#9 Shopify Speed Secrets: How I Fixed My Slow Store and Skyrocketed My SEO
I thought my store looked great—until I ran a mobile test.
👎 27 seconds to load. 👎 81% mobile bounce rate. 👎 My best product page buried in Google.
I almost gave up. Then I learned one truth:
Site speed is SEO.
It’s also user experience. And conversions. And sanity.
So I rebuilt Teka Originals’ performance the same way I rebuilt the content: simple, fast, and clean.
Here’s exactly what I did to go from laggy to lightning.
Step 1: Run a Full Audit
I started with:
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Google PageSpeed Insights (https://pagespeed.web.dev)
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GTmetrix (https://gtmetrix.com)
Key issues:
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Massive image files
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Unused scripts from apps
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Fonts slowing down LCP (Largest Contentful Paint)
Step 2: Compress & Replace Images
What I did:
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Replaced PNGs with WebP or compressed JPGs
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Used TinyPNG + Shopify’s built-in CDN
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Updated all hero images to under 300KB
Result: faster loading + better mobile rendering.
Step 3: Trim the Fat (Apps & Code)
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Deleted unused Shopify apps
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Removed 3rd party widgets not adding conversions
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Worked with ChatGPT to rewrite any liquid code I couldn’t understand
Prompt I used:
"Optimize this Shopify theme code for speed. Remove render-blocking JS and unused CSS."
Step 4: Fix Fonts & Preload Critical Assets
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Used system fonts instead of Google Fonts
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Preloaded homepage banner and hero image
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Removed animation libraries from mobile
Step 5: Prioritize Core Web Vitals
Focused on:
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LCP (Largest Contentful Paint)
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CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift)
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TBT (Total Blocking Time)
Used Shopify Analyzer (https://analyze.speedboostr.com)
Step 6: AI for Speed Monitoring
I set up:
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ChatGPT-based weekly performance scan script
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Automated alerts for drops in speed
Also asked:
"What’s the current LCP and how can I reduce it for mobile shoppers?"
GPT helped surface obscure fixes, like deferring newsletter popups until scroll.
Results in 3 Days:
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PageSpeed score: 42 → 87 (mobile)
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Bounce rate: -31%
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Organic clicks: +22%
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Conversion rate: +1.6%
Bonus Tools I Used:
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Shopify Theme Inspector for Chrome
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TinyIMG SEO & Speed app (Shopify App Store)
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Cloudflare for free CDN + image compression
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Remove.bg to shrink transparent PNGs
Best Practices Going Forward:
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Run speed checks monthly
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Compress all new product images
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Only add apps you absolutely use
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Avoid popups loading on homepage
Final Thoughts: Speed is Free Money
Every second you shave off gives you:
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Higher rankings
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More sales
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Happier shoppers
You don’t need to hire a developer. Just care enough to fix it.
And with ChatGPT, most of the work can be written, scanned, or simplified by AI.
Slow site? Fix it fast.
— Stephen Matthews, Teka Originals
Part #6 Retargeting on Shopify: The Ad Strategy That Tripled My Conversions
Part #7 The Shopify Shortcut: How UGC Turned My Content Into a Conversion Machine