent critical security risks. This is done by analyzing the source code and applying the latest version of Magento updates.

3. What tools and techniques are used in a Magento Technical Audit?

The Magento technical audit utilizes a code sniffer and PHP code analyzers. Magento solution partners conduct a code audit report covering database queries. These tools help optimize your online store. They also ensure compliance with development standards.

4. How often should you conduct a Magento Code Audit?

Businesses should audit the code at least once a year or when updating to a new Magento version. A comprehensive Magento code review can help optimize your Magento store’s performance. Regular audits are a best practice for long-term success.

Summary

A Magento code audit systematically reviews a store’s codebase to identify performance issues and coding inefficiencies. This article will explore the checklist of code audit, including:

• Identifies slow-loading pages, unoptimized queries, and inefficient caching.

• Scans for malware, outdated extensions, and unauthorized access points.

• Detects bad coding practices, core file modifications, and compatibility issues.

• Evaluate extension conflicts, unnecessary modules, and future growth readiness.

Ensure your store runs at peak performance with a comprehensive code audit. Upgrade to managed Magento hosting for enhanced security.