There are many testing tools available to measure your store's page and loading speed. Shopify has started to roll-out its own online store speed dashboard for evaluating the loading time for a storefront – coming soon for all merchants! Since slow page speeds can be detrimental to both customer experience and SEO, consider using Shopify or other tools to test the page speed of your storefront.
Testing tool limitations
Site testing tools evaluate a storefront according to their own criteria and standards. While these tools can be helpful, they aren't entirely accurate and should only be used to estimate the overall health of a store's page speed.
Thorough audits for page speed may be necessary but are best left to third-party development services such as Storetasker. There are many factors for loading delays, so each case can vary in cause and solution.
Shopify's online store speed report
Shopify has introduced a new tool for measuring page speed which can be accessed through your admin. For more information about using it, refer to Shopify's Help Center: Online store speed report
Please note: this new tool has just started to roll out and will be available to all merchants soon!
Access the Online store speed report by following these steps:
Step 1: Go to your Shopify Admin
Step 2: In the left sidebar, select Analytics
Step 3: Open Reports
Step 4: Under Behavior, select Show all
Step 5: Open Online store speed
Additional testing tools
Using browsers
One reliable test is to simply open your store's URL on multiple browsers, devices, and networks. Firsthand experience of a loading sequence is just as important as any platform-based or third-party tool.
Another option is to make use of the Network and Performance features found in browsers like Chrome and Firefox. For more information, check out this video: Inspect Network Activity - Chrome DevTools 101