Online shoppers expect every website they visit to load quickly, regardless of how much content the page has. Poor website performance is one of the main challenges that eCommerce merchants face today because consumers are no longer willing to wait more than a few seconds for a page to become usable. Magento (Adobe Commerce) merchants can often find themselves struggling with website optimization issues, and it can be hard to know where to begin. In this guide, we’ll share some of our best practices for immediately improving your website’s speed, as well as some long-term solutions to consider as your business grows.
Remove Unnecessary Extensions
Getting rid of extra clutter in your website’s code is highly recommended, especially if you have lots of custom modules or extensions. Just make sure you fully remove and delete the extension from your site instead of simply disabling it from your Magento (Adobe Commerce) store. If the extension is still part of your website’s code, it can impact performance even if its capabilities are disabled.
Reduce the Initial Server Response Time
Google’s PageSpeed Insights tool allows merchants to check several key metrics for their websites, including TTFB (time to the first byte). TTFB reveals the time needed by the server to deliver the first byte of data to a given device. If your TTFB metric is more than 600 milliseconds, your site is in dire need of a performance boost.
One way to improve this metric is to use a CDN (content delivery network) to meet the needs of your customers on a global scale. If you don’t have an international audience, you could also try to host your store on servers near your largest customer base, but this can be tricky if your business is rapidly expanding.
Use Varnish Caching
If your store has seen a big increase in visitors, your site may not be able to handle the additional traffic without enabling varnish caching. Varnish caching decreases the server load while also making sure that multiple pages can be loaded at once. This reduces the amount of downtime your customers will experience, and it will help your site perform faster overall.
To enable varnish cache, just follow these steps:
- Go to Stores > Configuration > Advanced.
- Click on “System.”
- Turn on the varnish cache.
- Save the configuration changes.
Enable Flat Catalog
Enabling the flat catalog makes it simple to merge all of your product categories and product data into one table, making your database easier to navigate and sort through. Changing the settings on your store is easy:
- Go to Stores > Configuration > Catalog.
- Beneath the Catalog section, change the “Use Flat catalog” product and “Use flat catalog” category to “Yes.”
- Save your changes.
- Navigate to /var/cache to clear the cache.
Try Hyvä
Willem Wigman created the front-end theme, Hyvä, to help Magento merchants optimize their websites for their customers. It’s specifically designed to be easy for merchants to use while improving the speed and performance of Magento 2 stores. Hyvä may be used as an alternative to headless PWAs for any Magento users who want a more streamlined experience for their customers, regardless of what device they’re using to browse the website.
Get a Performance Tune-Up
If your site isn’t as efficient as it used to be, it might be time for a performance check-up. There are thousands of potential causes for slow performance, so having an expert team uncover the real issues can save you from all kinds of future problems.
Wagento offers comprehensive performance tune-ups for businesses of all sizes, whether you’re a new merchant or an international seller. Every check-up includes:
- A detailed performance reports. Our development team will comb through your entire website to find anything that could be slowing down your eCommerce store.
- A step-by-step action plan. Once the issues are identified, our team will get to work on a customized action plan for your business. This will include any quick fixes that can immediately improve your website speed and a long-term plan to keep your business going strong.
- UX and UI recommendations. If your site is efficient but poorly designed, customers won’t be able to easily find what they’re looking for. We’re here to help you convert more visitors, build a loyal customer base, and make your site simple and fun to use.
- A personalized training session. The final part of Wagento’s performance tune-up is a tailored training session where you’ll learn everything you need to know about keeping your site in tip-top shape.
Right now, is the perfect time for some spring cleaning, so why not start with your business? Get your own performance tune-up by connecting with a Magento expert today!
