How Lazy Loading Can Optimize Your Shopify Images & Videos

Would you like your Shopify store to rank on the first page of Google? Backlinko analyzed 11.8 million search results and found that the websites on the first page have an average loading speed of 1.65 seconds.

It’s not just search engines that want your website to load fast but also your customers. In a survey, 70% of consumers said that their willingness to purchase from an online website is impacted by page speed. Since both search engines and customers want quick loading times,

Shopify store owners must take steps to optimize their website’s speed. One of these steps is implementing lazy loading for images and videos on your Shopify store.

The good news is that you don’t have to do it yourself. Blink Vitals’ Shopify optimization services include lazy loading support, among other methods, to speed up your Shopify website.

Let’s take a closer look at what that means and why it’s important.

What Is Lazy Loading?

Have you ever landed on a Shopify website and noticed that the page elements load as you scroll down? If you quickly scroll to the bottom, you’ll see that some images and videos are still loading. That’s lazy loading in action.

It’s called ”lazy” because your web browser doesn’t load all page elements at once when the website first loads. Instead, it waits until you need to see them (by scrolling down) and then loads them on demand. So, the website doesn’t have to load all at once, which leads to faster loading times.

Lazy loading is a helpful technique for image-heavy websites, such as Shopify stores, where

numerous product images and videos can slow the initial load time.

Lazy Loading vs. Eager Loading

Eager loading means the web page is ”eager” to load and will load all the resources simultaneously. So, when someone lands on a web page, all resources on that page, including images and videos, load simultaneously.

In contrast, lazy loading means that the web page loads resources only when they are needed or are viewed by the user.

How Lazy Loading Improves Shopify’s Initial Page Load Time

Lazy loading benefits your Shopify store in many ways. Here are some of them.

Impact on User Experience

Suppose you visit a website that takes forever to load. Would you be patient enough to wait for it? Most likely, you wouldn’t, bouncing off the website instead. Your customers do the same, increasing your website’s bounce rate.

User experience is one of the most important aspects of a website’s success, as 64% of customers say that a poor experience will make them go to another store. Lazy loading prevents these lost customers by ensuring a smooth shopping experience.

Search Engine Optimization Benefits

Lazy loading improves load times, resulting in a better user experience and increased page speed. Since load speed is a search engine optimization (SEO) ranking factor, faster websites tend to rank higher on search engine results pages (SERPs).

Google Core Web Vitals also come into play here. For reference, these metrics measure the following about a web page’s performance:

• Largest Contentful Paint (LCP): Time taken for the largest element on a page to load.
• First Input Delay (FID): Time taken for a user’s first interaction with a page.
• Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS): Stability of content as it loads and changes on a page.

Lazy loading enhances CLS and LCP so images, videos, or other large elements don’t disrupt the layout and cause unexpected shifts on the page. Lazy loading ultimately helps your Shopify store score higher on Google Core Web Vitals, influencing search engine rankings.

How To Implement Lazy Loading for Shopify Images & Videos

There are two ways to implement lazy loading on your Shopify store. The first is to use a theme, such as Dawn, that already has this feature built in.

However, if the theme you are using lacks this feature or you prefer to customize the implementation yourself, there is another option. You can add the code for lazy loading images to the theme you’re using.

Here’s how:

• Go to Shopify Admin.
• In ”Online Store,” select ”Themes.”
• Go to ”Actions” and then ”Edit Code.”
• In the “Layouts” directory, select theme.liquid and input the following code in the online editor. Make sure you add it before the document’s </head> tag section.

{{ ‘//cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/jquery.lazyload/1.9.1/jquery.lazyload.min.js’ | script_tag }}

After this, save your changes.

Using Fallback Components

When you use lazy loading on your Shopify store, there’s always a risk that some elements may not load because of a poor connection or browser incompatibility. In these cases, you must use fallback components.

Fallback components are backup elements that display when the original element fails to load. Think of them as placeholders or alternative content that displays in place of the content that has failed to load.

An example of a fallback component is a skeleton screen. It’s a placeholder showing a basic outline of the loading content so the user knows something is happening.

Another option is a placeholder image, which may be a low-quality version of the original image or a generic image related to the product. Even if the actual image doesn’t load, the user still sees some visual content.

Lazy Loading Images vs. Lazy Loading Videos

The lazy loading technique is straightforward with images. A low-quality version of the image is loaded first, and when the user scrolls to that point in the page, the full-quality image loads.

But with videos, it gets a little tricky because more than just one frame is involved. With lazy loading videos, only the thumbnail or a low-quality version of the video is loaded first. Then, when the user clicks on the placeholder, the entire video starts loading in the background.

You can use Shopify apps to simplify this process. A good option is Loadify, which lets you implement lazy loading and use fallback solutions for both images and videos. Avada SEO Speed Image Optimize is another app with many other SEO features.

Best Practices for Shopify Lazy Loading

Here are some best practices for implementing Shopify lazy loading:

• Implement fallback components (e.g., placeholders) to ensure content accessibility.
• Prioritize above-the-fold content for immediate loading; lazy load below-the-fold elements.
• Test lazy loading across different browsers and devices for compatibility.
• Make sure lazy-loaded content is still crawlable by search engines for SEO benefits.

Actual Image Optimization

Another pro tip is to compress the images and videos on your Shopify store before lazy loading them to reduce load times further. Some image formats, like JPEG 2000 and WebP, are designed for efficient compression and can reduce file sizes without affecting image quality.

Avoiding Common Lazy Loading Mistakes

While you’re at it, don’t make these common mistakes:

• Make sure lazy loading scripts don’t conflict with Shopify themes or third-party apps.
• Double-check your fallback setup, so visitors always have access to your content.
• Avoid lazy loading crucial elements like call-to-action (CTA) or checkout buttons.

How Blink Vitals Can Help Optimize Your Shopify Store

As useful as lazy loading is, most Shopify store owners don’t know how to implement it properly. With Blink Vitals, lazy loading is a breeze. Our proprietary AI technology identifies and optimizes images and videos that can benefit from lazy loading without affecting their quality.

We also provide other Shopify optimization services, such as JavaScript and CSS minifying and reduction, to further improve conversion rates on your Shopify store. These optimizations can eventually convert into sales and revenue.

Get in touch with the Blink Vitals team to learn more about our services.