Speed
Why is my website so slow, and how do I fix it?
A slow website costs you before anyone reads a word. The visitor taps, waits, and leaves, and you never see them in your reports. On a phone, with a contractor in a truck looking for a number, the wait is shorter than most owners think.
This article covers the three causes behind nearly every slow site, how to tell which one is yours, and what to fix first.
Why is my website so slow?
Three things account for most of it: images that are too heavy, code the page does not need, and hosting that answers slowly. Each one shows up differently, so it helps to know the signs.
| Cause | What it looks like | What fixes it |
|---|---|---|
| Heavy images | The page loads in pieces, with the photos last | Resize and compress to WebP |
| Extra code | The page is slow even after it appears to load | Remove scripts and plugins you do not use |
| Slow hosting | The page takes a long moment before anything shows | A better host, or a faster plan |
How do I make my website run faster?
Work in this order, because the first fix is the cheapest and the biggest.
- Compress the images. Convert them to WebP, size them to the space they fill, and load the ones below the fold lazily.
- Cut the code. Remove plugins and scripts that do no work on the page, and load only the font weights you use.
- Check the host. If the page still waits before anything appears, the server is slow to respond.
This is why custom HTML pages tend to load faster than pages built on a heavy stack. A site carrying a dozen add-ons and fifty uncompressed photos has a lot to download before it can show a headline.
Check your own site
Our website audit tests your HTTPS, mobile speed, schema, and indexing in about a minute.
Run the auditHow do I check how fast my website is?
Use Google PageSpeed Insights and read the mobile score, because that is the one Google weighs and the one your customers feel. A score of 90 or above is the line where the page is solidly in the good range. We cover why that number matters in the 90+ threshold.
Test more than once, and test the pages that matter most: the home page and the page a customer lands on from a search.
Why are websites suddenly slow?
If a site that was fast has slowed down, something changed. A new plugin, a batch of large photos, a script added for tracking, or a host moved to a busier server can each do it. Work backward from the last change, and undo it to see whether the speed returns.
Frequently asked questions
Why is my website so slow?
The usual causes are heavy images, extra code, and slow hosting. Images are the most common and the cheapest to fix, by converting them to WebP and sizing them to the space they fill.
How do I make my website run faster?
Compress the images first, remove scripts and plugins you do not use, and check how quickly the host responds. Re-test on mobile after each change.
What is a good PageSpeed score?
A mobile score of 90 or above is solidly in the good range. Every site we build clears 90 on mobile before it goes live.
Does website speed affect Google rankings?
Yes. Speed is part of how Google ranks pages, and it also shapes whether a visitor stays. A faster page tends to hold both.
Can a slow website cost me customers?
Yes. Visitors on a phone often leave before a slow page finishes loading, and you do not see them in your reports.