Elementor is like the Swiss Army knife of WordPress builders—powerful, versatile, and ridiculously easy to use. But let’s face it: even Swiss Army knives can get a little bulky if you keep unfolding every tool at once. That’s where speed issues begin.
Whether you’re running a business site or just tweaking your blog’s landing page at midnight while whispering “why is this so slow?”, knowing how to speed up Elementor is your ticket to smoother performance, happier users, and higher search rankings.
So, let’s cut the fluff and dive into the real strategies to turbocharge your Elementor site—without needing a computer science degree or a priest for exorcising bloated widgets.
Test First: Is It Really Elementor?
Before you start throwing plugins overboard and blaming Elementor for all your digital problems, start with a speed test. Tools like Google PageSpeed Insights and GTmetrix are your best friends here.
Next, enable Elementor’s Safe Mode. If the editor runs faster in Safe Mode, then it’s not Elementor—it’s either your theme or a rogue plugin. Switch to the Hello theme temporarily or use the Canvas template and test again. Sometimes, it’s not about building better—it’s about decluttering smarter.
Hosting: The Elephant in the Server Room
You wouldn’t race a Ferrari on a pothole-filled road. Similarly, don’t expect Elementor to fly if your hosting is stuck in 2012. One of the most overlooked solutions in learning how to speed up Elementor is simply switching to better hosting.
Avoid free or shared hosting like last season’s fashion trend. Look for LiteSpeed servers with NVMe SSDs and at least 768 MB memory limits. Providers like Rocket.net or ChemiCloud offer LiteSpeed and Cloudflare Enterprise—giving your site a global 100ms TTFB (Time to First Byte). Translation? Your site loads before your visitor has a chance to click away.
Elementor Settings That Deserve Your Attention
Go to Elementor > Settings > Experiments and activate the good stuff:
- Optimized DOM Output
- Improved Asset Loading
- Lazy Load Background Images
- Inline Font Icons
These features reduce HTML clutter, load scripts only when needed, and help avoid excessive memory usage—basically turning your bloated page into a lean, mean, rendering machine.
Don’t forget to switch your CSS Print Method to “External File”, and disable default Google Fonts and Font Awesome if you’re not using them. Why load three libraries just to show a single star icon?
Fonts and Icons: Small Details, Big Impact
If your fonts are still calling Google’s servers for help, it’s time to bring them home. Hosting fonts locally using WOFF2 format reduces load time significantly. Preload above-the-fold fonts for instant visibility—because nothing screams “unprofessional” like invisible text for 3 seconds.
You can also remove unused icon libraries like Eicons or Font Awesome using a few lines of code in your functions.php file. A little technical, but worth it. You’ll thank us later—probably after your coffee.
Less is More: Layout & Widget Optimization
Elementor gives you many building blocks—but that doesn’t mean you need to build a skyscraper. Reduce the number of sections, columns, and widgets. Use Flexbox Containers instead of old-school Sections and Columns. And yes, combine your image and text with one widget instead of three separate ones (we see you, over-designers).
Use custom CSS when needed and avoid animations that look cool but load like they’re stuck in traffic. The goal is minimalism—not a website that looks like it belongs in Times Square.
Media Optimization: Make Images Work, Not Weigh
Biggest speed killers? Images and videos. Keep image sizes under 1 MB and use the WebP format. Lazy load everything below the fold and preload only critical images above the fold. Hosting videos? Use YouTube or Vimeo via Elementor’s Video Widget. Don’t upload that 120MB drone footage directly into your Media Library—unless you enjoy watching your site crawl.
Plugins: The Frenemies of Elementor
Plugins are great—until they’re not. Every extra plugin adds more CSS, JS, and database calls. Use tools like Query Monitor or WP Hive to spot the resource hogs. Deactivate unnecessary plugins on pages where they’re not needed using Perfmatters or Asset CleanUp.
And don’t fall for the “one plugin for one widget” trap. If you’re installing a 2MB plugin just to add one animated counter, you might want to reconsider your life choices.
Caching & CDN: Because Waiting is So 2024
Install a caching plugin like FlyingPress, LiteSpeed Cache, or WP Rocket (but not all three, please). Enable features like:
- Page caching
- GZIP/Brotli compression
- Minification of CSS/JS
- Lazy rendering for Elementor sections
Use a CDN like Cloudflare to serve content faster, especially for global audiences. Bonus: Cloudflare also protects your site from those suspicious traffic spikes that come out of nowhere.
Database & Theme Tune-Ups
Clean up your WordPress database using tools like WP-Optimize. Limit post revisions and autosaves. Delete unused themes, plugins, and media files.
Still running a bloated theme? Switch to Hello, Elementor’s native theme. It’s lightweight, clean, and designed to work seamlessly with Elementor. No bells, no whistles—just speed.
Final Words: Elementor Can Be Fast—If You Let It
So, does Elementor slow down your site? Not if you know how to speed up Elementor. With the right hosting, smart layout decisions, and a well-optimized setup, your site can hit those 90+ Google PageSpeed scores without breaking a sweat—or your patience.
Remember, speed is no longer a luxury. It’s your site’s first impression. Don’t let it be a yawn.
Bonus: We Can Help You Do All This (And More)
At SE Rank Pro, a results-driven digital marketing company in Chandigarh, we specialize in performance optimization for Elementor, WordPress, and everything in between. From image optimization to full-on CDN integration, we do the heavy lifting so your site can run like it’s late for something important.
If you’re tired of DIY tweaks or just want to focus on growing your business, let us help. Visit our website and discover why we’re the go-to digital marketing company in Chandigarh for smart, fast, and SEO-optimized websites.
