Out of the box Magento is not the fastest ecommerce store out there. Magento 2 is even built expressly with the use of a Full Page Cache in mind to take load off the application. A slow Magento store can lead to frustrated customers, higher bounce rates, and lost sales. Fortunately, there are many ways to accelerate your Magento store and provide a better user experience. Here are some useful tips to get you started.
1. Caching is King
Caching is the most effective way to speed up a Magento store. By storing pre-generated versions of your pages, you can dramatically reduce server response times.
- Full Page Caching (FPC): Magento comes with built-in FPC, but it can be significantly enhanced. Using a powerful caching solution like Varnish is highly recommended. Magento 2 has native support for Varnish, which acts as a web application accelerator.
- Redis: Use Redis for session and cache storage. It's an in-memory data structure store that can significantly speed up backend operations by reducing database load.
- CDN Caching: For the ultimate performance boost, use a Content Delivery Network (CDN) like Peakhour to cache your dynamic pages at the edge. This serves content from a server closest to the user, drastically reducing latency. Peakhour's Magento 1 and Magento 2 plugins make this easy to set up.
2. Optimise Your Images
Images often make up the bulk of a page's weight. Optimising them is crucial for faster load times.
- Compression: Use image compression tools to reduce file sizes without a noticeable loss in quality.
- Next-Gen Formats: Serve images in modern formats like WebP or AVIF, which offer superior compression. A CDN can often handle this conversion automatically.
- Lazy Loading: Implement lazy loading for images that are "below the fold" (not immediately visible). This ensures they only load when they are about to enter the user's viewport.
3. Minify and Merge CSS/JavaScript
Magento has built-in features to merge and minify CSS and JavaScript files.
- Minification: Removes unnecessary characters (like whitespace and comments) from code to reduce file size.
- Merging: Combines multiple CSS or JavaScript files into a single file to reduce the number of HTTP requests.
Note: Always test thoroughly after enabling merging, as it can sometimes cause issues with certain themes or extensions.
4. Keep Your Environment Updated
The environment your Magento store runs in plays a significant role in its performance.
- Latest PHP Version: Always use the latest stable version of PHP supported by your Magento version. Each new release brings performance and security improvements.
- Server Resources: Ensure your server has adequate RAM and CPU power to handle your traffic, especially during peak times.
- Web Server: Use a high-performance web server like Nginx, which is known for its speed and efficiency.
5. Use a Content Delivery Network (CDN)
A CDN is essential for any serious ecommerce store. It caches your static assets (images, CSS, JavaScript) on a global network of servers.
- Reduced Latency: Users receive content from the server geographically closest to them, which speeds up load times.
- Reduced Origin Load: By serving cached content, a CDN reduces the number of requests that hit your origin server, improving its performance and stability.
- Enhanced Security: Many CDNs, including Peakhour, also offer security features like a Web Application Firewall (WAF) and DDoS protection.
6. Database Optimisation
A slow database can bring your entire store to a crawl.
- Clean Logs: Regularly clean out Magento's log tables (e.g.,
log_customer,log_visitor). These can grow very large and slow down database queries. - Enable Flat Catalog: For Magento 1 and older versions of Magento 2, enabling the Flat Catalog for products and categories can improve performance by reducing the complexity of database queries.
- Re-index Regularly: Ensure your Magento indexes are always up to date. A cron job should be set up to handle this automatically.
7. Audit Third-Party Extensions
Poorly coded or unnecessary third-party extensions are a common cause of performance issues.
- Review Extensions: Regularly audit your installed extensions. If you're not using one, disable or uninstall it.
- Use a Profiler: Use Magento's built-in profiler or a tool like New Relic to identify slow-running code, which can often be traced back to a specific extension.
By implementing these tips, you can significantly accelerate your Magento store, leading to happier customers, better search engine rankings, and increased conversions.
