Page speed isn't just a nice-to-have. Google uses it as a ranking factor, and studies show that 53% of mobile users abandon sites that take longer than 3 seconds to load.
1. Unoptimized images. This is the number one offender. Serving a 4MB hero image when a 100KB WebP would look identical is leaving performance on the table. Use modern formats, responsive sizes, and lazy loading.
2. Too much JavaScript. Every kilobyte of JavaScript needs to be downloaded, parsed, and executed. Audit your bundles. Remove what you don't need. Defer what you can.
3. Render-blocking CSS. Large CSS files delay the first paint. Inline critical CSS and defer the rest.
4. No caching strategy. If returning visitors are re-downloading your entire site, you're wasting bandwidth and their time. Set proper cache headers.
5. Slow hosting. Your site is only as fast as your server. Edge hosting (like Cloudflare Pages) serves your site from the closest data center to each visitor.