How to test your Magento 2 website loading speed?
How to test Magento 2 speed?
You can test Magento 2 speed using one of the 3rd-party services like Pingdom, GTmetrix, Webpagetest, or Google PageSpeed Insights. Below, we’ll explain the features of every tool, what parameters they measure, and their pros and cons.
Store loading speed is not only an important ranking factor, but it also the influencer on users’ behavior and, as a result, on your sales. According to statistical data, you will lose around 50% of visitors if your website loads more than 3 seconds. Moreover, even a one-second delay in store loading reduces conversion by 7%.
There are several tools that you can use to test your Magento 2 speed. Let’s consider the commonest.
Helpful hint: Testing your Magento 2 speed can help you find problem places and get the list with performance recommendations. However, to solve the problems, you need to have excellent technical skills because the troubles often relate to JS, CSS, and HTML code. To solve these issues without the help of developers, use Google Page Speed Optimizer. This module minifies and merges JS and CSS files that reduce the number of server requests. The plugin decreases the image size and resizes s pictures for different devices without affecting the quality. Also, you can enable lazy loading to browse JS files by demand.
Read more tips on how you can make Magento 2 faster.
Pingdom
This service is especially useful for international sorters because it allows you to test your website from 7 different locations:
- Aisa, Japan, Tokyo
- Europe, Germany, Frankfurt
- Europe, UK, London
- North America, USA, Washington DC
- North America, USA, San Francisco
- Pacific, Australia, Sydney
- South America, Brazil, São Paulo
Enter your website URL, select the needed region from the dropdown, and click on the start test button.
Few seconds or minutes later, you will get results and performance recommendations:
GTmetrix
For free, this tool allows you to test URLs only with default settings: Testing in Vancouver, Canada by using Chrome (Desktop) with an Unthrottled Connection.
On the result page, you will get the score and recommendations on how to improve your speed:
Webpagetest
Webpagetest has much more complicated settings that you can use to get the most accurate results. There you can choose not only the location but also the device and browser for testing. Moreover, it has multiple advanced settings for real pros:
After you click on the Start Test button, it runs 3 tests and shows you a detailed report. Navigate through tabs to see all statistics:
Google PageSpeed Insights
And last but not least is Google PageSpeed Insights. This is the most popular tool because it tests your Magento 2 website according to Google requirements and gives the most valuable advice. For mobile tests, this tool simulates a page loading on a Moto G4 on a mobile network.
How improve the page speed of my Magento 2 website according to PageSpeed Insights?
To improve the page speed of your Magento 2 website according to PageSpeed Insights, you can optimize images, enable full page caching, use a Content Delivery Network (CDN), minify CSS and JavaScript files, enable gzip compression, and leverage browser caching. Additionally, consider using a lightweight theme, optimizing database queries, and using lazy loading for images. Regularly reviewing and optimizing your website's performance can help ensure a faster and smoother user experience.