Tech Janitor

How to Improve Your Google Lighthouse Score

Google Lighthouse is a tool that helps you understand how well your Shopify store performs for your customers. Think of it like a report card for your website. A good score means your store loads quickly, is easy to use, and can be found more easily on Google. This guide will help you improve your store's performance without getting too technical.

What Google Lighthouse Measures

Google Lighthouse looks at four main areas of your store. Understanding these will help you know where to focus your improvements:

  • Speed (How fast your store loads for customers)
  • Accessibility (How easy your store is to use for all customers)
  • SEO (How easily Google can find your products)
  • Best Practices (How well-built your store is)

Making Your Store Faster

A fast store keeps customers happy and shopping. Studies show that more than half of mobile shoppers leave if a site takes longer than 3 seconds to load. Here are the main ways to speed up your store:

1. Optimize Your Images

Large, unoptimized product images are often the main reason for a slow store. Making your images web-friendly can make your store load up to 80% faster.

  • Use Shopify's built-in image optimization
  • Enable "lazy loading" in your theme settings
  • Resize images before uploading them

Quick Tip: Use apps like TinyIMG or Crush.pics from the Shopify App Store to automatically optimize your images. They're worth the small investment for the speed improvement they provide.

2. Remove Unused Apps

Each app you install can slow down your store. It's like having too many programs running on your computer at once. Regular app cleanup can significantly speed up your store.

  • Review your apps monthly
  • Remove apps you don't use regularly
  • Choose lightweight alternatives when possible

Store Owner Tip: Before installing a new app, ask yourself if you really need it. Each new app can impact your store's speed.

3. Use a Fast Theme

Your theme is like your store's foundation. A well-built theme loads quickly and keeps customers engaged. Shopify's newer themes are built with speed in mind.

  • Choose themes from Shopify's theme store
  • Look for "Online Store 2.0" themes
  • Keep your theme updated

Making Your Store Accessible to Everyone

An accessible store means everyone can shop easily, regardless of how they browse your site. This includes people using screen readers, keyboard navigation, or those with visual impairments. Making your store accessible isn't just good business - in many places, it's the law.

  • Add descriptive text to all your images
  • Use colors that are easy to read
  • Make sure buttons and links are clearly labeled
  • Test your store with keyboard-only navigation

Improving Your Store's SEO

SEO helps customers find your products when they search on Google. While Shopify handles many SEO basics automatically, there are still things you can do to improve your store's visibility:

  • Write clear, descriptive product titles
  • Make sure your store works well on phones
  • Add detailed product descriptions
  • Include relevant keywords naturally

Beyond Basic SEO

While technical SEO is important, the best way to improve your store's search ranking is to create great product descriptions and regularly add new content through your store's blog. Google loves fresh, useful content!

Keeping Your Store Healthy

Just like a physical store needs regular maintenance, your online store needs ongoing care to keep performing well. Here's what to do regularly:

  • Check your store's speed monthly using Google's PageSpeed Insights
  • Review and remove unused apps quarterly
  • Keep your theme and apps updated

Need help implementing these changes?

Our team of technical experts can help implement and maintain these improvements for your store. Tech Janitor provides:

  • 24/7 monitoring of your store's health and performance
  • Unlimited technical support and improvements
  • Expert implementation of best practices and optimizations
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