Website slow on phones? Find the cause first, then fix it.
Customers say your site takes ages on their phone. That is usually a few heavy things on the page, not a broken website, and most of them can be fixed without a rebuild. Find out what is slowing it down, what you can fix yourself, and what it costs if you'd rather hand it over.
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- Photos and video that are too bigThe most common cause. Fixable on every platform, without a rebuild.
- Apps, plugins and widgetsChat boxes, maps, pop-ups, reviews and booking embeds, each loading its own code.
- The theme or the hostingLess common. On WordPress it can be changed. On builders the platform runs it.
Each one has a different fix. Find out which one first.
A slow site is usually a few heavy things, not a broken site.
Phones have slower processors than computers and often run on mobile data. So a page with large photos, a video at the top, or several apps can feel fine at your desk and still take many seconds on a customer's phone.
Google's guidance is that the main content of a page should appear within 2.5 seconds for a good experience.
The fix is to find what is heavy on the pages customers actually use, and lighten those first. Guessing, or adding a “speed” plugin on top, often makes it worse.
See what your customers see.
- Open your site on your own phone with wifi turned off, and count the seconds until the phone number or booking button appears.
- Run your main page through PageSpeed Insights (pagespeed.web.dev) and look at the Mobile tab, not the score: it lists what is heavy.
- Write down which pages are slow. Often it's one page, such as the home page with a video or a gallery.
- List what was added recently: a new app, plugin, chat box, pop-up or a batch of new photos.
What you notice, what it usually means, and who can fix it.
These are the causes we look for first. Most sites have two or three of them at once, so fixing the biggest one usually makes the clearest difference.
| What you notice on a phone | What it usually means | Who can fix it |
|---|---|---|
| A blank or white screen for a few seconds, then everything appears | A large photo, slideshow or video at the top of the page, or heavy code that has to load before anything shows. | You or your helper, on any platform: smaller images, a still photo instead of a video on phones. |
| The page appears, but buttons don't respond for a while | Too many apps, plugins or widgets running at once: chat, reviews, pop-ups, trackers, booking embeds. | You or your helper: remove what nobody uses, load the rest later. |
| Things jump around as the page loads, and people tap the wrong thing | Images, banners or embeds without a set size, or a pop-up or cookie bar that pushes the page down. | You or your helper: give each image and embed a fixed space. |
| Every page is slow, even simple ones with little on them | The theme, the hosting or the server, especially on older WordPress setups. | On WordPress: your host or developer. On builders: the platform, so focus on what's on the page. |
| It used to be fast and got slow recently | Something new: an app, plugin, update, tracking code or a batch of large photos. | Whoever added it. Start with the most recent change. |
| Only one page is slow, such as the contact or gallery page | That page carries something heavy: a map, a gallery, a video or an embedded booking calendar. | You or your helper: put the phone number above the map, or load the map only when tapped. |
Not sure which one it is? Send us the address in the chat and we'll tell you what we see.
What can be changed depends on where your site is built.
The causes are the same everywhere. What differs is how much of the setup you control. Here is what to look at first on each kind of platform.
WordPress
You choose the host, the theme and every plugin, so there is the most to fix and the most that can go wrong.
- Look at first
- Plugins nobody uses, a heavy page-builder theme, image sizes, and how old the hosting plan is.
- Careful with
- Stacking several “speed” or caching plugins. Test changes on a copy first.
Shopify
Shopify runs the servers, so the speed you can change is in the theme and the apps.
- Look at first
- Apps added over time, especially ones you removed but whose code stayed in the theme, plus large product and banner images.
- Careful with
- Theme edits on the live shop. Duplicate the theme and test there.
Wix, Squarespace, Webflow, GoDaddy
Builders handle hosting and updates for you, so the fix is almost always on the page itself.
- Look at first
- Video backgrounds, large galleries and sliders, embedded apps and widgets, extra fonts and animations.
- Careful with
- Moving platform just for speed. Lightening the pages usually helps more, for less.
On another platform? The same checks apply. We'll tell you what can and can't be changed on yours in your free first fix.
Seconds on a real phone matter more than a score.
- Google's guidance
The main content of a page should appear within 2.5 seconds for a good experience. Google calls this Largest Contentful Paint.
From Google's Core Web Vitals guidance on web.dev, checked 25 October 2026. - Where your customers are
Many customers open your site on a phone, often on mobile data and away from wifi, so a phone is where to test it first.
UK: smartphones were 77% of adults' time online in May 2025 (Ofcom). Australia: 97% of adults used a mobile phone to go online in the six months to June 2025, 91% multiple times a day (ACMA). Canada: 84% of people aged 15 and over had a mobile data plan in 2022 (Statistics Canada). - The two other checks
Google also looks at how quickly the page responds when someone taps, and how much it jumps around while it loads.
A speed score is a test result, not the experience. It moves between runs and between tools, and a page can score well and still hide the phone number behind a slow map.
So we don't promise a score, or a ranking. We measure how many seconds your most visited pages take to show on a phone, the same way each time, and show you the number before and after each fix.
Links to Google's guidance are in the sources at the bottom.
Five questions to ask anyone who offers to speed up your site.
Freelancers, platform experts and agencies can all do good speed work. These questions help you tell a careful fix from a quick one, whoever you choose, including us.
Will you tell me in writing what is slow before you start?
A short written diagnosis, with the pages and the causes, is the best sign the fix will be aimed at the right thing.
What will it cost, and is that a fixed price?
You should know the price before any work starts, and what happens if they find more than expected.
How will you measure it, on a phone, before and after?
Ask for the same measure both times, in seconds, on the pages your customers use. A score alone doesn't tell you much.
Will you test on a copy first, and can you undo it?
Speed changes can break forms, menus or checkout. A saved copy means a bad change can be put back quickly.
What happens in six months, when it gets slow again?
New photos, apps and updates add weight over time. A one-off fix helps today. Someone watching it keeps it fast.
Your first fix is free. Then slow pages are part of Grow, at $250 a month.
Send us your website. We'll write down what's slowing it down.
We look at your site on a phone the way a customer would, find up to 3 real problems with screenshots, and fix one of them free if it's safe to do. You see our work, in writing, before you decide anything.
- Your slowest pages, and why, in plain words
- What you can fix yourself, and what needs a helper
- No call needed, no forms, no card
One fix at a time, measured in seconds.
We check how fast your most visited pages appear on a phone, regularly. We pick the fix most likely to help, explain it in your Monday note, and make it only after your OK, on a copy first. Then we show you the seconds before and after, and keep the fix only if it helps.
Month to month, and everything stays in your name. Prices in US dollars, for owners in the US, UK, Canada and Australia. Full redesigns are quoted separately. See every plan
What we will and won't promise.
Find it, explain it, measure it
- Tell you in writing what is slowing your site down
- Change one thing at a time, after your OK
- Save the old version, so any change can be undone
- Show you the seconds before and after
Promise what nobody controls
- A particular PageSpeed score
- A place in Google's results
- A set number of extra bookings
- Speed from the platform itself, on builders that run their own hosting
More on how we fix what loses customers: fixes where visitors give up and your site, watched day and night.
Selling or taking bookings in a busy season? Start with the speed check in our Black Friday website checklist.
Questions owners ask.
Something else? Ask in the chat, email hello@penguina.website or WhatsApp us.
Why is my website slow on phones but fine on my computer?
Phones have slower processors than most computers, and they often use mobile data instead of fast office broadband. A page that carries large photos, a video, or several apps and widgets can feel fine at your desk and still take many seconds on a customer's phone. Test it on your own phone on mobile data, not on wifi.
How fast should my website load on a phone?
Google's guidance is that the main content of a page should appear within 2.5 seconds for a good experience. Treat that as a target, not a promise. What matters most is that your phone number, prices and booking button show up quickly on the pages customers actually use.
Can a slow website be fixed without rebuilding it?
Usually, yes. Most slow sites are slowed down by a few heavy things: oversized photos, a video at the top, apps or plugins nobody uses any more, or extra widgets such as chat boxes, maps and pop-ups. Removing or lightening those is small work. A rebuild is only worth it when the site's theme or setup itself is the problem, and then we say so and quote it separately.
Is my Wix or Squarespace site slow because of the platform?
Sometimes the platform sets a limit, because builders like Wix, Squarespace, Webflow and GoDaddy run the hosting for you. But most of what slows a builder site is on the page itself: large images, video backgrounds, embedded apps, extra fonts and animations. Those are things you or we can change without leaving the platform.
Will a faster website rank higher on Google?
Nobody can promise that, and we won't. Speed is one of many things Google looks at. What a faster site does do is stop customers giving up before your page appears, which is the reason to fix it.
Do you promise a PageSpeed score?
No. Scores move between runs and between tools, and a high score is not the same as a page that feels quick to a customer. We measure how many seconds your most visited pages take to show on a phone, the same way each time, and show you the before and after.
How much does it cost to fix a slow website?
With us, your first fix is free: we look at your site, write down up to 3 real problems with screenshots, and fix one of them free if it's safe to do. After that, fixing slow pages is part of our Grow plan at $250 a month, month to month, with no setup fee. A full redesign is not part of a monthly plan and is quoted separately before any work starts.
Which platforms do you work with?
Most small business websites, including WordPress, Shopify, Wix, Squarespace, Webflow and GoDaddy sites, for owners in the US, UK, Canada and Australia. What we can change depends on the platform, and we tell you exactly what applies in your first fix.
Is there a contract?
No. Every plan is month to month: cancel any month, keep everything, and pay $0 setup. See “Is there a contract?” on our pricing page.
More on keeping your site working for customers.
Sources for this page
- Google web.dev: Largest Contentful Paint (2.5 seconds guidance)
- Google web.dev: Core Web Vitals
- Google PageSpeed Insights
- Ofcom: Online Nation 2025 (UK, share of time online on smartphones, May 2025)
- ACMA: How we use the internet, February 2026 (Australia, going online on a mobile phone)
- Statistics Canada: Canadian Internet Use Survey 2022 (mobile data plans)