What is LCP (Largest Contentful Paint)?
A metric measuring how long it takes for the largest visible content element to finish loading.
Why It Matters
LCP reflects how quickly the main content appears, which is a key part of perceived loading speed.
Real-World Example
A hero image that takes 4 seconds to load gives a poor LCP score. Optimising it to load in 1.5 seconds is much better.
“Understanding terms like LCP (Largest Contentful Paint) matters because it helps you have better conversations with developers and make smarter decisions about your software. You do not need to be technical. You just need to know enough to ask the right questions.”
Related Terms
Core Web Vitals
Google's three key metrics for measuring page loading speed, interactivity, and visual stability.
CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift)
A metric measuring how much page content unexpectedly moves around while loading.
INP (Interaction to Next Paint)
A metric measuring the overall responsiveness of a page to user interactions throughout its lifetime.
TTFB (Time to First Byte)
The time from when a browser requests a page to when it receives the first byte of data from the server.
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Related Terms
Core Web Vitals
Google's three key metrics for measuring page loading speed, interactivity, and visual stability.
CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift)
A metric measuring how much page content unexpectedly moves around while loading.
INP (Interaction to Next Paint)
A metric measuring the overall responsiveness of a page to user interactions throughout its lifetime.
TTFB (Time to First Byte)
The time from when a browser requests a page to when it receives the first byte of data from the server.
Cache
A temporary storage that keeps copies of frequently accessed data for faster retrieval
CDN
A network of servers around the world that stores copies of your content closer to users