Engineering
The 7 Things I Audit First On Every Slow Website
A senior dev walks through the exact 7-item checklist used on every paid website audit. Where conversion leaks, speed issues, and trust gaps actually live. Practical, blunt, no fluff.
When a founder books a paid audit, I do not start with their pitch deck or their goals doc. I start with the site, on a phone, on a slow network, in incognito.
And I run the same 7-item checklist every single time. The first three usually account for 70% of the conversion leak. The next four catch the rest.
If you want to do this yourself before paying anyone, here it is in order.
1. Mobile Lighthouse score on the highest-traffic page
Open Chrome DevTools, switch to mobile, enable 4G throttling, and run Lighthouse on the page that gets the most paid traffic. Not the homepage by default. Whatever your top product or top landing page is.
If Performance is under 70, this is the priority. Nothing else matters until this is fixed, because half your visitors are bouncing before the page paints. Full breakdown in the website speed optimization post.
2. The first viewport answer test
Without scrolling, on a phone, can a stranger answer:
- What does this business do.
- Who is it for.
- What is the next step.
If they cannot, your hero is broken. The fix is almost always subtraction. One headline, one supporting line, one CTA, one image. Kill the slideshow. Kill the four-line tagline. Kill the carousel of "trusted by" logos jammed at the top.
3. Image weight
Open the Network tab. Filter to images. Sort by size. Anything over 300KB on a public-facing marketing page is a problem. Anything over 1MB is malpractice.
Convert hero images to WebP or AVIF. Serve mobile-sized versions to mobile devices, not 2400px desktop heroes scaled down. This single fix moves Lighthouse Performance 10-20 points on most slow sites.
4. Third-party scripts loading before consent
Open the Network tab again, filter to scripts, sort by size or load time. Look for these usual suspects firing on initial page load:
- Meta Pixel (fbevents.js)
- Google Tag Manager + Google Analytics
- Microsoft Clarity
- Hotjar
- Live chat widgets (Intercom, Crisp, Tawk)
- Review apps (Loox, Yotpo, Judge.me)
- Popup tools (Privy, Justuno)
Every one of these should be loading lazily, after consent, or only on pages that need it. If they fire on first paint, your main thread is blocked when the user lands. That is the source of "feels slow even though images are fine."
5. CTA hierarchy on the page that converts
On the page that drives revenue, count the CTAs visible in the first viewport on mobile.
If there are more than two, you have no CTA. Visitors will not pick. They will leave.
The pattern that works: one dominant CTA in the brand color, one quiet secondary link in muted text. That is it. "Add to cart" + "View size guide." "Book a call" + "See pricing." "Get a quote" + "View case studies."
6. Trust signals above the fold
On the same page, scroll only to the first viewport (or two on mobile). Look for:
- A real review or testimonial with a name.
- A real client logo (not generic stock).
- A real number: "500+ stores shipped," "$2M in client revenue," etc.
- A clear policy: returns, shipping, money-back guarantee.
If three of those four are missing in the first viewport, your visitor is being asked to trust before being given a reason. Move trust up.
7. The cart / contact / checkout friction check
Try to actually buy or actually contact. On mobile. Without your password autofill.
Count the number of fields. Count the number of clicks. Count how many times the page loads. Count how many surprise costs appear. Count how many decision points are forced (account creation, shipping selection, gift wrap).
Every one of those is a leak. The best Shopify and SaaS funnels have one decision per screen. Most stores I audit have four or five.
What this means for your website
If you ran this on your own site and failed five out of seven, you do not have a design problem. You have an attention problem. Nobody has been auditing it from the visitor's side.
The good news is that all seven of these are fixable in a single focused sprint. No new theme, no new stack, no new agency. Just the boring work.
Or see the conversion-focused websites I build, or start at Sadik Studio for the broader picture.
Frequently asked questions
How long does this 7-point audit take to do myself?
About 45-60 minutes if you are honest with yourself. The Lighthouse run takes 2 minutes. The harder part is the "first viewport answer test" because founders are too close to their own copy to read it like a stranger.
Should I fix all 7 at once or one at a time?
Fix the first three (speed, hero, image weight) first. They affect every visitor. Items 4-7 are higher leverage but the first three set the floor. There is no point optimizing CTA hierarchy on a site that takes 6 seconds to paint.
What tools do I need to run this?
Chrome DevTools (free, built in), Lighthouse (built into Chrome), and an incognito window. That is it. Paid tools add nothing to this checklist.
Can I just hire someone to do this?
Yes. A focused audit + fix sprint runs 2-4 weeks for most sites. The deliverable is a faster site with clearer hierarchy and fewer leaks, not a redesign.