RMG | Site Speed Optimization FAQ

Question 1

What counts as a good Core Web Vitals score?

Accepted Answer

Google’s thresholds are a Largest Contentful Paint of 2.5 seconds or less, an Interaction to Next Paint of 200 milliseconds or less, and a Cumulative Layout Shift of 0.1 or less, each measured at the 75th percentile of real visits over the previous 28 days. A page passes when all three are inside the line on the device being judged, and mobile is where most stores fail. We report against those thresholds by template and device rather than against a single lab score.

Question 2

Lighthouse says we are fast. Search Console says we are not. Which is right?

Accepted Answer

Search Console. Lighthouse is a lab test on one simulated device with an empty session; Search Console reads the Chrome User Experience Report, which is what real shoppers got on their own phones over 28 days. A store can pass the lab and fail the field because the field includes slow connections, full carts, consent banners, and every app that fires after the first paint. The lab is useful for finding causes. The field is the number that ranks and converts.

Question 3

Can you speed up a Shopify store without changing the theme?

Accepted Answer

Usually, yes. Shopify runs the server, so the work is on what the theme ships and what the apps add: image sizing and formats, font loading, app scripts removed or loaded on interaction, and the theme’s own JavaScript deferred. Most of the gain on a Shopify store is in the app stack rather than the theme. Where the theme itself is the problem, we say so and scope that separately.

Question 4

Why is Adobe Commerce slow, and can it be fast?

Accepted Answer

It can be fast, and the causes are usually the same: full-page cache not covering the pages that matter, indexers set to save on update, third-party modules running on every request, and hosting sized for a quieter year. The fix is server-side first (caching, indexers, query and module review, PHP configuration), then the front end. Anova and Probulin both load in under a second on Magento, which is the platform under Adobe Commerce.

Question 5

Is a headless storefront automatically faster?

Accepted Answer

No. A headless build moves the work from the server to the shopper’s browser, and a heavy JavaScript bundle can be slower than the theme it replaced. It is faster when it is built for it: server rendering where it counts, hydration kept small, images and fonts handled at the edge, and the platform’s API calls batched and cached. That is how we build the Next.js Storefront, and it is what we look for when we inherit someone else’s headless build.

Question 6

How quickly will the field data move?

Accepted Answer

The Chrome User Experience Report is a rolling 28-day window, so a fix shipped today is fully reflected about a month later, with the trend visible sooner. Lab measurements confirm a change the same day; Search Console’s Core Web Vitals report catches up as the window rolls. We track both, and we tie each release to the field metric it was meant to move so the improvement is attributable.

Question 7

Do we have to remove apps?

Accepted Answer

Some, usually. The audit lists every app and tag with the cost of each in bytes and main-thread time. Apps that earn their place stay and load smarter, on interaction or after the page is usable. Apps that duplicate each other or nothing uses anymore go. The decision is yours, made with the cost of each one in front of you rather than a blanket rule.

Question 8

Does speed actually affect rankings and revenue?

Accepted Answer

Core Web Vitals are part of Google’s page experience signals, so a failing template competes at a disadvantage, and mobile results are judged on mobile field data. On revenue, the correlation shows up in every store’s own analytics: conversion falls as load time rises, most sharply on mobile and on paid traffic. We tie speed to conversion in your data rather than quote an industry study, so the case for each fix is made with your numbers.

Question 9

How do we keep it fast after the work?

Accepted Answer

With a budget and a watch. Every new app and release is checked against a performance budget the theme enforces, real-user monitoring flags a regression the day it ships, and the monthly review reads the field data by template. Stores on a managed-services retainer get this as part of the engagement; stores that are not can have the monitoring set up and handed over with the report.

Question 10

What does speed work cost?

Accepted Answer

It is scoped after the audit, because the work depends on what the audit finds: a Shopify store with a heavy app stack is a different job from an Adobe Commerce store with a caching problem or a headless build with a hydration problem. Some engagements are a fixed-scope sprint; some fold into managed services. The audit is yours whether or not you hire us, and it names the first three fixes in order.

Comparison criteria	RMG	Speed app	New theme	In-house
What changes	Scripts, images, server, and theme, in that order	Lazy loading and minification, on top of everything else	The theme; the apps and server stay	Whatever the sprint has room for
Field data	The target, by template and device	Not measured	Not measured	If someone owns it
Apps	Audited, removed, or deferred	Untouched	Reinstalled on the new theme	Untouched, usually
Server	Caching and queries tuned on your platform	Not touched	Not touched	Depends on the hire
Regressions	Caught release by release	Return with the next app	Return within months	Caught if monitored
Proof	Speed tied to conversion in one report	A lab score	A lab score	Rarely reported

Speed, proven
in the field.

Fast in the lab.
Slow on a phone.

Apps that each load their own script

Hero images sized for a monitor

Fonts that flash or block

Layout that jumps as it loads

A server that thinks before it answers

Nobody reading the field data

Every millisecond,
accounted for.

Less to download

Less to run

A faster first byte

Proven in the field

Four ways stores
slow down. Handled.

The app stack nobody audits

Images the phone never needed

A layout that will not sit still

A lab score that lies

Your speed.
Our notes.

A speed app, a new theme, or us.

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Fast in the lab,
slow in the field?

Speed, proven in the field.

Fast in the lab. Slow on a phone.