The Trick to a Snappier Site? Be Lazy.

Lazy loading lets you prioritize what matters and makes your site faster, smoother, and more mobile-friendly.

Author

Adam Goetz
June 10, 2025 • Reading Time: 4 minutes

Lazy loading isn’t just a funny name, but it’s a smarter way to set your site up to load faster.

By holding off on loading images and videos until a user actually scrolls to them, you’re saving valuable time, bandwidth, and brainpower. (Okay, maybe not brainpower—but your users will feel like your site is faster and smarter.)

Instead of forcing every visitor to load your full page all at once, including stuff they may never actually scroll to see, lazy loading helps your site feel snappy from the start.

It’s especially helpful for users on slower mobile connections, where even a second’s delay can mean a bounce. Less up-front loading = faster perceived performance = better experience for everyone.

📊 Load Smarter, Not Harder: How Lazy Loading Speeds Up Your Site

Lazy loading defers loading of non-critical images and videos until they’re about to enter the viewport. Instead of loading everything at once, it loads what the user needs when they need it—cutting down initial load time and improving perceived performance.

Here’s how to make it work for your site:

  • Use the loading="lazy" attribute: Supported by most modern browsers, this is the easiest way to implement lazy loading for images and iframes. Just add it directly in your image tag like this: <img src="example.jpg" loading="lazy" alt="...">

  • For WordPress users: Most modern themes and the Gutenberg editor support lazy loading by default. But if not, plugins like WP Rocket or a3 Lazy Load can help you apply it automatically.

  • For Shopify stores: Shopify now supports native lazy loading using the loading="lazy" attribute. Check your theme’s code and update image tags in product.liquid or collection.liquid as needed.

  • Prioritize above-the-fold content: Only lazy load images that appear below the fold. Anything visible on initial load should not be deferred.

  • Use placeholders or blurred previews: Tools like lazysizes or the Blur Up technique show a low-quality image or colored block as a placeholder before the high-res image loads. This prevents jarring layout shifts and makes loading feel smoother.

  • Don’t forget video embeds: For YouTube or Vimeo, show a static preview thumbnail with a play button overlay and load the full iframe only when clicked.

  • Test your performance: Use tools like Google PageSpeed Insights or Lighthouse to confirm that lazy loading is improving load times and visual stability.

🚀 Actionable Tip

Pick either your most visited page (likely your homepage or a landing page) or one with lots of images or video embeds, and see where you can apply lazy loading, especially for content below the fold. Then take it a step further and add blurred or color-block placeholders to improve the visual experience as content loads. Finally, test and compare your load times and metrics like LCP and FCP and see how much improvement was made.

Why This Matters

Nowadays, page speed isn't just a nice-to-have or something you can overlook; it's a revenue lever. Lazy loading helps you:

  • Improve Core Web Vitals: Reduces Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) and speeds up First Contentful Paint (FCP)

  • Enhance User Experience: Especially for visitors on mobile or slower networks

  • Save Bandwidth: Reduces unnecessary data usage by only loading what’s needed

  • Boost Conversions: Faster pages lead to lower bounce rates and higher engagement