Website speed for business owners
Plain answers on what speed means for your business: how to read a report, what to fix first, what to ask a developer, and how to keep it fast.
You do not need to read code to make good decisions about website speed. You need to know what the numbers mean, what is worth fixing first, and what to ask the person doing the work. These guides are written for owners and managers, in plain words, and each one links to the technical detail for the people who do the work.
If you are new, read these four in order.
- What website speed optimization is, and what it covers.
- How to read a website speed report, so a report stops looking like a wall of numbers.
- What to fix first, because the order of the work matters more than the amount.
- Why your website is slow, or why it is slow on phones if it feels fine on a computer.
If you are about to hire help, read the questions to ask a speed optimizer, compare an agency, a freelancer and a plugin, and decide whether you need optimization or a redesign.
If you are launching or moving a site, use the speed checklist before launch and the website migration checklist. Then run the free audit on your own site.
Guides in this topic 14 guides
- What is website speed optimization?
Speed optimization makes pages load and respond faster. The main areas are hosting, caching, code, images, fonts and third-party scripts.
- How to read a website speed report (for non-developers)
A website speed report in plain language: the three numbers that matter, what a poor result means for your visitors, which warnings to ignore first.
- Which website speed problems to fix first
A simple priority order for speed work: pick the page, pick the failing metric, then fix the biggest cause. A short list of quick wins and what can wait.
- Why is my website slow? 15 causes and how to check
The usual reasons a website is slow, how to tell which one is yours, and what fixes each. Start with where the delay is: before, during or after loading.
- Why is my site slow on phones but fast on a computer?
Why a site can pass on desktop and fail on mobile: the processor, the network, a different page and the test, with 2025 figures and how to find your cause.
- Online store speed: a page-by-page plan
A store has five kinds of page, and each needs different speed work. What the data says about store platforms, and a plan from category pages to checkout.
- Speed and conversion rate: what the studies say
What reported studies say about site speed and sales, what they cannot prove, and a six-step way to test the effect on your own pages with real visitors.
- Why websites get slower over time
Why a fast site slides: heavier pages, more scripts, piled-up plugins, drifting caches and nobody in charge. How to see what changed and how to stop the slide.
- Speed optimization or a redesign: which do you need?
How to tell whether a slow site needs targeted fixes or a rebuild, what each costs in risk, a table that sorts common findings, and the middle path.
- Questions to ask before you hire a speed optimizer
Sixteen questions to put to a freelancer, agency or plugin vendor before they touch your site, what a good answer sounds like, and the red flags to listen for.
- Plugin, host, freelancer or agency: who should fix it?
Compare four ways to fix a slow site: plugins and tools, your host, a freelancer and an agency. What each can reach, where it falls short, and how to choose.
- Designing for visitors on slow networks and old phones
Who is on a slow connection, what slow networks punish, how Lighthouse's mobile test compares, and what helps: smaller pages, fewer trips, caching.
- How long does speed optimization take?
Two clocks run in speed work: the time to make the changes and the time before the evidence shows them. What sets each, the order of work, and when to look.
- Speed checklist before you launch a website
A launch-gate checklist for a new or redesigned site: set targets, test staging against must-pass checks, try real phones and plan the first weeks.
Start here
Free website audit
Live Google data for any public page: mobile and desktop.
Mobile + desktop · Lighthouse lab test · Real-user Chrome data when Google has it
Rather have this done for you? Speed optimization · Book a call