Why is my website so slow? The common causes and how to fix them
Most slow small business websites have the same few problems: oversized photos, too many plugins or apps, outside add-ons like chat and booking widgets, and slow hosting. All of them can be spotted in a free speed test, and most can be fixed without starting over.
Below are the eight common causes, how each one shows up in Google’s PageSpeed test, and what to do about it.
First, find out how slow it really is
Your site may feel fast to you because your phone has it saved. Customers seeing it for the first time get the slow version.
Test it as a phone
Run your home page through our free website speed test, which uses Google’s own PageSpeed test on a mid-range phone.
Test more than once
Scores move a few points between runs. Run it two or three times and go by the middle result.
Test your busiest pages
Your home page, your main service page and your contact page are the ones customers see most.
Read the list, not just the score
The score tells you how slow. The list under it tells you why, and it’s sorted by what costs the most time.
The 8 most common causes, and the fix for each
Roughly in order of how often we see them on small business websites.
| Cause | What’s happening | How it shows in a speed test | The fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oversized photos | Photos straight from a phone or camera, often several megabytes each, shown at a fraction of that size. | Warnings about images, or a big main photo listed as the slowest part of the page. | Resize each photo to about twice the width it shows at, save it as WebP and keep most under 200 KB. Free tools like squoosh.app do this in a minute. |
| Too many plugins and apps | Every plugin, app or page-builder feature adds its own code to every page, even pages that don’t use it. | A long list of unused JavaScript or many files from your platform. | Remove anything you don’t actively use. On WordPress, replace page builders with a lighter theme. |
| Outside add-ons | Chat bubbles, booking widgets, review feeds, social feeds, embedded maps and tracking tags all load from other companies’ servers. | Warnings about third-party code, with other companies’ names in the list. | Keep the ones that bring in work. Swap embeds for simple links, such as a “Book now” button instead of a full booking calendar on the home page. |
| Slow hosting | A crowded or distant server takes a long time just to start sending the page. | A slow server response, often more than half a second before anything loads. | Turn on your host’s caching or CDN, or move to a better plan or host. Plain HTML sites need very little from a server. |
| A heavy top of the page | Sliders, background videos and animated headers make the first screen the slowest thing on the page. | The “largest contentful paint” element is a slider image or video. | Use one strong photo at the top. Load it first and never lazy-load it. |
| Too many fonts | Each font style is a separate download, and some sites load six or more. | Font files high in the list of what loads first. | Stick to one or two fonts with a couple of weights, ideally stored on your own site. |
| Content that jumps around | Images, ads or banners without set sizes push the page down as they load. | A layout shift score above 0.1. | Give every image and embed a set width and height so the space is saved before it loads. |
| Redirect hops | The address bounces from http to https to www before the page even starts. | Several redirects listed before the page loads. | Link to and advertise your final address, with one redirect at most. |
Where to start: the fixes in order
Start with the free, quick wins and test again after each one, so you know what actually helped.
1. Shrink your photos
Usually the biggest single improvement, and anyone can do it. Start with the photo at the top of the home page.
2. Remove what you don’t use
Old plugins, apps, popups, tracking tags and widgets nobody clicks. Each one you remove makes every page lighter.
3. Simplify the top of the page
Swap a slider or video background for one well-sized photo.
4. Turn on caching and a CDN
Most hosts include these. On Hostinger, the CDN is under Performance in hPanel.
5. Look at your hosting
If the server response is still slow after all that, the plan or host is the bottleneck.
6. Consider a lighter site
If the platform itself is the heavy part, more tweaking won’t fix it. A lightweight site can start fast instead of fighting to get there.
What “fast enough” means
Google measures real visitors with three numbers, called Core Web Vitals. These are the targets for each.
Loading: 2.5 seconds or less
How long until the main content, usually the top photo or headline, appears. More than 4 seconds is rated poor.
Responding: 200 milliseconds or less
How quickly the page reacts when someone taps a button or opens the menu.
Staying still: 0.1 or less
How much the page jumps around while it loads. Zero means nothing moved.
Your PageSpeed score: 90 or higher
The score from 0 to 100 at the top of the test. Green starts at 90. Every template we sell scores 98 to 100 on phones.
Slow website questions
Why is my website slow on my phone but fine on my computer?
Phones have slower processors and often slower connections, so heavy photos and scripts hurt much more. Google’s PageSpeed test also tests as a mid-range phone on a slower mobile network, which is why the phone score is usually lower.
Does website speed affect Google rankings?
Yes, as part of what Google calls page experience. Google looks at how fast the main content loads, how quickly the page responds and whether it jumps around. Speed alone won’t outrank better content, but a slow site loses customers before they ever call.
What is a good PageSpeed score?
90 to 100 is good and shows green. 50 to 89 needs work, and under 50 is poor. For a small business site, aim for 90 or higher on the phone test.
Why does my score change every time I test?
Each test is a fresh run over a real network, so results move a few points either way. Test two or three times and look at the middle result. A swing of 20 points or more usually means a slow server or a heavy outside add-on.
Will a caching plugin fix my slow website?
Caching helps when the server is slow to build pages, which is common on WordPress. It does nothing for oversized photos or heavy outside scripts, so fix those first.
Can I make a Wix or Squarespace site faster?
Partly. You can shrink your photos, remove apps and widgets you don’t use, and avoid video backgrounds. You can’t change the code the builder itself loads, so there’s a limit to how fast it can get.
How fast should a small business website load?
Google’s target is for the main content to appear within 2.5 seconds for most visitors. Pages that take more than 4 seconds are rated poor.
Sources, checked November 2026: web.dev: optimize Largest Contentful Paint · web.dev: Core Web Vitals · HTTP Archive Web Almanac 2025: page weight · Google Search Central: page experience · Hostinger: clearing the CDN cache.
Related guides: Free website speed test · HTML template vs. WordPress · Show up in AI search · All guides
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