What is LCP (Largest Contentful Paint)?
How long it takes for the largest visible element (hero image, headline, etc.) to render. Google's primary loading-speed metric.
Also known as: Largest Contentful Paint, load time
Largest Contentful Paint measures when the largest image, video, or text block in the viewport finishes loading. It's the closest single metric to what a user actually means when they say 'the page loaded.'
A good LCP is under 2.5 seconds. Anything between 2.5 and 4 seconds is flagged as 'needs improvement.' Over 4 seconds is poor — and is a real ranking penalty since the 2024 algorithm updates.
LCP is dominated by a few things: image weight (every unoptimized hero image adds 1-2 seconds), font loading (use display: swap), JavaScript blocking (defer non-critical scripts), and server response time (use a CDN). Nexora ships every site sub-1s LCP on mobile by handling all four at the build stage rather than as a post-launch optimization.
Every 100ms of LCP latency costs roughly 1% of conversions. A 4-second-load site converts at half the rate of a 1-second site.