Does LCP (Largest Contentful Paint) affect rankings?

Confirmed Based on 14,617 data points
English Deutsch Svenska Nederlands Español Italiano Polski

What the Data Shows

Pages with LCP of 2.5-4s get the most impressions. The spread is ~17% — moderate LCP pages outperform both the fastest and slowest.

Bottom line: LCP affects impressions, and the top bucket in our data is 2.5–4.0s.

How to Read This Chart

The x-axis shows LCP buckets in seconds. Each bar shows relative impressions for pages in that bucket. Look for the peak: pages in the 2.5–4.0s range get the most impressions. The gap between best and worst buckets is about 17%.

Background

LCP is the moment the main content shows. It is one of Google’s Core Web Vitals. Many SEOs think “faster is always better” or “speed is too small to matter.” Our dataset shows a real ranking signal, but not a straight line.

What to Do Next

  1. 1

    Pull p75 LCP by template in Search Console high

    Find the page groups driving your 4s+ URLs.

  2. 2

    Identify the LCP element on top landing pages high

    Confirm if it is an image, H1 block, or video poster.

  3. 3

    Preload the LCP image and set fetchpriority=high medium

    Make the browser request the LCP asset first.

  4. 4

    Set a performance budget for hero assets low

    Cap hero images and fonts so new releases do not push LCP over 4s.

Best Practices

  1. 1

    Keep p75 LCP under 2.5s (field data)

    Use Search Console and CrUX, not just lab tests. If your p75 stays above 4s, impressions drop fast.

  2. 2

    Ship the LCP element in <200KB

    Your LCP is often the hero image or headline block. Large images push LCP past 4s on mobile.

  3. 3

    Cut TTFB to <800ms on templates

    Slow server response delays every render step. If TTFB is high, front-end tweaks won’t move LCP much.

  4. 4

    Remove render blockers before 1.5s (CSS/JS)

    Inline critical CSS and delay non-critical scripts. If you block the main thread, LCP waits even on fast hosting.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

  • Chasing lab LCP while field LCP stays bad

    You “fix” Lighthouse, but users still see 4–6s LCP on real devices.

  • Making pages fast by stripping key content

    Relevance drops, links to the right sections disappear, and impressions fall anyway.

  • Lazy-loading the LCP image

    The browser delays the one asset that must load first, so LCP gets worse.

What Works

  • + Faster above-the-fold render reduces quick bounces on search landings.
  • + Better Core Web Vitals status can help in close ranking ties.
  • + Lower server and render time improves performance on long-tail mobile traffic.

What Doesn’t

  • - Shaving 0.2s when you are already “Good” often won’t move impressions.
  • - Desktop-only wins can hide mobile LCP losses, where most impressions live.
  • - Heavy client-side rendering can look “fast” in dev, but slow in the field.

Expert Tip

Watch for LCP “winner changes” across breakpoints. On some templates, the LCP element flips from an H1 on desktop to a hero image on mobile. Fix the mobile LCP asset first, then lock it in with preload and correct sizing.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does LCP affect Google rankings?
Yes. We see meaningful impression differences across LCP buckets on 14K+ pages.
Is LCP a direct ranking factor or just a UX metric?
It is part of the page experience system. It behaves like a real signal in aggregate data.
What LCP should I aim for?
Aim for p75 under 2.5s for “Good.” Treat 4s+ as urgent.
If LCP affects rankings, why don’t the fastest pages win?
Speed is not the only variable. Very fast pages can be thinner, less linked, or on different templates.
Can strong links and content offset slow LCP?
Sometimes, but you pay a tax. Slow LCP can cap impressions when competitors are similar.
Share: Post Share
Methodology

All data comes from real websites tracked by SEOJuice. We use the latest snapshot per page so each page counts once, regardless of site size. We filter for pages with at least 10 Google Search Console impressions and valid ranking positions (1-100).

Data is refreshed weekly. Correlation does not imply causation — these insights show associations, not guaranteed outcomes.

Related Myths

Does readability affect rankings?

Confirmed

We compared readability scores against relative impressions across 17K+ unique pages.

See the data

Does longer content rank better?

Confirmed

We analyzed word counts across 35K+ unique pages and compared relative impressions.

See the data

Does meta description consistency improve CTR?

It Depends

We measured how description-to-content consistency correlates with click-through rates.

See the data

Want to check these metrics for your site?

SEOJuice tracks all these metrics automatically and helps you improve them.

Try SEOJuice Free