PerformanceHigh

LCP (Largest Contentful Paint) too high on WordPress

Your site's Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) exceeds 2.5 seconds. This is the time before the main visible element of the page is loaded.

Why it matters

LCP is a Core Web Vital used directly by Google in its ranking algorithm since 2021. An LCP > 4s is rated "poor" and significantly penalizes SEO.

How to fix

  1. 1

    Identify the LCP element

    Open Chrome DevTools → Performance → record a load → look for the LCP annotation in the timeline. It is often a hero image, a text block or a banner.

  2. 2

    Optimize the LCP image (main cause)

    html
    <!-- Preload the LCP image -->
<link rel="preload" as="image" href="/hero-image.webp" fetchpriority="high">

<!-- LCP image without lazy loading, with dimensions -->
<img src="/hero-image.webp" width="1200" height="600" fetchpriority="high" decoding="async" alt="...">
  3. 3

    Enable server cache

    WP Rocket, LiteSpeed Cache, or W3 Total Cache reduce the Time To First Byte (TTFB), the primary LCP factor. On Apache/Nginx, also configure browser caching.

  4. 4

    Use a CDN

    Cloudflare (free), BunnyCDN or CloudFront bring static files closer to your visitors. This reduces network latency that contributes to LCP.

Related articles

PerformanceFCP (First Contentful Paint) too highPerformanceImages in JPEG/PNG format - WebP or AVIF recommendedPerformanceImages without lazy loading on WordPress

Ready to fix this issue on your site?

Audit my site for free →