You might never notice your website is slow. You probably look at it on a laptop, on fast broadband, and it seems fine. Your customers are often doing something different. They are standing in a kitchen with a leaking pipe, or sitting in a car park, using a phone on patchy mobile data.
On that phone, a page that takes too long to appear is a page they leave. Here is why sites slow down on phones, how to check yours, and what you can do about it.
Why phones struggle more
Phones are powerful, but they are usually working with a weaker connection than your home or office broadband. They also have less processing power than a desktop computer. So anything heavy on your site hits harder on a phone. A page that loads in a blink on your laptop can drag on a mobile signal.
The usual culprits
Huge images
This is one of the most common causes. A photo straight off a modern phone or camera can be several megabytes. Put a few of those on a page and you are asking a customer's phone to download a lot before anything useful appears.
The fix is to resize and compress images before they go on the site. A photo shown at the width of a phone screen does not need to be the size of a poster. Newer image formats such as WebP also keep photos sharp at a much smaller file size.
Too many plugins and scripts
Plugins are add-ons that give a website extra features. Scripts are bits of code that run in the visitor's browser, such as chat widgets, tracking tools, social media feeds and booking widgets. Each one adds weight, and some load extra files from other websites.
Over time, sites tend to collect these. Some were added for a reason that no longer applies. Go through what is installed and ask whether each one still earns its place.
Cheap hosting
Hosting is the computer, somewhere in a data centre, that stores your website and sends it to visitors. The cheapest shared hosting packs a great many sites onto one machine. When it is busy, everyone slows down.
Good hosting does not have to be expensive, but rock-bottom deals often come with slow response times. If there is a long pause before anything at all starts to appear, the hosting may be the problem.
Pop-ups
A pop-up asking people to sign up to a newsletter or grab an offer adds code and gets in the way. On a small screen it can cover the whole page, and the close button can be fiddly to tap. If you use one, make sure it really matters, and that it is easy to dismiss.
Sliders
Sliders, sometimes called carousels, are the big rotating banners at the top of a page. They often load several large images at once, plus the code to move them. Many visitors only ever see the first slide. One strong photo with a clear headline is lighter and usually does the job better.
How to test your site simply
You do not need special tools to get a good idea of how your site performs.
Use your phone on mobile data
Turn off Wi-Fi on your phone. Ideally, try somewhere the signal is not perfect. Then open your website as if you were a customer who has never seen it.
Ask yourself:
- How long until I can see something useful?
- Does the page jump around as it loads?
- Can I read the text without zooming in?
- Can I tap the phone number and buttons easily?
Try it on a few different pages, not just the homepage. Ask a friend with a different phone to do the same.
Try Google's PageSpeed Insights
Google offers a free tool called PageSpeed Insights. You type in your web address and it tests the page, giving a score for mobile and desktop along with a list of suggestions.
Do not panic about the number. Scores can vary between tests, and some of the suggestions are quite technical. What it is good for is spotting big, obvious problems, such as oversized images or too many scripts. Focus on the mobile result, since that is what most local customers are likely to be using.
What to do next
Start with the easy wins:
- Resize and compress the biggest images on your key pages.
- Remove plugins and scripts you no longer use.
- Replace a slider with one good photo.
- Remove or tone down pop-ups on mobile.
- Test again on your phone and see if it feels quicker.
If you have done all of that and the site still drags, the problem may be the hosting or the way the site was built. Some older themes and page builders are simply heavy, and no amount of tweaking will make them light. At that point, a simpler rebuild can work out easier than patching.
Speed is one of the things We are Graft builds in from the start. Every site is made to be fast on a phone, and our monthly plans include hosting, security updates and backups. You can see the options on our pricing page, or browse some example sites to see the format.
A quicker site for your customers
If your site feels slow and you are not sure why, send us a message or WhatsApp us on 07459415807. We reply within one working day, and we are happy to tell you plainly what is slowing things down.