High latency in WebSocket connections for a Node.js app can be caused by various factors. First, network delays can introduce latency, especially if your app is deployed in regions far from the client. Using CDN services or deploying your server closer to your users can reduce latency. Additionally, inefficient message handling on the server side can slow down the response times. For instance, blocking synchronous code that processes each WebSocket message can delay the handling of incoming messages. Refactor your message-handling logic to ensure it runs asynchronously and efficiently. Large payloads can also cause high latency, especially if the server or client has to process or validate large chunks of data. You can compress WebSocket messages to reduce the size of the data transmitted and optimize the server to handle more connections concurrently. Understanding and optimizing each part of the WebSocket pipeline—from network to processing—will help you reduce latency and improve real-time interactions.