By Rute Linhares on 23-03-2026

The story of a Shopify store performance optimization

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Discover how we solved a slow-performance issue in a Shopify store through a detailed technical analysis that led to the removal of redundant widgets and the optimization of HTML code. The result: 200% revenue growth and a 91% increase in conversion rate.

Published on 23-03-202616 Views0 Ratings1 Comment

We were contacted by a client in panic, explaining that their Shopify store was very slow and that they needed our help to solve the problem. It is worth noting that we do not manage the store’s day-to-day operations; we only provide technical support, so we had no idea what was causing the store to be slow.

Once the technical analysis work (Technical SEO) was commissioned, we reviewed the store and confirmed that it was indeed slow. We also ran Google Speed Insights, and everything pointed to the fact that the website really did have a problem.

We all already know the blah blah of Google Speed Insights in the context of a SaaS platform such as Shopify. It says everything, yet says nothing. Many of the things it suggests are not actually accessible and have little impact on telemetry results. This creates huge panic among clients because they hire audit services that simply deliver a report translating what Google Speed Insights says, but no one is able to tell the client what is really happening or how to fix it.

The truth is that the store’s telemetry indicated that something was seriously wrong and, even worse, the user perception while browsing the store was that it was slow.

So the approach was back to basics - an approach based on experience and deep knowledge of HTML, the internet, and networks. What makes a website slow?

Slow server - Shopify is fast
Too many requests - Perhaps too many installed apps, which was not the case
Long requests - Not the case
Request size - well, the main request (DOM rendering) was huge (it had 60k lines of HTML).

Once we identified this, which seemed suspicious to us since a DOM with more than 60,000 lines of HTML is not normal, we decided to investigate why this was happening. Apparently, the client had been activating markets and languages, but they had not been configured and structured correctly. We quickly identified several redundant Shopify widgets (market selectors, language selectors, etc.) that were enabled, generating thousands of lines which, in turn, loaded flag icons in XML (SVG format) and injected them into the DOM.

After removing the widgets, we were left with half the number of HTML lines to render, which is still excessive, though much easier for a modern mobile device to handle.

We are not going to say that this was the only optimization carried out. We made a few additional optimizations as well (reordered some scripts, removed obsolete app scripts, and added some defer attributes to other scripts). However, what truly changed the store’s performance completely was the removal of HTML code.

LCP dropped by 62% - a drastic reduction clearly associated with the intervention on February 16.

With this, we were able to recover the performance of an online store and, consequently, its profitability.

The conversion rate increased significantly over the month (91%).

But the impact becomes even clearer if we use March as the reference point, since during March the store was 100% optimized, reaching a conversion rate of 1.59%, which is within a more normal range:

But in the end, what matters most is sales, and this is where the best part comes in:

200% revenue growth between March 1 and March 18.

This is the impact that a properly optimized website can have on your business.

If you are looking for a team specialized in technical SEO, get in touch with us.

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1 Comments

Sophie L.
01-01-1970
I completely agree with the approach outlined here. Many audits only repeat Google Speed Insights suggestions, but this team dug deeper and found the real culprit: a massive HTML DOM due to redundant Shopify widgets and languages. Their intervention didn’t just speed up the store, it directly boosted conversion and revenue. Impressive results!