Anthony McGrathWhat does Shopify speed optimisation involve?
Shopify speed optimisation covers audit, apps and scripts, images and media, theme code, core web vitals and keep it fast. Shoppers on phones leave slow pages fast. Anthony McGrath does the work himself, with 22 years in digital marketing, for businesses in the UK, the US, Dubai and Australia.
- Best for
- Shopify and Shopify Plus stores, from new brands to established retailers
- What you get
- Audit, Apps and scripts, Images and media, Theme code, Core Web Vitals, Keep it fast
- First step
- Talk it through: a short call about your store, your products and what is holding sales back.
- Where
- The UK, the US, Dubai and Australia, working remotely across time zones
- Who does the work
- Anthony McGrath, hands-on, with 22 years in digital marketing
Why speed matters for your sales
Shoppers on phones leave slow pages fast. A store that takes five seconds to show a product loses people before they have seen what you sell. Speed also feeds into your Google rankings and the price you pay for ad clicks.
Speed apps often promise a quick fix and add more script to an already heavy store. Real gains come from removing what is not needed, loading what is needed later, and fixing the theme code itself.
Before and after
An example of a typical speed project on an app-heavy store.
- Mobile PageSpeed score: 28 before, 81 after
- Largest Contentful Paint: 5.9s before, 2.2s after
- Interaction to Next Paint: 480ms before, 160ms after
- Conversion rate: 1.2% before, 1.6% after
An example of the kind of change this work aims for, based on typical starting points. It is not a promise or a specific client result: every business starts somewhere different.
What's included
A full speed audit and the fixes, not just a report.
Audit
- PageSpeed and Core Web Vitals per template
- Every app and script measured
- Real-user data from Chrome
- A ranked fix list
Apps and scripts
- Unused app code removed
- Scripts delayed until needed
- Duplicate tracking tags cleaned up
- Apps replaced with lighter code
Images and media
- Correct image sizes and formats
- Lazy loading below the fold
- Hero images that load first
- Video embeds that do not block pages
Theme code
- Liquid and JavaScript tidied
- Render-blocking CSS fixed
- Fonts loaded efficiently
- Layout shifts removed
Core Web Vitals
- Largest Contentful Paint
- Interaction to Next Paint
- Cumulative Layout Shift
- Checked again after 28 days
Keep it fast
- Notes on what slows the store down
- Checks before new apps go in
- Monthly speed monitoring
- Alerts if scores drop
How it works
- Talk it throughA short call about your store, your products and what is holding sales back.
- Plan and priceA clear written plan: what gets built, in what order, how long it takes and what it costs.
- Build and testBuilt on a copy of your store, tested on real phones, then checked again before anything goes live.
- Launch and supportLaunched with tracking checked, then support afterwards so nothing is left half-finished.
Platforms and tools
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Read the updateQuestions
How much faster can my store get?
It depends on what is slowing it down. Stores with lots of apps and big images often see mobile scores move from the 20s or 30s into the 70s or 80s once the fixes are in.
Will I lose features?
No. The aim is to keep what you use and remove what you do not. Where an app is slow but needed, its script is loaded later or replaced with lighter code.
Do speed apps work?
Some help a little, but many add more script to a store that already has too much. Fixing the cause works better and lasts longer.
Does speed affect Google rankings?
Core Web Vitals are part of how Google ranks pages, and faster pages also improve ad Quality Scores, so speed helps both SEO and paid traffic.
About Anthony McGrath
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A UK-based freelance digital marketer with 22 years across Shopify, WordPress, WooCommerce, Magento, conversion rate optimisation, funnels, Google, Meta and TikTok ads, SEO and tracking. He works directly with businesses in the UK, the US, Dubai and Australia, so the person who plans the work is the person who does it. More about Anthony or connect with him on LinkedIn.
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