Why is my website slow on mobile?
The most common reasons a business website loads slowly on phones, what Core Web Vitals mean, and how to test your homepage for free.
Phones are the real test
Many visitors see your website first on a phone, often on a mobile connection. A page that feels fine on office Wi-Fi can feel slow there.
Google also looks at mobile performance when it decides how to show your site in search.
Core Web Vitals in plain language
Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) is how long it takes for the main thing on the page, usually a big image or heading, to appear.
Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) measures how much the page jumps around while it loads, for example when a button moves just as you tap it.
Interaction to Next Paint (INP) is how quickly the page reacts when someone taps or clicks.
The usual causes
Large photos uploaded straight from a camera or phone, sent at full size to every visitor.
Too many scripts, such as chat widgets, trackers and sliders, all loading before the page can be used.
Fonts and styles that block the page from showing until they finish downloading.
Slow or distant hosting.
How to check your homepage
The free Qawex Engineering Check asks Google PageSpeed Insights to test your homepage on a phone, then explains the result and the top three things to fix first.
Check your own website, free.
Passive checks only. First results in about 30 seconds.
Get your free Qawex Score
