Learn using GTMetrix to improve Magento Performance

Knowing how to use GTMetrix to boost Magento's time can be a great way to improve your website's speed and user experience. It helps you test your page's performance and provides a range of issues that must be fixed.

This knowledge base will cover improving Magento performance using GTMetrix, primarily focusing on hosting, cloud, and server issues.

Understanding GTMetrix and Magento Performance

GTmetrix uses Lighthouse to generate scores for your pages and offers actionable suggestions for Magento 2 optimization. While some Magento slowdowns may only occur in a real environment with traffic and user actions, GTMetrix can help identify the root cause and improve your website performance.

Hosting

One common factor when analyzing slow-performing websites is the combination of complex WordPress websites on low-cost hosting. It can affect your performance. While low-cost hosting is suitable for small and simple websites with low traffic, there may be better options for complex Magento websites with higher traffic.

Low-cost hosting is often shared, meaning multiple websites share the same server resources. It can lead to slow performance when multiple sites are experiencing high traffic simultaneously. Additionally, low-cost hosting providers may need to provide the necessary support and resources for complex Magento websites, which can further impact performance

In contrast, reputable hosting providers will offer dedicated servers, cloud hosting, and managed hosting options that suit any customer's needs. These options can enhance the scalability, reliability, and faster response times, thus making them ideal for complicated Magento websites with higher traffic.

Cloud

The cloud hosting provider can give your website better performance by expanding its scalability, ensuring reliability, and delivering faster responses.

Cloud hosting is full of benefits when it is compared with traditional hosting. You can adjust resources depending on your needs, either scaling up or down, guaranteeing that your website would only slow down when traffic peaks rather than constantly slowing down. Cloud hosting service providers mainly have redundant data centers on almost every continent. It makes your website accessible from anywhere, even during network outages

Server

The server is a crucial component affecting your website's loading speed. Selecting a good server based on the operating system requirement, data storage, performance, scalability, manageability, resources, security, and server requirements is essential.

When choosing a server, consider factors such as:

Operating System: 

It must be compatible with your Magento version and extensions.

Storage

Pick a hosting company with adequate storage area for your website's data.

Performance

You may want to go for the server with high processing speed and more memory to minimize the reaction time.

Scalability

Select a provider that can handle the increased web traffic and resource consumption without delaying the application.

Manageability

Choose a server that is maintainable and easy to manage. Ensure it is equipped with interfaces that users can easily understand and resources such as guides or support.

Resources

Ensure your website server site has enough CPU, RAM, and storage resources to meet the website's needs.

Security

Choose a server with built-in security features so that it may serve as a shield for your website from all possible threats.

Server Requirement

Ensure the server meets the minimum requirements for your Magento version and extensions.

Check the GTMetrix Performance Report

Start with reviewing your GTMetrix Performance Report:

Step 1: Visit http://gtmetrix.com 

Step 2: Type your website's URL in the Analyze Performance box

Step 3: Click on "GO"

GTMetrix will analyze your website and display the report.

Check the Performance Score and Page details to learn where your website needs improvement.

GTmetrix Tips for Improving Magento Performance

Reducing JavaScript Execution Time

One of the ways to boost the execution of JavaScript is by removing unnecessary JS files from your page, minifying and compressing the files, and optimizing the code.

Remove Unwanted JavaScript Files: Determine and delete any JavaScript files that aren't obligatory for its functioning from your website.

Minify and Compress Files: Minify and compress your JavaScript files to reduce their size and improve loading times.

Optimize Your Code: Review and optimize your JavaScript code for better performance.

Ensuring Text Remains Visible During Webfont Load

Turning on the swap in CSS font-display settings can help speed up text rendering while using a system font until the requested custom font is ready, improving performance.

Swap in CSS Font-Display: Enable the swap in the CSS font-display setting to ensure text remains visible during webfont load.

Use a System Font: Implement a system font as a fallback option until the requested custom font is fully loaded.

Avoiding an Excessive DOM Size

An excessive DOM can harm your web page performance. It's recommended that your web page have no more than 1500 nodes.

Reduce DOM Size:  Add SEO-friendly headings and optimize your HTML structure to decrease DOM depth.

Use Server-Side Rendering: Server-side rendering is another option as it will let the server generate HTML, reducing the DOM size.

Using Caching Plugins or Content Delivery Networks (CDN)

Page caching allows pages to be "stored," similar to how a browser would store local copies of webpages, which can minimize server effort.

Implement Caching Plugins: Install caching plugins like Varnish and Redis for performance and efficiency.

Use a CDN: Deploy a CDN to distribute the content of your website over different servers, thereby lightening the server and improving the loading speeds.

To Sum It Up

Applying GTMetrix to improve Magento's performance requires understanding its functionality, considering the hosting, cloud, and server aspects, and making the suggested improvements. By implementing these guidelines, your site speed will remarkably improve, and your visitors will enjoy a delightful user experience.

Remember that keeping Magento's performance at the optimal level is a continuous process. Keeping a tab on your website's performance through GTMetrix and gradually using new optimization techniques will assist you in maintaining your website lightly and swiftly.

In addition, make sure that you have evaluated third-party extensions and themes to identify the factors that affect the performance of your website. Make sure to select the well-known and optimized ones for good performance.

Ultimately, addressing and fixing Magento performance issues with GTmetrix as a tool is crucial for the website to be fast enough and responsive. Awareness of the tool limits and performing the adjustments mentioned above will improve the page load speed and the user experience on your site.