Lazy loading without wrecking Largest Contentful Paint

Short answer: Lazy-load below-the-fold images—not your LCP hero—otherwise you delay the metric that Core Web Vitals emphasises.

WordPress adds lazy loading by default in many setups; combine with theme decisions so the top visible image loads eagerly.

Rules of thumb

• Mark the largest above-the-fold image fetchpriority="high" where appropriate.
• Keep lazy loading for galleries and footers.
• Test LCP element in Search Console and lab tools after changes.

Common mistakes

Carousels that lazy-load the first slide, or fonts delaying text rendering while waiting for invisible images.

Measuring

Compare field data over weeks—single-day lab scores lie.

Frequently asked questions