Before we can start improving the performance of our site, we need to understand how fast our site is loading and where there might be opportunities for improvement. Without these tools, you're just guessing what will speed up your store, which is super inefficient. You really want to use these tools to track each change you make to ensure it actually speeds up your store.
There are a few free tools we can use to help:
- GTMetrix (https://gtmetrix.com)
- Google Page Speed Insights (https://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/insights/)
In this book, we're going to use GTMetrix, but you can choose another tool if you like.
We're going to create a starting point, test changes, look into waterfall data, and finally set up periodic reports.
