Your website is probably too slow, and it's costing you leads

Open your website on your phone, on cellular, not Wi-Fi. Count how long until you can see a car and tap a button. For most dealer sites, it is longer than a shopper will wait.

Why speed is a sales problem

Shoppers browse dealer sites on their phones, in the evening, on the couch. A slow page does not get a second chance — they hit back and tap the next result, which is often a competitor or a third-party listing site.

Speed also affects how Google ranks your pages. A faster site is easier to find and easier to buy from.

What usually slows dealer sites down

• Chat widgets, pop-ups and trade-in tools loading on every page, often several at once.
• Tracking scripts added over the years by different vendors and never removed.
• Huge, uncompressed photos on inventory pages.
• Video headers on the homepage that autoplay on mobile.
• Inventory widgets that load the whole lot before showing anything.

Every plugin a vendor added "just to try" is still running on every page.

How to test it properly

1. Run your homepage and one vehicle page through Google's free PageSpeed Insights tool. Look at the mobile score, not desktop.
2. Then do the real test: your own phone, cellular data, a private browser window. Time it.
3. Repeat on two competitor sites so you have a comparison.

What to ask your website provider

• Which third-party scripts load on every page, and which can we remove?
• Are inventory photos compressed and served in modern formats?
• Can the chat and trade widgets load after the page, not before?
• What is our mobile load time on a vehicle detail page?

Get the answers in writing, then cut. Most stores can remove a third of their scripts without losing anything they actually use.

What to measure

Track mobile bounce rate on vehicle pages and lead form submissions per 100 visits. When speed improves, both should move. While you are in there, check that the pages themselves are worth loading: your vehicle detail page is the real homepage.