Optimize LCP (Largest Contentful Paint) in WordPress

The Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) is one of the most important metrics in Google’s Core Web Vitals.

It measures how long it takes for the largest visible piece of content on your website to load. Many website owners struggle to optimize LCP because it's influenced by many different factors.

In this post, I'll show you step by step how to improve the LCP in WordPress to improve both the user experience and your SEO ranking.

What is the Largest Contentful Paint (LCP)?

The LCP measures the time it takes for the largest content element in the visible area (above the fold) of a page to fully load. This can be an image, a video, or a large block of text. Google evaluates load time as follows:

• Good: 0 to 2.5 seconds
• Room for improvement: 2.5 to 4 seconds
• Bad: Over 4 seconds

Why is the LCP important?

A fast LCP contributes significantly to a positive user experience. Visitors expect websites to load quickly; delays can lead to higher bounce rates. Furthermore, the LCP influences search engine rankings, which influences your website's visibility.

Factors influencing LCP

The LCP consists of four main components:

1. Time to First Byte (TTFB): The time it takes for the server to send the first byte response.
2. Delay in loading resources: Waiting times for resources such as images or scripts to load.
3. Resource loading time: The actual time required to load resources.
4. Delay in rendering elements: Time the browser takes to render content.

How to optimize the LCP in WordPress

1. Analyze your LCP components

Use tools like Google PageSpeed Insights, KeyCDN Performance Test or the Chrome DevToolsto find out which elements are negatively impacting your LCP. Identify large files, slow server response times, or render-blocking resources.

2. Exclude above-the-fold images from lazy loading

Images in the visible area should load immediately. Lazy loading delays the loading of these images and can degrade the LCP. Make sure your caching or optimization plugin offers the option to exclude certain images from lazy loading or to preload them.

Here's how:

• Preload of critical images: Some plugins like Performance Matters or FlyingPress allow the first few images to be preloaded automatically.
• Manual exclusion: If your plugin does not support this feature, you can manually exclude images from lazy loading by adding a special CSS class to them or specifying it in the plugin settings.

3. Prioritize above-the-fold images

Use the fetchpriorityattribute to give important images a higher loading priority:

Plugins like FlyingPress support this attribute and can set it automatically for you.

4. Reduce the size of CSS and JavaScript files

Large CSS and JavaScript files can significantly increase loading time. Here are some tips to optimize them:

• Minimize your CSS and JS files to remove unnecessary characters.
• Remove unused CSS and JavaScript with plugins like Performance Matters or Asset CleanUp.
• Consolidate multiple files into a single one to reduce HTTP requests.
• Delay loading non-critical scripts to avoid render blocking.

5. Improve the Time to First Byte (TTFB)

The TTFB has a major impact on the LCP. Here are steps to improve it:

• Switch to a fast hosting provider: Avoid providers with known slow server performance and instead choose a host with a fast server, NVMe SSD storage and support for newer technologies such as Breadli and Redis.
• Use a Content Delivery Network (CDN): A CDN like Cloudflare Enterprise or BunnyCDN can deliver content closer to the user and shorten loading times.
• Enable caching: Use a powerful caching plugin and make sure it is configured correctly.

6. Eliminate render-blocking CSS and JavaScript

Render-blocking resources delay page rendering. Here's how to eliminate them:

• Critical CSS: Load only the CSS necessary for the visible area immediately and load the rest asynchronously.
• Defer JavaScript: Delay the loading of JavaScript files so that they do not block rendering.
• Async Loading: Load scripts asynchronously to reduce loading time.

7. Use font-display: optional for web fonts

Web fonts can delay the rendering of your page. font-display: optional To prevent font loading from blocking content:

@font-face {
  font-family: 'YourFont';
  src: url('/fonts/YourFont.woff2') format('woff2');
  font-display: optional;
}

8. Reduce font requirements and file sizes

• Consolidate font families and weights: Use only the necessary variants.
• Host fonts locally: This reduces external requests to third parties.
• Preload important fonts: Give the browser a hint to load this early.

9. Use lazy rendering for HTML elements

Delay the loading of invisible elements below the fold to improve initial loading time. Plugins like FlyingPress or LiteSpeed Cache support lazy rendering of HTML elements.

10. Use preload, preconnect and prefetch

Use resource hints to help the browser load important resources more efficiently:

• Preload: Prioritize loading important resources like fonts or critical CSS.
• Preconnect: Connect to external domains early to reduce loading time.
• Prefetch: Preload resources needed on subsequent pages.

11. Optimize your images

Images are often the largest content on a page and can greatly influence the LCP:

• Compress images without loss of quality with tools like Imagify or ShortPixel.
• Use modern formats How WebPthat offer smaller file sizes.
• Scale images correctly: Make sure images are not larger than necessary.
• Use responsive imagesto deliver optimized versions for different screen sizes.

12. Enable Brotli compression

If your server supports Brotli, enable it to take advantage of more efficient file compression than GZIP. Many modern hosting providers offer Brotli by default.

13. Increase the cache expiration time

Longer cache times prevent the server from having to frequently reprovision resources, reducing loading time. Set a cache expiration time of at least one month if that makes sense for your website.

14. Choose the right cache plugin and settings

A good cache plugin can make a big difference. FlyingPress and LiteSpeed Cache offer advanced optimization features and are often more effective than other plugins.

Recommendations:

• FlyingPress: Provides features like image preloading, JavaScript delay, and more.
• LiteSpeed Cache: Ideal for servers running on LiteSpeed; offers extensive optimization options.

15. Enable Signed Exchanges (SXGs) in Cloudflare

With Signed Exchanges, Google can preload your pages, improving load times for users who arrive via search. You can enable this feature in Cloudflare's settings under Speed > Optimization activate.

16. Use Cloudflare Workers for serverless rendering

Cloudflare Workers can optimize resource loading and improve LCP, enabling serverless content rendering closer to the user.

17. Place heavy content below the fold

Elements such as ads, large animations, or extensive scripts should be placed below the viewable area. This allows them to load slowly and not impact the LCP.

Tip: Use plugins like Performance Mattersto delay the loading of scripts.

Checklist for optimizing the LCP

• Conduct analysis: Use tools like PageSpeed Insightsto identify LCP problems.
• Optimize above-the-fold images: Exclude from lazy loading and preload.
• Reduce CSS/JS: Minify files, remove unused ones and load them asynchronously.
• Improve TTFB: Choose fast hosting and use a CDN.
• Eliminate render blocking: Insert critical CSS inline, lazy loading JavaScript.
• Optimize fonts: font-display: optional and host fonts locally.
• Use lazy rendering: Delay loading of invisible HTML elements.
• Set resource references: Use preload, preconnect and prefetch.
• Optimize images: Compress, scale properly and use WebP.
• Activate Brotli: Use more efficient compression if available.
• Increase cache time: Set longer expiration times for static resources.
• Choose a suitable cache plugin: Use FlyingPress or LiteSpeed Cache.
• Enable SXGs in Cloudflare: Signed Exchanges for faster loading.
• Deploy Cloudflare Workers: For serverless rendering and better performance.
• Shift heavy content: Place ads and animations below the fold.
• Conduct regular tests: Continuously monitor and optimize performance.

How do I improve the Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) in WordPress?

To improve the Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) in WordPress, you should take the following steps:

• Optimize above-the-fold content: Make sure important content and resources above the visible area load immediately.
• Reduce and optimize files: Minify CSS, JavaScript, and images, compress them, and use lazy loading for media.
• Improve server response times (TTFB): Use fast hosting solutions and enable caching.
• Eliminate render blockages: Load only the necessary CSS/JavaScript early and move everything else to the end.

Conclusion

Optimizing the Largest Contentful Paint requires a holistic strategy, as many factors play a role. By implementing the steps above, you can significantly improve the loading time of your WordPress site. This not only leads to more satisfied visitors but also scores highly with search engines.

Use the checklist as a guide and optimize your website step by step for a better LCP score. Remember to run regular tests to ensure your optimizations are effective.