4/13/2025

Understanding Your Shopify Visual Stability Score: A Deep Dive

When you’re managing an online store on Shopify, your visual stability score might not be the first thing that pops into your mind. However, this score plays a SIGNIFICANT role in your website's performance, user experience, and overall conversion rates. In this post, we are going to take a DEEP DIVE into what visual stability is, why it matters, and HOW to optimize your Shopify store's performance to achieve an excellent score.

What is Visual Stability?

Visual stability refers to how stable the layout of your online pages is during loading. You might wonder, why does that matter? Well, if your website’s layout shifts unexpectedly while a visitor is trying to interact with your page (like clicking a button or reading a blog post), it can lead to FRUSTRATION and a poor user experience. This can cause visitors to leave your site - which obviously is not the desired outcome.

The metric used for measuring visual stability is called Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS). It’s a part of Google’s Core Web Vitals, which are key metrics that Google uses to assess the user experience on a web page. Low CLS indicates that your website offers a STABLE experience, while a high CLS suggests poor visual performance, resulting in layout shifts that may irritate users.

Why Does Your Visual Stability Score Matter?

You may be thinking, OK, but why should I care about this score? Here's the kicker: Google factors visual stability into its ranking algorithms. If you want to boost your search engine rankings and ensure that customers can easily navigate your store, focusing on your visual stability score is particularly IMPORTANT. Here’s why:

User Experience: A site with poor visual stability can confuse and frustrate users, impacting their overall experience.
Conversion Rates: Customer frustration often leads to high bounce rates. A pleasant experience increases the chances of conversion.
SEO Performance: Google rewards sites that offer excellent user experience, so optimizing for visual stability can lead to better rankings.

How is the Visual Stability Score Calculated?

Visual stability is primarily calculated through the Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) metric. Here’s how it works:

Elements on the page like images, buttons, ads, and fonts can cause shifts as they load. Each shift is measured based on the distance it moves in relation to the viewport size.
The total layout shift score is captured as `CLS = sum of all layout shifts / total screen area for each shift.
Essentially, the higher the score, the MORE layout shifts occur; the lower the score, the more stable your layout is.

Common Causes of Poor Visual Stability

Understanding what causes poor visual stability can help you tackle the problem head-on. Here are COMMON culprits:

Images Without Specified Dimensions: If images or elements load after the content has rendered, it can cause the rest of the content to shift down. Always include width & height attributes.
Ads or Embeds Loading Late: If you have ads or embedded content (like social media posts), they can take longer to load compared to other elements, causing layout shifts.
Fonts Loading Inconsistently: Fonts that load late can lead to changes in layout sizes and text overflow. Make sure to use fallback fonts until your primary font loads.
Dynamic Content Insertion: Adding new elements dynamically (e.g., comments, notifications, product recommendations) after the initial page load can disrupt the layout.

Strategies to Improve Your Visual Stability Score

Let’s kick it up a notch and see how you can IMPROVE your visual stability score!

1. Use the Shopify Web Performance Dashboard

The first step is to IDEALIZE your platform’s tools. The Shopify Web Performance Dashboard can help identify what may be causing your layout shifts. Use it to analyze your page and find specific elements that need adjustments.

2. Image Optimization

Dimensions: Ensure your images have set width & height attributes to prevent shifts when they load. This will pre-allocate space in the layout.
Lazy Loading: Consider implementing lazy loading for images outside the viewport. Shopify themes usually support this functionality, which improves initial load speeds.

3. Reserve Space for Dynamic Content

CSS Techniques: Use CSS to reserve space for elements that take longer to load. Assigning width/height properties to ads and other dynamic content prevents any shifts around them.
Avoid Flashing Content: Elements that flash or change sizes (like banners or notifications) contribute to layout shifts, so it’s best to minimize them.

4. Font Optimization

Utilize web fonts with proper fallback options. This ensures that font loading doesn’t cause unwanted shifts. Consider using @font-face or tools designed to minimize layout shifts related to fonts.

5. Review Theme Code

If you’re comfortable with some coding, take a look at your theme’s code (especially in the

theme.liquid

file). Check for scripts that might be affecting layout shifts and try to optimize them.

6. Disable Third-Party Apps Temporarily

If you’ve recently added apps and noticed a drop in your visual stability score, try disabling them to see if the score improves. Apps can inject scripts that can disrupt layout and performance.

7. Optimize Content for Initial Viewport

Focus on optimizing the content that loads within the user’s viewport first. Prioritize loading critical assets before others to provide the best user experience upfront!

8. Test and Monitor Regularly

Once you implement these changes, it’s super important to test the website on various devices & browsers to see how it renders. Utilize tools like Google PageSpeed Insights to continuously monitor your visual stability score.

Need Help? Consider Arsturn!

If all this seems overwhelming or if you need some professional assistance, look no further than Arsturn. This incredible platform allows you to easily create a customizable chatbots that can guide your visitors more effectively. With Arsturn, you can offer a seamless and interactive experience on your Shopify store, which not only engages customers but can also keep them informed while minimizing layout shifts.

Don’t wait—Join thousands of customers using Arsturn to build meaningful connections across digital channels. Plus, there's no credit card required for getting started—with easy-to-use tools, it's a breeze to elevate your site’s engagement and help improve your vitals!

Conclusion

Understanding your Shopify Visual Stability Score is about more than just numbers; it's an essential part of creating an engaging user experience that leads to conversions. By taking deliberate steps to improve your visual stability, you can enhance your customers’ experiences, keep them coming back, and potentially boost your store’s overall performance.

Make it a priority today, and you’ll see the benefits long into the future! For more practical solutions, don’t forget to check out Arsturn and unlock the potential of conversation with chatbots to engage your audience like never before!