How to fix low performance score on Elementor

Steps for Elementor

1. In your WordPress admin, go to Elementor → Settings → Performance tab. Enable 'Optimized Asset Loading' (Improved Asset Loading) to load only the CSS/JS required for each page instead of site-wide, then save changes.
2. Still in Elementor → Settings → Performance, enable 'Improved CSS Loading' to inline critical CSS and defer non-critical stylesheets, and turn on 'Lazy Load Background Images' so off-screen background images set via Elementor widgets are deferred.
3. Go to Elementor → Settings → Experiments and activate 'Optimized DOM Output' — this reduces the number of wrapper divs Elementor renders, cutting HTML payload and improving rendering performance.
4. For every image widget in Elementor editor, open the Content tab of the Image or Section/Column background, set the Image Size to the smallest adequate preset (e.g. 'Large' instead of 'Full'), and in the Advanced tab enable the native 'Lazy Load' attribute so images below the fold are not fetched on initial load.
5. Install a WordPress caching + minification plugin compatible with Elementor (e.g. LiteSpeed Cache or WP Rocket), configure it to minify & combine CSS/JS, enable browser caching, and in its 'Excluded JS/CSS' list whitelist Elementor's core files (elementor/assets/js/frontend.min.js) to avoid breaking interactions.
6. After applying all changes, go to Elementor → Tools → Regenerate CSS & Data to flush Elementor's stylesheet cache, then verify scores in Google PageSpeed Insights or Lighthouse to confirm Core Web Vitals (LCP, CLS, FID/INP) have improved on both mobile and desktop.

What is low performance score?

The Lighthouse Performance Score (shown in Google's PageSpeed Insights tool) is a single number from 0–100 that summarises how fast your web page loads and responds for real users — especially on mobile. It is calculated from five timing metrics, with the three Core Web Vitals (Largest Contentful Paint, Interaction to Next Paint, and Cumulative Layout Shift) carrying the most weight. A score below 50 is considered "Poor" by Google; a score above 90 is "Good." Think of it as a health-check report card for your page's speed: every point you gain means real customers are waiting less and leaving less.

Google officially uses page experience signals — including Core Web Vitals — as a ranking factor, meaning a very low score can directly suppress your position in search results and reduce organic traffic. Beyond rankings, a slow page destroys conversions: industry data consistently shows that each additional second of load time drops conversion rates by 10–20 %, and mobile shoppers are the most sensitive. A score of 8/100 on mobile means the vast majority of your mobile visitors are likely bouncing before they even see your products, costing you both ad spend and organic sales. Closing this gap is one of the highest-ROI technical improvements an ecommerce store can make.

See the complete Low performance score guide for every platform and the full background.