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.

<!-- Hero/LCP image: load eagerly with high priority, explicit dimensions -->
<img
  src="hero-banner.webp"
  alt="Summer collection — shop now"
  width="1200"
  height="600"
  loading="eager"
  fetchpriority="high"
/>

<!-- All below-fold images: lazy-load, explicit dimensions to prevent CLS -->
<img
  src="product-thumbnail.webp"
  alt="Blue running shoes"
  width="400"
  height="400"
  loading="lazy"
/>

<!-- Defer non-critical third-party scripts -->
<script src="https://example-chat-widget.com/widget.js" defer></script>

What is low performance score?

Lighthouse (the engine behind Google's PageSpeed Insights tool) grades every page from 0–100 on performance. The score rolls up several real-world loading metrics — most importantly Google's Core Web Vitals: Largest Contentful Paint (LCP, how fast the main content appears), Interaction to Next Paint (INP, how fast the page reacts to taps/clicks), and Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS, how much the layout jumps around). A score of 8/100 on mobile means the page is extremely slow for the majority of shoppers who visit on a phone. The score is not a vanity number — it reflects a genuine, measurable delay that real visitors experience.

Google uses page experience signals, including Core Web Vitals, as a ranking factor for mobile search — a store with a very low score can lose meaningful search visibility to faster competitors. Beyond rankings, conversion research consistently shows that every additional second of load time can reduce conversions by 10–20%; a score in single digits means customers are likely abandoning the page before it even finishes loading. Slow pages also penalize your Google Ads Quality Score, raising your cost-per-click. On mobile — where most ecommerce traffic now originates — the experience gap between a score of 8 and 80 is the difference between a bounce and a sale.

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