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.
A slow result does not establish that a rebuild is necessary. Use the repair or redesign guide to decide what evidence to gather before paying for changes.
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.