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Your pages download styling they never use

What this means for your business

Your pages download styling rules that they never actually apply. Like unused JavaScript, this adds unnecessary weight your visitors' browsers have to carry before your page becomes usable.

How to fix it
Medium
1–2 hours

  1. 1Your pages load CSS stylesheets that contain rules which aren't applied to anything on that page. The browser downloads and parses all of it before showing the page.
  2. 2Run your page through PageSpeed Insights (pagespeed.web.dev) and look for "Remove unused CSS" in the Opportunities section.
  3. 3The quickest win: identify which plugins or page builders are adding large CSS files to every page even when their features aren't in use, then disable those stylesheets on pages that don't need them.
  4. 4For custom stylesheets, use PurgeCSS or a similar tool to automatically strip out rules that don't match any elements on your pages.
  5. 5Ask your developer to load non-critical CSS asynchronously so it doesn't block the initial page render.

On WordPress

The Asset CleanUp or WP Rocket plugin can disable specific stylesheets on pages that don't use them. WooCommerce and popular page builders are common sources of large unused CSS — you can disable their styles on non-shop or non-builder pages.

On Shopify

Shopify themes sometimes include CSS for every section type even on pages that only use a few. If you're comfortable with theme development, removing unused theme sections reduces the CSS loaded. Otherwise, focus on removing unused apps.

Pro tip: Page builder plugins (Elementor, Divi, Beaver Builder) load their entire design framework CSS on every page. If you only use the builder on some pages, disabling its stylesheet on pages built with standard WordPress blocks can remove hundreds of kilobytes of unused CSS.

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