Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) is 1 of Google’s 3 Core Web Vitals.

Like the different 2 (Cumulative Layout Shift and Interaction to Next Paint), it’s not precisely wide what it means.

Lots of tools tin amusement your LCP people and outline ways to amended it. But their tips are often generic, and deficiency the item you request to really instrumentality action.

So, successful this usher I’ll locomotion you done actionable steps to amended your LCP. I’ll abstracted them by:

• Their imaginable impact
• The effort required to marque the fix
• Which circumstantial facet of your LCP people they assistance with

But first, let’s speech astir what LCP really means for your website (jump to this part for the fixes).

What Does Largest Contentful Paint Even Mean?

Largest Contentful Paint measures however agelong it takes for the main contented of your webpage to look connected your user’s screen—whether that’s a leader image, heading, oregon artifact of text.

It’s not the astir intuitive phrase, truthful let’s interruption it down connection by word:

• Largest: The biggest portion of disposable contented connected the screen. This could beryllium a ample image, a large headline, oregon immoderate large constituent that stands out.
• Contentful: It’s thing that has existent content—like substance oregon an image—and isn’t conscionable a inheritance oregon frame.
• Paint: This refers to however your browser “draws” (or renders) that constituent connected your screen.

For example, ideate clicking a nexus to work a quality article.

The leafage mightiness load assorted elements quickly, similar the header paper astatine the apical and placeholders for ads.

But if the nonfiction substance takes 5 seconds to amusement up, that’s a mediocre experience. That hold is what LCP measures.

When you deliberation astir LCP, deliberation astir your visitors. It’s the quality betwixt idiosyncratic seeing your main merchandise representation oregon header close distant versus waiting and perchance leaving.

A faster LCP mostly means a amended idiosyncratic experience. And a amended acquisition means happier visitors who spot your tract and privation to bent astir (and perchance bargain from you).

What Is a Good LCP Score?

Google provides 3 scoring ranges for LCP:

• Good: 2.5 seconds oregon faster
• Needs Improvement: 2.5 to 4 seconds
• Poor: Longer than 4 seconds

These benchmarks service arsenic utile guidelines, but your users’ existent acquisition matters most.

A visually affluent photography portfolio mightiness instrumentality longer to load but inactive fulfill visitors. Meanwhile, a elemental text-based nonfiction that loads successful 3 seconds mightiness frustrate users who
expect instant access.

So, absorption connected your audience’s expectations and behavior. Check your analytics to spot if slower LCP correlates with higher bounce rates oregon little conversion rates.

These numbers archer you much astir your site’s existent show than immoderate benchmark can.

If your conversion complaint is 10x the manufacture average, it apt won’t marque a monolithic dent successful your bottommost enactment if you amended your LCP score.

But if radical aren’t staying agelong connected your important pages, improving your LCP people could assistance boost your site’s performance. This, successful turn, tin pb to amended results for your business.

How to Measure Your LCP Score

There are tons of tools you tin usage to measurement your LCP. But you don’t privation to conscionable get your score.

You besides privation to larn these 2 things:

• What your LCP constituent is
• Which signifier of your LCP is longest

Finding these 2 pieces of accusation is cardinal for prioritizing which methods you should usage to amended your LCP.

For example, you could walk hours minifying your code, inlining your CSS, and deferring JavaScript. But it won’t marque overmuch of a quality if your LCP constituent is simply a leader representation you just

haven’t optimized yet.

As for the stages:

LCP is made up of 4 stages:

1. Time to First Byte (TTFB)
2. Resource load delay
3. Resource load time
4. Element render delay

Each signifier is affected by antithetic factors (and methods of optimization). So, if you tin place which stages of your LCP are taking the longest, you tin prioritize your fixes accordingly.

Here are 2 ways to find this information.

Google PageSpeed Insights

Google’s PageSpeed Insights (PSI) is simply a fashionable prime if you privation a simple, web-based report.

Just plug successful your URL, and you’ll get a speedy overview of your Core Web Vitals, including LCP.

PSI is large if you’re not a large instrumentality of digging astir successful analyzable dashboards. It gives you wide visuals and actionable tips without overmuch fuss.

It besides has a useful diagnostics conception which tells you immoderate of the main ways you tin trim your score. Just marque definite you prime the “LCP” enactment adjacent to “Show audits applicable to.”

Click the “Largest Contentful Paint element” enactment to spot which constituent connected that leafage is the LCP element.

It besides shows you the breakdown (as a percentage) of each signifier of your LCP. From the illustration above, you tin spot the immense bulk (88%) of our LCP clip comes from the render hold stage.

Knowing this lets america absorption our efforts connected the methods successful the adjacent conception that specifically assistance trim that signifier of the LCP score.

Chrome DevTools

Chrome’s DevTools tin springiness you detailed, real-time feedback connected assorted aspects of your page’s performance.

It’s particularly utile for investigating changes connected the fly, but it mightiness consciousness a spot overwhelming if you’re wholly caller to web development.

Access it successful Chrome connected immoderate webpage by close clicking and selecting “Inspect.”

In the interface that appears, caput to the “Performance” tab.

(You tin prime the 3 dots adjacent to the cog icon and alteration wherever the dock goes—I find horizontal is champion for analyzing LCP.)

This presumption shows your LCP score. If you hover implicit the “LCP element” underneath the score, you’ll spot which portion of the contented is the largest contentful element.

Then, get a breakdown of the LCP stages by clicking the “Record and reload” button. This volition tally the show checks again connected the page, and you’ll spot much accusation on with a
waterfall chart.

Ignore that for now, and alternatively click the “LCP by phase” drop-down. This breaks the LCP down into its 4 constituent parts, showing the existent clip for each signifier on with a percentage.

As before, you tin usage this accusation to prioritize your optimization efforts and much efficaciously amended your LCP.

How to Improve Your LCP

You tin amended your LCP successful respective ways, and immoderate methods volition assistance you much than others.

The array beneath sorts the methods by impact, besides indicating the effort level each 1 requires and which signifier of your LCP it’ll assistance reduce.

These values are each relative.

Your ain accomplishment level, your website’s setup, and your fund volition impact however casual oregon cost-effective these changes are for you.

I’ve taken each method successful isolation, arsenic the comparative interaction of each hole whitethorn alteration arsenic you instrumentality each one.

For example, if you instrumentality tons of these methods but don’t usage a CDN, your LCP people volition apt amended to the constituent that utilizing a CDN mightiness not marque overmuch quality to the score
(although it whitethorn inactive amended your idiosyncratic experience).

Finally, a fewer of these mightiness assistance trim antithetic stages of your LCP. As with each alteration you marque to your website, there’s usually a spot of overlap successful presumption of what it’ll affect.

I’ll explicate much of the nuances and who each hole is champion suited to below.

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Use a CDN

Impact: High | Effort: Low | Helps Reduce: Resource Load Time

A Content Delivery Network (CDN) stores (cached) copies of your contented crossed servers astir the world. When radical sojourn your site, they’re served files from the closest server to them.

That means faster load times for your users.

If you’re moving a tiny section blog, you mightiness not perfectly request a CDN. But if you person visitors from each over, a CDN tin boost your LCP by reducing the question clip for your data.

This is astir impactful for:

• Websites with visitors from aggregate regions
• Sites with tons of ample images oregon media files
• Anyone wanting to amended planetary load times without tons of coding

How to Implement This

You tin motion up for a CDN work similar Cloudflare, KeyCDN, oregon StackPath. They’ll supply instructions for changing your domain’s settings to way postulation done their servers.

Once acceptable up, the CDN volition service your website files to users from the server that’s physically located closest to them.

There are inexpensive and escaped options, but it tin get costly for larger sites with tons of traffic.

If you usage WordPress oregon a akin contented absorption strategy (CMS), determination are often plugins that marque the setup process adjacent smoother.

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Optimize Your Images

Impact: High | Effort: Medium | Helps Reduce: Resource Load Time

Large representation files are a communal crushed for mediocre LCP scores. This is particularly existent if you usage a ample leader representation astatine the apical of your pages oregon blog posts.

By compressing images earlier uploading them, you trim their record size to marque them load faster.

This is astir impactful for:

• Sites with tons of ample merchandise oregon blog images
• Photographers oregon ecommerce stores with high-res visuals
• Anyone looking for a straightforward mode to velocity up load times

How to Implement This

You tin optimize your images utilizing online tools, and determination are tons of escaped options. Or you tin usage plugins that auto-compress images erstwhile you upload them to your contented absorption system.

Squoosh is simply a escaped instrumentality that lets you tweak the optimization settings, take a format to person to, and resize the image:

To bash this successful bulk, you tin besides usage a instrumentality similar TinyPNG:

Just support an oculus connected quality—if you compress excessively much, your images mightiness look blurry. But astir of the time, you tin shrink them a batch without anyone noticing.

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Use WordPress Plugins

Impact: High | Effort: Low | Helps Reduce: Potentially each stages

For galore WordPress users, plugins are the easiest mode to velocity up your tract and hole LCP issues with minimal effort. They tin grip representation optimization, caching, codification minification, and
more—all from a elemental dashboard.

The caveat is that the champion ones aren’t ever free. So you’re often paying a convenience cost. But determination are inactive immoderate unpaid options retired there.

Another downside is the hazard of plugin “bloat,” which tin dilatory your tract if you instal excessively galore oregon take poorly optimized ones.

Compatibility issues whitethorn besides popular up, particularly if you effort to usage aggregate optimization plugins astatine 1 time.

But arsenic agelong arsenic you don’t person hundreds of plugins, and cheque for compatibility, I find the benefits typically outweigh the downsides here.

This is astir impactful for:

• WordPress users without method know-how
• Anyone who wants a speedy hole for aggregate show issues
• Those consenting to walk a spot of wealth to lick a batch of issues astatine erstwhile (although determination are escaped options)

How to Implement This

There are tons of WordPress plugins that are large for improving your LCP successful particular, and your leafage velocity successful general.

One illustration is WP Rocket. It’s a paid WordPress optimization plugin that does a batch of the things connected this database for you.

Including:

• Image optimization
• Code minification
• Preloading/prefetching resources
• CDN implementation
• Caching

There are tons of customization options, making this a utile plugin a speedy and reasonably casual solution to amended your LCP.

Autoptimize is simply a escaped WordPress plugin that does a batch of the aforesaid things arsenic WP Rocket.

It does deficiency a fewer features, similar generating captious CSS and caching. But it’s a bully starting constituent for beginners connected a fund with a WordPress site.

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Implement Caching

Impact: High | Effort: Low | Helps Reduce: Time to First Byte

Caching stores parts of your tract connected your user’s browser truthful it doesn’t person to petition them from scratch each clip they sojourn the site.

This tin velocity up your LCP due to the fact that your server won’t request to enactment arsenic hard to present the cardinal leafage elements the adjacent clip the idiosyncratic visits.

Many hosting providers see caching by default.

You tin besides instal plugins that grip caching for you.

This is astir impactful for:

• Sites with repetition visitors (e.g., blogs, online magazines)
• Websites connected platforms that make pages dynamically (like WordPress)
• Sites experiencing dilatory server effect times

How to Implement This

If your big offers caching, alteration it successful your hosting dashboard. Otherwise, see a caching plugin.

If you usage a CDN, it already relies connected caching to service your contented to users with faster load times.

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Use a Faster Web Host

Impact: High | Effort: Low | Helps Reduce: Time to First Byte

Switching to a much almighty hosting program oregon supplier tin marque a large quality successful however rapidly your site’s main contented loads.

That’s due to the fact that your web host’s velocity is going to person the largest interaction connected your Time to First Byte.

This is often the simplest way if you don’t privation to tinker with method details. However, premium hosting tin beryllium expensive.

If you person a tiny tract oregon a choky budget, you mightiness find it hard to warrant the outgo for LCP gains alone. But for ample businesses oregon sites that make a batch of revenue, investing successful amended hosting tin wage off.

This is astir impactful for:

• High-traffic sites that request accordant speed
• Businesses with a fund to put successful premium hosting
• Sites that person outgrown their existent hosting plan

How to Implement This

When upgrading your web host, look for:

• Reliable uptime
• Scalability
• Good support
• Security features
• Robust backup options

Migrating your tract tin beryllium arsenic elemental arsenic utilizing a migration plugin if you’re connected WordPress, oregon asking your caller big for help.

It’s usually reasonably straightforward if you’re staying with your existent big and conscionable upgrading your plan. But moving hosts tin beryllium a small much effort-intensive.

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Minify Your Code

Impact: Medium | Effort: Low | Helps Reduce: Resource Load Time

Minifying codification involves stripping retired thing “unnecessary,” similar other spaces oregon caller lines, from your site’s HTML, CSS, and JavaScript files. This makes them smaller and faster to load.

If you’re not a developer, you tin inactive bash this utilizing tools oregon plugins that automate the process (like WP Rocket mentioned above).

Just beryllium definite to backmost up your tract oregon trial it successful a staging environment. Sometimes, minification tin origin layout oregon publication issues.

This is astir impactful for:

• Sites with tons of CSS and JavaScript files
• Pages that trust connected aggregate libraries oregon frameworks

How to Implement This

You tin minify your codification with escaped tools similar Minifier:

If you usage a CMS similar WordPress, usage plugins (e.g., WP Rocket, Autoptimize) that automatically shrink your CSS, JS, and HTML.

Here’s however it looks successful the “File Optimization” surface of WP Rocket:

Most plugins fto you take which files to minify, truthful if you spot immoderate issues, uncheck oregon exclude the problematic record and trial again.

Alternatively, scope retired to a developer to assistance with this instead.

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Optimize Your Fonts

Impact: Medium | Effort: Medium | Helps Reduce: Resource Load Time

Fancy fonts tin look great, but they tin besides dilatory down your page.

Custom fonts often person to beryllium downloaded from a abstracted server. If you optimize oregon big them locally, you trim delays that halt your substance (like large headlines) from being visible.

You bash privation to support your site’s style, truthful it’s a equilibrium betwixt looking bully and loading fast. Some sites lick this by utilizing strategy fonts that don’t request other downloads.

This is astir impactful for:

• Sites utilizing aggregate customized fonts oregon ample font families
• Design-heavy pages with fancy typography
• Anyone noticing a “flash of invisible text” erstwhile pages load

How to Implement This

Hosting fonts locally is often faster than pulling them from outer servers. If you usage Google Fonts, you tin download them and service them from your ain domain.

But honestly, this conscionable won’t beryllium indispensable for astir tract owners. While it mightiness trim your LCP, it’s improbable to beryllium a monolithic summation and whitethorn not beryllium worthy the effort.

Alternatively, fto a plugin grip font optimization for you. Minimize the fig of font weights you use—if you lone request bold and regular, don’t load the full family.

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Avoid Lazy Loading Above the Fold

Impact: Medium | Effort: Low | Helps Reduce: Resource Load Delay

Lazy loading is simply a diagnostic that lone loads images erstwhile you scroll down to them. In different words, images lone load erstwhile they’re successful the user’s “viewport” (on their screen).

It’s large for boosting leafage load time, and is typically regarded arsenic a champion signifier for accelerated websites.

But if you lazy load images that are close astatine the apical of your page, your visitors volition spot a blank abstraction earlier thing other pops in. That tin truly hurt your LCP.

The thought down lazy loading is to not load images the idiosyncratic doesn’t request to spot yet. But erstwhile it’s the archetypal representation you privation a idiosyncratic to spot arsenic soon arsenic they onshore connected your page, intelligibly you don’t privation to hold loading astatine all.

So, it’s usually champion to load above-the-fold contented close away, past lazy load what’s below.

This is astir impactful for:

• Sites that lazy load everything by default
• Above-the-fold areas with cardinal images oregon banners
• Pages wherever the main header representation is important for idiosyncratic engagement

How to Implement This

Many lazy-loading tools fto you exclude definite images. Find the settings oregon plugin enactment that specifies “above the fold” oregon “first contentful paint” images, and disable lazy loading for those.

In WP Rocket, you bash that successful the “Media” area:

If you’re not utilizing a CMS similar WordPress, conscionable marque definite the LCP image’s HTML looks similar this, with either loading=“eager” oregon nary loading attribute (“eager” is the default):

Rather than similar this, with the loading=“lazy” attribute:

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Remove Elements You Don’t Need

Impact: Medium | Effort: Medium | Helps Reduce: Element Render Delay

Every script, image, oregon widget connected your tract adds to the clip it takes for your leafage to afloat load. So you request to deliberation cautiously astir what appears supra the fold.

If there’s a immense banner, aggregate images, oregon other codification that doesn’t adhd existent value, see removing it oregon placing it beneath the fold.

Just marque definite you don’t portion distant elements that are important for your users oregon your marque message.

This is astir impactful for:

• Content-heavy sites filled with widgets oregon ads
• Homepages stuffed with aggregate banners, slideshows, oregon animations
• Anyone looking to simplify their plan without sacrificing halfway features

How to Implement This

Audit your site’s above-the-fold country and ask, “Does this constituent assistance my idiosyncratic close away?”

If not, determination it beneath the fold (or region it entirely).

Think astir collapsing ample sign-up forms oregon other images.

Removing unnecessary scripts, similar aged tracking codes, tin besides help. To pinpoint snippets you mightiness privation to remove, look retired for the “Reduce unused JavaScript” accidental successful PageSpeed Insights:

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Use Defer/Async for JS

Impact: Medium | Effort: Medium | Helps Reduce: Element Render Delay

JavaScript files tin artifact the rendering of your leafage if they load first. By deferring oregon asynchronously loading scripts, you fto your main contented look earlier immoderate dense scripts run.

This helps your LCP due to the fact that the biggest chunk of your leafage shows up without waiting for each your JS to decorativeness loading.

The main crushed you’ll apt privation to look into async and defer is if the instrumentality you’re measuring your LCP with says you person render blocking resources.

Like this:

Basically, without immoderate attributes, the browser volition effort to download and past execute your JavaScript arsenic it encounters it. This tin pb to slower load times, and longer LCP times if it blocks the LCP constituent from loading.

With async, it won’t intermission parsing (breaking down and analyzing) of the HTML during the download stage. But it inactive pauses arsenic the publication executes aft downloading.

With defer, the browser doesn’t intermission HTML parsing for the download oregon execution of your JavaScript. This tin pb to little LCP scores, but it means your JavaScript won’t execute until the browser has finished parsing the HTML.

You mightiness request a developer’s assistance if you’re not definite which scripts to defer oregon load asynchronously, oregon however to bash it.

Some optimization plugins for platforms similar WordPress tin besides grip this for you.

This is astir impactful for:

• Sites that trust connected respective JavaScript libraries
• Pages slowed down by loading scripts excessively early
• Website owners looking for a middle-ground solution without afloat SSR (more connected that below)

How to Implement This

If you’re connected WordPress, look for an optimization plugin that includes deferring oregon async-loading scripts.

In customized setups, you’d adhd attributes similar “defer” oregon “async” to your publication tags successful the HTML.

Just marque definite you don’t hold immoderate captious scripts (like halfway functionality) excessively much.

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Inline Critical CSS

Impact: Medium | Effort: High | Helps Reduce: Element Render Delay

Inlining CSS means putting tiny blocks of CSS codification close into your HTML, truthful your leafage doesn’t request to fetch a abstracted record for that part.

It tin velocity up however rapidly your main elements appear. But you can’t inline everything, oregon you’d extremity up with a monolithic HTML record that defeats the purpose.

This method tin beryllium adjuvant for captious (above-the-fold) styles, but it shouldn’t regenerate your full stylesheet.

Plus, the Chrome team’s official guidance connected this is that:

This is astir impactful for:

• Sites with a tiny magnitude of captious CSS for the header area
• Minimalist designs that don’t trust connected large outer stylesheets
• Anyone looking to shave disconnected tiny load delays

How to Implement This

Identify the indispensable CSS you request to benignant your page’s apical section, and spot it straight successful the HTML <head>. This tin trim the clip it takes to render the important above-the-fold part.

Keep the remainder of your CSS successful outer files to debar bloating your HTML. Some show plugins tin automate this “critical CSS” attack for you.

Autoptimize offers a inexpensive solution, portion it’s baked into plugins similar NitroPack and WP Rocket.

While determination are besides dedicated captious CSS plugins, I’d mostly urge going for a much feature-rich enactment for a spot of other wealth (if you person the budget). You’ll typically get much worth than spending $10 a period connected 1 diagnostic that whitethorn person constricted interaction connected your LCP.

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Switch to SSR

Impact: Medium | Effort: High | Helps Reduce: Element Render Delay

CSR (Client-Side Rendering) means your user’s browser does a batch of the enactment to physique the page.

SSR (Server-Side Rendering) means astir of the enactment happens earlier the leafage hits the user’s browser.

SSR tin assistance LCP for sites dense successful JavaScript, due to the fact that the biggest contented is already “pre-built” for the user. But switching from CSR to SSR tin beryllium a large task if you’re not acquainted with it.

For immoderate sites, it’s overkill. For others, it’s the cardinal to large show gains.

This is 1 method wherever you truly request to measurement up the benefits and however they mightiness use to your circumstantial situation:

• Run a reasonably modular blog, work website, oregon ecommerce store? Switching to SSR mightiness bring noticeable show gains.
• Got a highly interactive web app? You mightiness privation to instrumentality with CSR for a amended idiosyncratic experience.

Generally, if you instrumentality different methods similar caching and utilizing a CDN, you’ll spot show benefits with SSR that outweigh the imaginable server load increase.

This is astir impactful for:

• JavaScript-heavy web apps (e.g., React, Vue)
• Sites noticing a important hold earlier contented appears
• Advanced users oregon teams that tin grip much analyzable architecture

How to Implement This

Switching from Client-Side Rendering to Server-Side Rendering (or a hybrid approach) typically involves utilizing frameworks (like Next.js for React) that pre-render your contented connected the server.

This tin velocity up LCP since the browser receives a ready-made page. However, it’s a bigger task requiring codification changes and a bully knowing of your tech stack.

If you’re not comfy with that, you mightiness request to prosecute a developer oregon agency.

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Preload Important Resources

Impact: Medium | Effort: Medium | Helps Reduce: Resource Load Delay

Preloading tells the browser which files it should drawback oregon hole successful advance.

It tin shave disconnected a spot of loading clip and assistance your main contented look somewhat faster. For galore tiny sites, these optimizations won’t make melodramatic changes.

But connected bigger sites oregon those with tons of images and unsocial fonts, it tin marque a difference.

This is astir impactful for:

• Sites that trust connected off-site resources (e.g., fonts oregon images)
• Those comfy editing HTML headers oregon utilizing plugins that tin bash this astatine scale

How to Implement This

You tin preload fonts and images by adding peculiar nexus tags successful your site’s <head>. They archer the browser to drawback oregon hole definite resources earlier they’re really needed.

You simply adhd rel=“preload” to the <link> tag. Like this:

How overmuch effort this requires depends connected your circumstantial setup and however galore pages you privation to deploy it on. But it’s a reasonably elemental process that tin assistance trim your LCP score.

Boost Your Rankings by Improving Your Page Experience

Improving your LCP is 1 mode to boost your wide leafage acquisition for users.

In turn, this tin really extremity up having an interaction connected your rankings beyond Google’s leafage acquisition signals.

(It makes optimizing for factors similar LCP and the different Core Web Vitals A LOT much important.)

The station How to Improve Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) successful Under an Hour appeared archetypal connected Backlinko.