Based on Google’s Core Web Vitals update, LCP (Largest Contentful Paint) is an integral ranking factor.
A site is considered to have a good LCP when its main content loads within 2.5 seconds of a user’s visit to the site. Over 4 seconds would be considered poor. Poor LCP can not only cause higher bounce rates and lower search rankings but also negatively impact conversion rates.
Slow server response times, render-blocking JavaScript and CSS and slow resource load times are some of the major reasons causing poor LCP. Businesses should optimise their CSS and JavaScript to enhance LCP.
Remove unused codes, minimise CSS file in use, install modern JavaScript, reduce payloads with code splitting and optimise CSS background images with media queries. Marketers should also optimise WebFonts, compress large images to smaller sized ones and use videos in place of GIFs to improve webpage loading speed.
[7 minute read]
