The usual suspects, in order
- Photos: a 4MB photo where a 100KB one would look identical on any screen. The most common cause and the cheapest fix in existence.
- Leftover add-ons: every tool ever tried, still loading on every page. Chat widgets, old analytics, popups from campaigns that ended years ago.
- Crowded hosting that was fine at launch and has been oversold since.
- No ready copies: the site rebuilds every page from scratch for every visitor instead of keeping finished copies to hand out.
Why it matters beyond patience
Google measures how long a phone waits for your page (it calls this Core Web Vitals) and folds the answer into where you rank. That makes speed one of the few technical fixes with a straight line to being found. It compounds, too: slow sites get read less by Google, abandoned more by people, and ring less. But chasing a perfect score is its own trap. The goal is a page that shows up promptly on Irish mobile data, not a trophy number.
Why it will happen again
Speed decays. Every added photo and add-on drifts a site slower, which is why the wait belongs on a monthly schedule, measured and compared with last month, rather than waiting for someone to complain. Caught at month one, it is a small cleanup. Caught at year three, it is a rebuild conversation.