Improving your Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) score is essential for ensuring a fast, seamless user experience on your website. A slow LCP can lead to higher bounce rates, lower conversions, and poor search rankings, directly impacting your business performance. Whether you manage an e-commerce store, a corporate website, or a content-driven platform, optimising your LCP score helps retain visitors and enhances engagement.
In this article, you’ll discover the top strategies to improve your LCP score, from optimising server response times to implementing modern image formats—helping you achieve faster load times and better overall site performance.
Key Takeaways
- Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) is a critical web performance metric that measures how quickly the most important content on a page loads, impacting SEO, user experience, and conversions.
- A good LCP score is 2.5 seconds or less, while anything above 4 seconds is considered poor and can lead to higher bounce rates and lower rankings.
- Common causes of poor LCP include slow server response times, large unoptimised images, render-blocking JavaScript and CSS, and third-party scripts.
- Effective ways to improve Largest Contentful Paint include optimising server performance, compressing images, reducing render-blocking elements, using a CDN, and implementing lazy loading.
- Regular monitoring and maintenance, using tools like Google PageSpeed Insights, Lighthouse, and Core Web Vitals, ensure consistent Largest Contentful Paint performance for long-term success.
What is Largest Contentful Paint (LCP)?
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Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) is a key website performance metric that measures how quickly the most important content on a webpage becomes visible to users. This could be a banner image, a product photo, or a large text block—essentially, the first thing your visitors notice when they land on your site.
Unlike general page speed metrics, Largest Contentful Paint focuses on user experience. A fast LCP means visitors can see and interact with your content quickly, while a slow LCP can frustrate users and drive them away.
Why Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) Matters for Website Performance
Largest Contentful Paint is crucial in determining your website’s effectiveness and overall business performance.
- Affects SEO Rankings: Google uses LCP as a ranking factor, meaning a slow-loading page can hurt your visibility in search results.
- Boosts Conversions: The faster your key content loads, the more likely visitors are to stay, explore, and complete actions like signing up or making a purchase.
- Reduces Bounce Rates: If your site takes too long to load, users are likelier to leave before engaging with your content, leading to missed opportunities.
In Singapore’s competitive digital landscape, ensuring a fast LCP can help you attract and retain customers, maximising the return on your digital marketing efforts.
What is a Good Largest Contentful Paint Score?
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As Google’s Core Web Vitals recommends, a good Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) score is 2.5 seconds or less. This means the largest visible content on your page should load within this time frame to provide a smooth user experience. Google categorises LCP performance into three levels:
- Good: 2.5 seconds or less
- Needs Improvement: Between 2.5 and 4 seconds
- Poor: More than 4 seconds
Why Does Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) Score Matter?
Your LCP score directly affects user engagement, SEO performance, and conversion rates. A slow LCP can frustrate visitors and cause them to leave before interacting with your content. A low LCP score signals a need for optimisation. Addressing performance issues ensures a better user experience, stronger search rankings, and higher engagement—key factors in maximising your digital marketing success.
How to Measure Largest Contentful Paint (LCP)
Measuring your LCP is essential for understanding your website’s performance and identifying areas for improvement. Several tools are available to help you track your LCP score accurately.
1. Google PageSpeed Insights
Google PageSpeed Insights provides a detailed analysis of your website’s loading performance, including your LCP score. It offers Lab Data (simulated tests) and Field Data (real user experience data), helping you pinpoint slow-loading elements.
2. Google Search Console (Core Web Vitals Report)
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The Core Web Vitals report in Google Search Console is the best tool for monitoring Largest Contentful Paint across multiple pages. It categorises pages as Good, Needs Improvement, or Poor, based on real user data from Chrome User Experience Report (CrUX).
3. Lighthouse (Chrome DevTools)
Lighthouse, available in Chrome DevTools, performs your website’s performance audit. It shows your Largest Contentful Paint score and recommends improvements. You can access it by:
- Opening Chrome DevTools (Right-click > Inspect > Lighthouse tab)
- Running a performance audit to get detailed LCP insights
4. WebPageTest
WebPageTest allows you to test LCP under different network conditions, devices, and locations for more advanced analysis. This is useful for diagnosing LCP issues specific to mobile users or international visitors. Tracking your LCP score helps you identify bottlenecks affecting user experience. By measuring and optimising it regularly, you ensure your website loads quickly, improving SEO rankings, engagement, and conversion rates.
What Causes a Low Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) Score?
A poor Largest Contentful Paint score often results from slow-loading website elements that delay how quickly users can see and interact with your content. Identifying the root causes of low LCP scores is the first step towards optimising your website for better performance. Here are some common reasons behind a low score:
Slow Server Response Times
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If your web server takes too long to respond, every other process in the loading sequence is delayed, including rendering the largest content.
Causes may include:
- Unoptimised backend code
- Overloaded or underpowered servers
- Lack of content delivery network (CDN) usage
Solution: To reduce latency, use a fast, reliable hosting provider, implement caching, and leverage a CDN.
Render-Blocking JavaScript and CSS
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Heavy JavaScript files and unoptimised CSS can block the browser from rendering the page quickly, delaying LCP. This happens when scripts and stylesheets load before essential content.
Solution: Minify CSS and JavaScript, defer non-critical scripts and use asynchronous loading techniques.
Large or Unoptimised Images
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High-resolution images take longer to load, especially if they are not properly compressed or formatted. This significantly impacts LCP, particularly on mobile devices.
Solution: Use next-gen image formats like WebP, enable lazy loading, and compress images without sacrificing quality.
Client-Side Rendering (CSR) Delays
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The browser must execute scripts before displaying the content if your website relies heavily on JavaScript frameworks like React or Angular. This increases LCP time, especially on slower devices.
Solution: Implement server-side rendering (SSR) or static site generation (SSG) to deliver pre-rendered content faster.
Slow Third-Party Resources
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External fonts, analytics scripts, or ad networks can slow your page load time, delaying LCP.
Solution: Load third-party scripts asynchronously, use system fonts where possible, and remove unnecessary third-party integrations.
Addressing these common causes creates a faster, more engaging website that keeps visitors on your page and improves digital marketing results.
Effective Methods to Improve Largest Contentful Paint (LCP)
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Improving your LCP score ensures your website loads quickly, providing a smooth user experience while boosting SEO rankings and conversion rates. Here are the most effective strategies to optimise your LCP performance.
Optimise Server Response Time
A slow server response delays everything on your webpage, including LCP.
Solutions:
- Use a high-performance hosting provider with low latency.
- Implement server-side caching to reduce processing time.
- Use a Content Delivery Network (CDN) to distribute content across multiple locations for faster delivery.
Minimise Render-Blocking Resources
JavaScript and CSS files can delay the rendering of the largest visible content.
Solutions:
- Minify and compress CSS and JavaScript files.
- Use asynchronous loading (async) or deferred loading (defer) for non-essential scripts.
- Remove unused CSS and JavaScript to reduce file size.
Optimise and Compress Images
Large images are one of the most common causes of poor LCP scores.
Solutions:
- Convert images to next-gen formats like WebP for smaller file sizes.
- Implement lazy loading to defer offscreen images.
- Use responsive images based on the user’s device to serve the right size.
Implement Server-Side Rendering (SSR) or Static Site Generation (SSG)
Websites that rely on client-side rendering (CSR) can have slower Largest Contentful Paint scores due to delayed content display.
Solutions:
- Use server-side rendering (SSR) to generate HTML on the server for faster initial loading.
- Consider static site generation (SSG) for pre-built pages that load instantly.
Reduce Third-Party Script Impact
External scripts, such as ads, analytics tools, and social media embeds, can slow down your Largest Contentful Paint.
Solutions:
- Remove unnecessary third-party scripts.
- Load essential scripts asynchronously to prevent delays.
- Use a tag manager to streamline script loading.
Use a Faster Web Font Strategy
Custom fonts can delay text rendering, affecting Largest Contentful Paint.
Solutions:
- Use system fonts instead of external web fonts.
- Implement font-display: swap in CSS to load text immediately with fallback fonts.
- Subset fonts to include only necessary characters.
A fast Largest Contentful Paint score enhances user engagement, reduces bounce rates, and improves search rankings. Applying these strategies creates a high-performing website that engages visitors and maximises your digital marketing efforts.
Monitoring and Maintaining Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) Performance
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Improving your Largest Contentful Paint score is not a one-time task—it requires ongoing monitoring and maintenance to ensure your website continues to deliver a fast and seamless experience. Regularly tracking performance and making necessary optimisations will help sustain high rankings, engagement, and conversion rates.
Use Performance Monitoring Tools
To keep track of your Largest Contentful Paint score and identify potential issues, leverage reliable performance monitoring tools:
- Google PageSpeed Insights: Provides an overview of your LCP score and actionable recommendations.
- Google Search Console (Core Web Vitals Report): Offers real-world LCP data from actual users, highlighting slow pages.
- Lighthouse (Chrome DevTools): Conducts in-depth performance audits to pinpoint LCP bottlenecks.
- WebPageTest: Allows testing Largest Contentful Paint under different conditions (devices, network speeds, locations).
Set Up Real User Monitoring (RUM)
Lab tests are helpful, but real-world conditions vary. Real User Monitoring (RUM) tools, such as Google Chrome User Experience Report (CrUX), track LCP based on actual visitors’ interactions, helping you identify location-based or device-specific performance issues.
Regularly Optimise Images and Media
Unoptimised images are among the most common reasons for LCP degradation over time. Maintain fast load times by:
- Using next-gen image formats (e.g., WebP, AVIF) to reduce file size.
- Regularly compressing images and optimising new uploads.
- Implementing lazy loading for below-the-fold media.
Monitor and Reduce Third-Party Script Impact
New third-party integrations (ads, analytics, tracking tools) can slow down your LCP without your knowledge.
Periodically:
- Audit and remove unnecessary third-party scripts.
- Load essential scripts asynchronously to prevent render-blocking delays.
- Use a tag manager to control script execution efficiently.
Keep Your Hosting and CDN Optimised
A slow server can significantly impact your LCP performance. Ensure your hosting environment is continually optimised by:
- Upgrading to fast, reliable hosting with strong server response times.
- Using a Content Delivery Network (CDN) to reduce latency for global visitors.
- Enabling server-side caching to speed up content delivery.
Test Performance Regularly
Website changes, such as new design elements, content updates, or additional features, can impact LCP. Before rolling out major updates:
- Run Lighthouse audits in Chrome DevTools to assess LCP impact.
- Conduct A/B tests to see how changes affect page speed.
- Monitor performance metrics in Google Search Console to catch any slowdowns early.
By consistently monitoring and optimising your LCP score, you prevent performance drops and ensure your website continues to deliver maximum impact for your business.
Let the Pros Help Improve Your Largest Contentful Paint Score
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Optimising your Largest Contentful Paint score ensures a fast, high-performing website that enhances user experience, boosts search rankings, and maximises conversions. While implementing best practices can improve your LCP, achieving and maintaining top performance requires ongoing monitoring and expert optimisation.
Instead of struggling with technical complexities, let the professionals handle it. MediaOne’s digital marketing and web performance specialists can fine-tune your website for optimal speed and SEO success.
Get in touch with MediaOne today to improve your Largest Contentful Paint score and give your business the competitive edge it needs.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can LCP measure elements that are below the fold?
LCP primarily measures elements within the viewport. However, if a user loads the page and has already scrolled to a point where below-the-fold content is visible or if the page programmatically scrolls to that point, LCP can consider those elements.
What is the difference between LCP in lab tests and real-user monitoring?
Lab tests simulate page loads under controlled conditions, while real-user monitoring collects data from actual users. Variations can occur due to network conditions, devices, and user behaviour differences.
How does LCP interact with other Core Web Vitals metrics?
LCP is one of the three Core Web Vitals, alongside First Input Delay (FID) and Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS). Optimising LCP improves overall page load performance and positively influences FID and CLS scores.
Can browser extensions or plugins affect LCP measurements?
Yes, browser extensions or plugins can inject additional scripts or styles, potentially impacting LCP by delaying rendering the largest contentful element.
Is LCP measured differently on mobile versus desktop devices?
Yes, LCP can vary between mobile and desktop devices due to differences in screen sizes, network conditions, and hardware capabilities. Therefore, it’s important to monitor and optimise LCP across both platforms.
