improving the speed of a slow website with Elementor

Elementor has become almost synonymous with WordPress. Many WordPress sites now use Elementor as a visual page builder. It is an easy-to-use plugin that allows you to create complex pages without any coding knowledge, but such plugins usually come at a price – it is a heavy plugin and can definitely slow down your website, especially if you don't know how to manage your WordPress website properly. Still, your site doesn't have to be slow because of Elementor. It is definitely possible to use Elementor and enjoy a fast site. Here are some methods for improving the speed of a WordPress site with Elementor:

Activate Elementor Experiments

Under Elementor settings, you can activate Elementor Experiments. In this section of the settings, you can select a number of options that may help improve your site's speed, such as improved CSS loading, optimized DOM output, and more. Please note that these features are experimental and may break your site, so it is important to back up everything before activating them and keep in mind that you may need to disable these options.

Do not use Elementor to build any part of the site

The header, footer, and sidebars should be built using template code. Do not use Elementor to build these parts, as it will significantly slow down the website. If you have already built them this way, we recommend contacting a WordPress developer to build these parts professionally.

Minimize Elementor plugins

Elementor is a plugin that has many of its own plugins, which extend its basic capabilities. Such third-party plugins can significantly slow down the website. Try to avoid installing plugins on top of Elementor itself as much as possible.

Use a minimalist template

If you plan to build your entire website with Elementor, choose a minimalist template that doesn't have a lot of scripts and options. One example of such a template is Elementor's Hello template. The Blockbase template from Automattic, the company that developed WordPress, may also be suitable.

Choose fast, high-quality website hosting

Your website's infrastructure will fundamentally determine its performance. An Elementor-based website does not mean you immediately need to buy a virtual server, but if the website is heavy and slow, and you are unable to speed it up, there is likely a problem with the hosting and you should choose another service.

Install a CACHE plugin

A cache plugin is not a magic solution, but over time it has become an essential plugin for almost every website. A high-quality cache plugin that is well configured can significantly speed up your website, even if Elementor is installed on it.

Use a CDN

A CDN is a content delivery network that serves users a version of the website from a server as close to them as possible. A CDN solves the latency problem that occurs when we try to access a website that is stored on a server that is physically far away from us. This means that users see the website much faster and don't have to wait for it to load. Some hosting services offer free CDN, and it is also a service included in some cache plugins.

Increase the memory limit

Elementor requires at least 256MB of memory on the server, and if possible, more. You can increase the amount of memory using the control panel in the hosting service, or configure the wp-config.php file using this line:

define( 'WP_MEMORY_LIMIT', '256M' );

If you are unsure how to make the changes, we recommend contacting your hosting provider's technical support or whoever maintains your website.