When someone visits your website, they're looking for specific content—your main product image, hero banner, featured article, or primary headline. Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) measures how long it takes for this main, most important visual element to fully load and appear on their screen.
Unlike other speed measurements that track when anything appears, LCP focuses specifically on when your biggest, most meaningful content finishes loading. This is usually what visitors are actually waiting to see before they feel your website has truly loaded.
LCP directly impacts how visitors perceive your website's speed and quality:
The key point: LCP measures what actually matters to visitors—when they can see the content they came for.
LCP focuses on the visual elements that typically matter most to visitors:
What doesn't count: Navigation menus, headers, footers, sidebars, and small images usually don't count toward LCP because they're not typically the main content visitors are waiting to see.
You can easily check your LCP scores using these free tools:
The most important thing is understanding which element on your page is causing slow LCP times so you can focus your optimization efforts effectively.
Large banner images and hero photos are often the LCP element and the biggest opportunity for improvement. Compressing these images can dramatically improve your LCP score.
Simple fix: Use tools like TinyPNG, Squoosh, or ImageOptim to compress your main images. Aim to get them under 500KB while maintaining visual quality.
Newer image formats like WebP and AVIF can be 25-50% smaller than traditional JPEG and PNG files with the same visual quality.
Simple fix: Convert your largest images to WebP format. Many image compression tools offer this option, and most modern browsers support it.
Serving the same large desktop image to mobile users wastes bandwidth and slows down LCP. Different screen sizes should get appropriately sized images.
Simple fix: Create multiple sizes of your main images (small, medium, large) and use responsive image techniques to serve the right size to each device.
Tell the browser to start downloading your most important image (the LCP element) immediately, even before it's discovered in your HTML.
Simple fix: Add a preload tag in your HTML head section for your hero image. This gives it priority over other resources.
Slow server response times delay everything, including your LCP element. Fast hosting is especially important for image-heavy websites.
Simple fix: Consider upgrading to faster hosting or using a Content Delivery Network (CDN) to serve your images from locations closer to your visitors.
CSS and JavaScript files that must load before your page can display will delay your LCP element from appearing.
Simple fix: Inline critical CSS for above-the-fold content and defer non-essential JavaScript until after your main content loads.
Analytics tools, social media widgets, and other third-party elements can compete with your main content for loading priority.
Simple fix: Review all third-party scripts and remove any that aren't essential. Load remaining ones after your main content appears.
Mobile devices often have slower connections and less processing power, making LCP optimization even more critical for mobile visitors.
Simple fix: Test your LCP specifically on mobile devices and prioritize mobile optimization, as this is how most people will experience your website.
What's happening: Your hero image or main visual is too large or unoptimized, causing visitors to wait several seconds before seeing your primary content.
Simple solution: Compress your main image aggressively—aim for under 500KB. Consider whether a slightly lower quality image that loads in 1 second is better than a perfect image that takes 5 seconds.
What's happening: Your server response times are inconsistent, or your images are loading from different sources with varying speeds.
Simple solution: Use a reliable CDN to serve your images consistently, and consider upgrading your hosting if server response times are unpredictable.
What's happening: You're serving the same large images to mobile users who have slower connections and less powerful devices.
Simple solution: Create mobile-optimized versions of your main images that are significantly smaller in file size, and serve them specifically to mobile devices.
What's happening: Different content or layouts cause different elements to be the "largest," making optimization efforts inconsistent.
Simple solution: Standardize your layout so the same type of element (hero image, main headline) is consistently the largest across your important pages.
Different types of websites face specific LCP challenges:
| Website Type | Common LCP Element | Key Optimization Focus |
|---|---|---|
| E-commerce | Product images, hero banners | Image compression, responsive serving, fast CDN |
| Blogs/News | Featured images, article headlines | Image optimization, fast hosting, minimal third-party scripts |
| Business Sites | Hero images, main headlines | Professional image compression, reliable hosting |
| Portfolio | Portfolio images, showcase content | Balance between image quality and loading speed |
| Landing Pages | Hero sections, primary CTAs | Minimal design, optimized hero content, fast conversion |
Improving your Largest Contentful Paint isn't just about technical scores—it has real business impact:
Real-world example: When Vodafone improved their LCP by 31%, they saw an 8% increase in sales. COOK reduced their LCP and saw a 7% boost in conversions. The pattern is clear: faster main content loading leads to better business results.
Remember: LCP measures what visitors actually care about—when they can see your main content. Make that happen faster, and everything else improves.
Greadme's tools can identify exactly which elements are slowing down your LCP and provide step-by-step instructions to optimize them for faster loading and better user experience.
Optimize Your LCP Today