Shopify is an excellent platform for building an online store, but it’s not immune to performance issues. One common problem that Shopify store owners face is slow page loading times. Slow loading times can frustrate potential customers, hurt your search engine rankings, and reduce your conversion rates. However, there are steps you can take to improve your Shopify page speed, and one of the most effective is to move render-blocking resources.
What are render-blocking resources?
When a browser loads a web page, it has to download all the resources required to display that page, such as HTML, CSS, JavaScript, images, and fonts. Some of these resources are “render-blocking,” which means that they prevent the browser from rendering the page until they’re downloaded and processed. This can slow down the page’s loading time, especially if there are many render-blocking resources.
Why are render-blocking resources a problem?
Render-blocking resources can cause your page to load slowly because they prevent the browser from displaying the content until they’re loaded. This can be particularly problematic for mobile users, who may have slower internet connections. Slow page loading times can result in a poor user experience, which can hurt your search engine rankings and reduce your conversion rates.
How can you identify render-blocking resources on your Shopify store?
There are several tools you can use to identify render-blocking resources on your Shopify store. One of the most popular is Google’s PageSpeed Insights, which analyzes your page and provides suggestions for improving its performance. You can also use the Developer Tools built into most browsers to identify render-blocking resources. These tools allow you to see the resources that are blocking rendering and the order in which they’re loaded.
How can you move render-blocking resources?
There are several techniques you can use to move render-blocking resources and improve your Shopify page speed:
- Use async and defer attributes: You can use the async and defer attributes in your script tags to tell the browser when to load the JavaScript. Async loads the script asynchronously, which means it doesn’t block rendering, but it may not execute in the order it appears in the HTML. Defer loads the script after the HTML is parsed, but before the DOM is fully loaded, so it can improve page load times without affecting the order of execution.
- Inline critical CSS: Inline critical CSS can improve your page speed by reducing the number of external requests required to load the page. Critical CSS is the CSS required to render above-the-fold content, and by inlining it, you can ensure that it’s loaded before any other CSS, improving your page speed.
- Load JavaScript at the bottom of the page: By moving JavaScript to the bottom of the page, you can ensure that it’s loaded after the HTML and CSS, which can improve page speed.
- Use lazy loading: Lazy loading is a technique that defers the loading of images and other resources until they’re needed. This can improve page speed by reducing the number of resources that are loaded initially.
- Use a content delivery network (CDN): A CDN can improve your page speed by distributing your content across multiple servers around the world, which can reduce the distance that content has to travel to reach the user.
In conclusion, moving render-blocking resources can significantly improve your Shopify page speed and provide a better user experience for your customers. By identifying and moving render-blocking resources, you can improve your page load times, which can lead to higher search engine rankings and conversion rates. Remember to test your changes regularly to ensure they’re having the desired effect, and consult with a Shopify expert if you’re unsure about implementing these changes on your own.