Optimizing web page speed is a very important task for any website. It should be a top priority. Your site’s page speed will have a dramatic impact on its bounce rate and SEO.
Bounce rate = number of single phases of zero-second duration/total number of page sessions on your website.
The high number of page views in zero seconds means that users aren’t waiting for pages to load.
PrestaShop, a popular e-commerce platform, is known for its versatility and wide range of features. Like any platform, PrestaShop can slow down over time because of various factors, such as heavy images and code, large product catalogs, etc.
Slow PrestaShop sites can impact not only the user experience but also your search engine ranking.
While the question is still there—how to speed up Prestashop for better performance and increased user engagement?
Let’s understand the measures to be taken to make Prestashop more responsive and faster on all platforms.
Does Page Speed Impact SEO?
The answer is “yes”. Page Speed has a huge impact on SEO. When page speed is slow, users will leave your site, and the bounce rate will increase. Google will penalize pages with high bounce rates.
Smartphone users are increasing rapidly. Page rank is calculated separately, based on mobile page speed instead of the main website page speed.
Tips for Improve PrestaShop Performance
Prestashop has many tools to help you fine-tune the store, but we’ll show you how to speed up Prestashop.
To improve Prestashop’s speed, we will use the Three Cs: Combine, Compress, and Cache.
The CCC method is a key factor in increasing the speed of Prestashop stores. It compacts both JavaScript and CSS into one line of code. This will combine the two and cache them to remove any unnecessary white space.
Follow these steps to accelerate your Prestashop store-
- Log in to the admin panel.
- Select Performance in the Advanced Parameters menu.
- Click on CCC (combine compress and cache), then select YES for smart cache for CSS.
- Set JavaScript to YES in the smart cache.
- Click on YES under minify of HTML.
- Select YES under move JavaScript at the end.
- Set Apache optimization to YES.
- Click on Save.
Setup a CDN
If you don’t have a CDN, you can use one for your PrestaShop shop. CDN stands for Content Delivery Network, a network of proxy servers with their respective data centers.
CDN cache service closer to users. The information is retrieved from the nearest server when a website user visits it. The content will load faster.
When you install the CDN on your Prestashop site, the CDN will cache static content. The CDN closest to the server will receive the request when the user wants to access the content.
Caching System
Prestashop comes with a caching system that stores multiple copies in a temporary location. The System saves data and files temporarily so users do not have to download information each time they visit a website or use an application.
To enable this, scroll down to the caching section, under Enable User cache, select Memcached via PHP::Memcached.
Memcached is a tool for managing large data caches. It’s already used by popular platforms like Wikipedia, Twitter, and others.
Image Optimization for Product Images
The quality and size of an image have a direct effect on a website’s performance and speed. Prestashop does not recommend large image sizes.
Pages with large images take too long to load. You need to optimize images for maximum results.
For the best optimization, you can do the following:
- Use images only when necessary.
- Use the optimized images in sliders, landing pages, and product pages.
- Avoid overloading your article with images. Break it into sections and spread the images throughout.
Set the image size in the Design section > Image settings > Image Generation options. You can change the height, width, and generation of images in high resolution or medium resolution.
Try to Remove Unused Module from Prestashop
Remove the modules and features that you don’t use. Prestashop 1.7 has many features and modules. Examine them and remove those that are not required. Uninstall modules that are not being used by your store. This will improve performance and prevent them from loading.
Database Optimization
Use the latest PHP version and configure smarty settings or refine MySQL configuration. Prestashop speed can be improved by implementing this method.
Conclusion
To speed up your PrestaShop shop, you need to optimize images, use caching, minimize files, and maintain your database.
Implementing these will surely improve your website’s performance, give users a better experience, and possibly increase your search engine ranking.