If you are asking "why is my website loading slow?", the answer is usually one of five things: a slow server answer, big images, scripts that block the page, files sent without compression, or redirects before the page even starts. Enter your address in the Website Speed Checker above. Bloghints' server loads the page once, weighs every file the HTML asks for, and lists what to fix first, in plain words.
What the Website Speed Checker measures
The checker does what a browser does at the start of a visit, and times each step from our server:
| What you see | What it tells you |
|---|---|
| Server answer (TTFB) | How long the server "thinks" before it sends the first byte |
| Where the time goes | DNS lookup, connection, HTTPS handshake, server time and download |
| Redirects | Every hop before the real page, and the time they cost |
| HTML size and compression | How big the page itself is, and whether gzip or Brotli shrinks it |
| Files the page loads | Each script, stylesheet, image and font, with its size and time |
| Server and caching | HTTP version, cache headers and whether a page cache or CDN answered |
Then it turns the numbers into a short "Fix these first" list, sorted by how much each problem usually slows a page. TTFB means "time to first byte". Google's web.dev guide calls 0.8 seconds or less good and anything over 1.8 seconds poor.
How do you use the checker?
- Enter the full address of the page, such as your home page or a slow blog post.
- Press Check speed. The server loads the HTML, then weighs the files one batch at a time.
- Read "Fix these first" from the top. Red items cost the most time.
- Open the file list to find the heavy file behind each warning.
- Fix one thing, then check again. Run it two or three times, because the first visit after a quiet hour is often slower.
The PRO level adds a desktop check next to the phone check, weighs up to 150 files instead of 15, exports the file list as CSV, and shows real-visitor numbers from Google when they exist.
Why is my website loading slow? The usual causes
A slow server answer
When TTFB is high, the delay happens before a single image loads. On WordPress and other database sites, the usual fix is page caching: the server keeps a ready copy of each page instead of building it again for every visitor. Slow plugins, heavy database queries and an overloaded shared server come next.
Big images
A photo straight from a phone can weigh 3 to 5 MB. Shown at 800 pixels wide on a blog, it needs maybe 80 to 150 KB as WebP. The checker marks images over 200 KB in red. Resize them to the width they are shown at and convert them with the Image to WebP Converter.
Scripts that block the page
A script in the page head without defer or async makes the browser stop and wait for it. Sliders, chat widgets and old jQuery plugins often load this way. Add defer, move the script lower, or remove the plugin if nobody uses it.
No compression and no caching
Text files (HTML, CSS, JavaScript) shrink to about a quarter of their size with gzip or Brotli. Without it, every visitor downloads the full size. Static files should also carry a long cache time, so returning visitors do not download them again. Most hosts and cache plugins have a switch for both.
Redirects and extra domains
Each redirect is a new request before the page starts. A link to http://example.com that goes to https://example.com and then to https://www.example.com/ costs two round trips. Files from many other domains (ads, fonts, widgets) each need their own lookup and connection too.
Lab numbers and real-visitor numbers
The checker measures from one server, once. That is a lab reading: good for finding problems and checking a fix, but not what every visitor feels. Real-visitor numbers come from the Chrome UX Report, which collects speed data from Chrome users over 28 days and reports the 75th percentile, the speed that three in four visits reached or beat.
These are the numbers behind Core Web Vitals. Google's targets are a Largest Contentful Paint (when the main content shows) within 2.5 seconds, an Interaction to Next Paint (how fast the page reacts to a tap) of 200 milliseconds or less, and a Cumulative Layout Shift (how much the page jumps) of 0.1 or less. Small sites often have too few Chrome visits for Google to publish numbers. The checker then says so, and the lab numbers are what you have.
What a faster host can and cannot fix
I once believed speed was the golden rule of SEO, so I paid hundreds of dollars a year for a hosting plan sold as "up to 20x faster". I could not feel any difference on my own sites, and I had no measurements to show one. Looking back, the things a checker like this flags (big images, blocking scripts, missing caching) were on my side, and a bigger plan does not touch them.
A better host helps when TTFB stays high even with page caching on, or when the server is often down. For most small sites, fix the files first and upgrade the host only if the server answer is still slow.
What this checker does not do
- It does not run the page in a full browser, so files that CSS or scripts load later (fonts, background images, ads) are not in the list.
- It does not test from many countries. Times are from Bloghints' server, so a visitor far away may see longer DNS and connection times.
- It does not change your site. Every fix is a step you take in your theme, plugin, host or CDN.
For a whole-site health check, run the Website SEO Checkup. If only your connection feels slow while other people say your site is fine, read why websites load slow when your internet is fast.
So when you wonder why is my website loading slow, start with the red items in "Fix these first": the server answer, the biggest images and the blocking scripts. Those three explain most slow pages, and each one can be checked again in a minute.
Frequently asked questions
Is this the same as Google PageSpeed Insights?
No. PageSpeed Insights runs the page in a full browser and gives a Lighthouse score. This checker reads the server answer and the files named in the HTML, then tells you which ones are heavy or slow. It is quicker for finding the file behind a problem, and the two work well together.
Why do I get different times each time I check?
Servers, networks and caches change from second to second. The first visit after a quiet time is often slower because the page cache is empty. Run the check two or three times and look at the usual result, not the best or worst one.
What is a good page weight?
There is no fixed rule, but a typical blog post loads fine on a phone at 1 to 2 MB in total. The checker shows the weight turning orange over 1.5 MB and red over 3 MB. Images are usually the biggest share and the easiest to shrink.
