How to Fix LCP in Core Web Vitals? Boost User Experience

Core web vitals play vital role in your website ranking, this part falls under technical SEO and mostly performed by developer. As of now less number of people pay attention to this as they are unable to solve this issue. You can visit thousands of websites but find that no website has passed core web vitals, all are failed in that test. Core web vitals are important for ranking a website, as it plays vital role, there are tons of users who are searching that how to fix core web vitals, they are tough to solve but experts can help you to solve this. Through this blog we are supposed to clear your all doubts about core web vitals so let’s get started.

What is LCP (Largest Contentful Paint)?

LCP is the matric which is part of technical point on the website, it checks how long does it take to display largest content element to site visitors who view, here we are talking about the part that users see in the browser. Google, the search engine giant, has increasingly emphasized how page performance impacts user satisfaction and search rankings. One of the metrics that play a crucial role in determining this is Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), which is a vital part of the Core Web Vitals initiative.

LCP is one of the Core Web Vitals, a set of performance metrics that Google uses to assess and rank the quality of a website’s user experience. Core Web Vitals aim to help webmasters, developers, and designers focus on improving factors that directly impact user interaction, like loading performance, interactivity, and visual stability.

Why LCP Matters?

When users visit a website, their patience is often limited. A slow-loading website can lead to frustration, increased bounce rates, and lower user engagement. In fact, studies show that 53% of mobile users abandon a page that takes longer than 3 seconds to load. This is where LCP becomes critical.

LCP specifically measures the perceived load time from the user’s perspective. Unlike metrics like First Contentful Paint (FCP), which tracks the first piece of content, LCP focuses on the moment when the user perceives the page to be usable — that is, when the largest visual element is loaded and visible.

Google has set the following thresholds for LCP to ensure a good user experience:

- Good LCP: 2.5 seconds or less

- Needs Improvement: Between 2.5 to 4.0 seconds

- Poor LCP: 4.0 seconds or more

By optimizing your website’s LCP score, you enhance the user experience, which not only benefits your audience but can also improve your site’s SEO and rankings on Google.

How LCP Affects User Experience?

A fast LCP leads to a more satisfying experience for users. When the largest content on a page loads quickly, users can interact with it sooner, leading to a sense of responsiveness and usability. A slow LCP, on the other hand, can leave users staring at a blank or incomplete page, resulting in frustration and abandonment.

Here are a few specific ways LCP affects user experience:

1. First Impressions Matter: The LCP provides the user with a visual clue that the page is loading and usable. A fast LCP can make a website feel fast and professional, while a slow LCP makes it feel sluggish and unresponsive.

2. Engagement and Retention: When a website has a good LCP, users are more likely to stay longer and interact with the content. A poor LCP can cause users to leave before the page fully loads, leading to higher bounce rates.

3. Conversion Rates: Faster LCP can also directly impact conversion rates. If a page loads quickly, users are more likely to complete desired actions, such as making a purchase, subscribing to a newsletter, or clicking through to other pages.

How to Measure LCP?

You can measure LCP using various tools provided by Google. The most popular ones include:

1. Google PageSpeed Insights: This tool provides detailed insights into LCP, along with other metrics such as FCP (First Contentful Paint) and CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift). It gives recommendations for improving LCP and other performance scores.

2. Google Search Console: The Core Web Vitals report in Search Console gives webmasters valuable information about the LCP of their website and highlights potential issues.

3. Web Vitals Chrome Extension: This extension allows you to track LCP, FID (First Input Delay), and CLS in real-time as you interact with a page.

4. Lighthouse Audits: Lighthouse is an open-source tool built by Google that provides detailed performance audits, including LCP data.

How to Fix LCP?

Improving LCP is critical for providing a better user experience. Here are some strategies you can implement to enhance your LCP:

1. Optimize Images: Images often constitute the largest content on a page. Compressing and serving images in next-gen formats like WebP can significantly reduce the file size and improve load times. Additionally, implement lazy loading to load images only when they enter the viewport.

2. Prioritize Critical Content: Ensure that the most important visual content on your page (such as hero images, videos, or large text blocks) is prioritized in your HTML and CSS. Use techniques like server-side rendering or preloading key resources to make sure they load quickly.

3. Improve Server Response Time: Slow server response times can increase LCP. Hosting your website on a fast and reliable server, using content delivery networks (CDNs), and caching assets can significantly reduce server load and improve LCP.

4. Reduce JavaScript Blocking: Heavy JavaScript can delay the rendering of important content. Minimize, defer, and asynchronously load JavaScript files to ensure that they don’t block the rendering of the largest content element.

5. Minimize CSS and Render-Blocking Resources: Reduce the number of CSS and other resources that block the page from rendering quickly. Inline critical CSS for above-the-fold content and delay loading non-critical CSS.

6. Use a CDN: CDNs can distribute your content across various locations, ensuring faster load times by delivering content from servers closer to the user’s geographical location.

Conclusion

LCP is a crucial metric in today’s performance-focused web environment. As part of Google’s Core Web Vitals initiative, it directly impacts both user satisfaction and search rankings. By optimizing for LCP, you not only improve the performance and responsiveness of your site but also ensure a better experience for your visitors, potentially boosting engagement, conversions, and search visibility. If you want to fix your website's LCP and boost ranking then do contact CRSPL Technologies experts, they will grow your business digitally.