Largest Contentful Paint (LCP)
Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) is a Core Web Vital that measures the time it takes for the largest piece of content on the page to be rendered. This is typically the largest image or text block visible within the viewport, not including ads or other third-party content.
LCP is a key metric for evaluating the perceived load speed of a webpage.
Importance in SEO
LCP is important for SEO because it directly affects the user’s perception of a website’s speed. Slow LCP can lead to higher bounce rates and lower engagement, which can negatively impact SEO.
Google considers LCP as a ranking factor indirectly, so optimizing for LCP can improve a website’s search engine rankings.
Example
A user lands on a webpage and the largest image or text block takes more than 2.5 seconds to load. This would be considered a poor LCP score.
Do
- Optimize the loading of the largest content elements on the page, such as hero images or long blocks of text.
- Compress images and use responsive image sizes to reduce the time it takes for them to load.
- Prioritize the loading of above-the-fold content.
Don’t
- Overload the page with large, unoptimized media files.
- Delay the loading of critical page elements.
- Fail to test and monitor LCP performance across different devices and network conditions.
- Ignore LCP in the context of user experience; it’s not just about meeting a threshold but providing a fast and smooth user experience.