Top 10 Factors Slowing Down Your Website (and How to Fix Them)

August 3, 2024

Izumi Izumi Mitsui

A sluggish website can harm your business. Visitors expect fast-loading pages, and delays can lead to high bounce rates, lower search engine rankings, and lost revenue. Understanding why your website is slow is the first step toward improving performance. Here are the top 10 most likely factors contributing to a slow website and remedies for each.

Disclaimer: many of the solutions require expert technical assistance to zoom in on the most important negative factors and implement appropriate resolutions.

1. Large Image and Video Files

Explanation: High-resolution images and large video files can significantly increase page load times. Remedies:

  • Compress Images and Videos: Use tools like TinyPNG for images and HandBrake for videos to compress files without losing quality.
  • Optimize for Web: Save images in appropriate formats like JPEG for photos and PNG for graphics with fewer colors. Use MP4 or WebM formats for videos.
  • Lazy Loading: Implement lazy loading to load images and videos only when they come into the viewport.
  • Content Delivery Network (CDN): Distribute your multimedia content through a CDN to ensure faster delivery.

2. Excessive HTTP Requests

Explanation: Each element on your web page (images, scripts, stylesheets) requires a separate HTTP request, which can add up and slow down your site. Remedies:

  • Combine Files: Merge CSS and JavaScript files to reduce the number of requests.
  • Use CSS Sprites: Combine multiple images into a single image to reduce HTTP requests.
  • Minimize Plugins: Remove unnecessary plugins that might add extra requests.

3. Unoptimized Code

Explanation: Poorly written or unoptimized code can slow down your website. Remedies:

  • Minify CSS, JavaScript, and HTML: Use tools like UglifyJS and CSSNano to minify your files.
  • Remove Unnecessary Code: Clean up and remove any redundant code, comments, and whitespace.
  • Optimize CSS Delivery: Inline small CSS or load CSS files asynchronously.

4. Poor Hosting Service

Explanation: Your hosting service can significantly impact your website’s performance. Remedies:

  • Upgrade Hosting Plan: Consider moving to a higher-tier plan with more resources, especially additional CPU and RAM. Generally speaking, you get what you pay for. Although a lot more expensive, consider moving your site to a dedicated website hosting server so that your site isn’t competing for resources from other sites on a shared server.
  • Use a Content Delivery Network (CDN): Distribute your content across multiple servers globally to reduce load times.
  • Choose a Reliable Host: Opt for reputable hosting providers with good performance reviews.

5. Lack of Caching

Explanation: Not utilizing caching mechanisms can lead to repeated loading of the same resources. Remedies:

  • Implement Browser Caching: Configure your server to cache static resources on the user’s browser.
  • Use Server-Side Caching: Employ caching plugins or solutions like Varnish Cache to store dynamic content.
  • Content Delivery Network (CDN): CDNs often include caching features to speed up content delivery.

Caution: avoid using cache to cover-up poor performance in other areas. It’s always better in the long run to identify and resolve the root causes.

6. Too Many Ads

Explanation: Excessive or poorly optimized advertisements can slow down page load times. Remedies:

  • Limit Ad Quantity: Reduce the number of ads per page.
  • Optimize Ad Loading: Use asynchronous ad loading to ensure ads load separately from the main content.
  • Avoid Heavy Ad Networks: Choose lightweight ad networks and avoid those known for slowing down websites.

7. Render-Blocking JavaScript

Explanation: JavaScript files that load before the page renders can delay page load times. Remedies:

  • Defer JavaScript: Use the defer attribute to load JavaScript files after the HTML has been parsed.
  • Async JavaScript: Use the async attribute to load JavaScript files asynchronously.
  • Minimize JavaScript: Reduce the amount of JavaScript on your pages and place scripts at the bottom of your HTML.

8. Unoptimized Database

Explanation: Inefficient database queries and lack of proper indexing can slow down dynamic websites. Remedies:

  • Optimize Queries: Rewrite inefficient SQL queries and use joins and indexes appropriately.
  • Regular Maintenance: Perform regular database maintenance tasks like cleaning up old data and optimizing tables.
  • Use a Database Caching Solution: Implement caching solutions like Memcached or Redis.

9. Not Mobile-Optimized

Explanation: Websites not optimized for mobile can be slow on mobile devices due to larger file sizes and unoptimized scripts. Remedies:

  • Responsive Design: Ensure your website uses a responsive design that adapts to different screen sizes.
  • Mobile-Specific Content: Serve smaller, optimized images and resources to mobile users.
  • Test on Mobile Devices: Regularly test your website on various mobile devices to identify performance issues.

10. High Server Response Time

Explanation: Slow server response times can delay the initial loading of web pages. Remedies:

  • Optimize Server Configuration: Fine-tune server settings for better performance.
  • Use a CDN: Reduce server load by distributing content through a CDN.
  • Regular Monitoring: Use tools like Google PageSpeed Insights or GTmetrix to monitor and identify server response issues.

Common Online Tools to Measure, Report, and Diagnose Slow Websites

To effectively diagnose and address the issues slowing down your website, you can use various online tools designed for performance analysis. Here’s a list of some of the most common tools:

  1. Google PageSpeed Insights
    • Provides insights into your site’s performance on both mobile and desktop devices and offers suggestions for improvement.
  2. GTmetrix
    • Analyzes your site’s performance and provides detailed reports, including recommendations for optimization.
  3. Pingdom Website Speed Test
    • Tests your website’s speed from various locations around the world and provides a detailed breakdown of the load time of each element.
  4. WebPageTest
    • Offers advanced testing features, including video capture of your page load and multi-step transactions.
  5. YSlow
    • Analyzes web pages and suggests ways to improve their performance based on a set of rules for high-performance websites.
  6. Chrome DevTools
    • Built into the Chrome browser, this tool helps developers analyze the load performance of their websites.
  7. New Relic
    • Provides comprehensive performance monitoring, including real-time insights into your application’s performance.
  8. Screaming Frog SEO Spider
    • Crawls websites to identify issues that could be impacting performance, including broken links and oversized files

Conclusion

Website performance is important to user experience and business success. By addressing these common factors and using the tools listed above, you can significantly improve your website’s speed and reliability. Regular monitoring and optimization are key to maintaining a fast and efficient website. Start with these remedies, and you’ll be on your way to providing a smoother, more enjoyable user experience.