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What to do when your server is slow

Before a browser can show your page, it has to wait for your server to start answering. If that wait is long, everything after it starts late, including text and images.

What the numbers mean

The wait is called time to first byte. Our scan times one request for your page, from when we ask until the answer starts. That covers making the connection, the server's work and the travel time.

Google's guidance for this measure uses the same two marks. Google's speed test also runs its own check, with a stricter limit of 600 ms for the server's part of the wait. It also fails on a redirect or uncompressed HTML, which caching will not fix, so it may flag a page our scan passes.

One reading can vary with server load and distance, so run a few before you draw a conclusion.

The wait before the first byteTwo example bars on a time scale marked at 800 milliseconds and 1.8 seconds. Building the page on request ends past 1.8 seconds. Sending a saved copy ends before 800 milliseconds. Without page caching (example): over 1.8 s Connect Server builds the page With page caching (example): under 800 ms Connect Copy Good Slow Very slow 0 800 ms 1.8 s Wait until the first byte arrives
With page caching, the server sends a saved copy of the page in place of building it again.

Why a server is slow

On many sites, the server builds each page when someone asks for it. It runs code and asks a database for content, and more plugins can mean more of this work. A busy or small hosting plan has less capacity for it. A server far from the visitor also adds travel time.

How to fix it

  1. Turn on page caching. The server saves a finished copy of a page and sends that copy to the next visitor.
  2. Remove plugins and apps you do not use.
  3. Ask your host whether your software versions are current. On WordPress, a newer PHP version may help.
  4. Use a CDN that can cache whole pages. Many CDNs cache only images and files until you change a setting.
  5. If the wait is still long, ask your host what is limiting your plan, or compare other plans and hosts.

On WordPress, your host may include page caching, or a cache plugin can add it. Yoast and Rank Math are SEO plugins and do not cache pages. Logged-in visitors and carts often skip the cache.

Shopify, Wix and Squarespace run the servers and CDN themselves, so you cannot change the caching or the hosting. Wix says it caches pages on its CDN. Many apps or complex theme code may add to the wait. If it stays long across several scans, send your readings to their support.

What to ask a developer or host

Time the page in Chrome

Open the page in Chrome, open the developer tools and go to the Network tab. Click the first entry and look at Timing, where "Waiting for server response" shows the server's part. Load it twice, because a first load may fill the cache. You can then press Rescan on your report, up to once every 10 minutes for each page.

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