The State of Web Vitals

LCP priority hint

The strongest priority signal on the LCP element: preload, fetchpriority, preconnect, or none.

Field data PhoneDesktopAll Scope All sites Q2 2026 edition · Phone field outcomes
Metric LCP INP CLS
1

At a glance the headline numbers for LCP priority hint

The strongest priority signal on the LCP element: preload, fetchpriority, preconnect, or none.

4
Categories
176,759 sites
86.2%
Top share
none
0.00
Top CLS
Median for none

86.2% of LCP images get no priority help at all.

The State of Web Vitals · Q2 2026 · 189,915 sites · phone field datacorewebvitals.io/state-of-cwv
2

LCP priority hint who uses what, and how stable each group is

Median CLS
0
0.05
0.10
0.15
0.20
0.25
none0.0086% of sites
highprio0.008% of sites
preconnect0.004% of sites
preload0.002% of sites
VariantShare of sitesMedian
none 152,391 sites
86%
0.00
highprio 14,648 sites
8%
0.00
preconnect 6,537 sites
4%
0.00
preload 3,183 sites
2%
0.00

Little daylight between the groups: every variant sits near 0.00 median CLS. computed

The State of Web Vitals · Q2 2026 · 189,915 sites · phone field datacorewebvitals.io/state-of-cwv
3

Passing CLS per LCP priority hint which group passes the CLS most often

VariantSitesPassing CLSCLS
Highprio 8.3% 14,648 91% 0.00
Preload 1.8% 3,183 89% 0.00
None 86.2% 152,391 89% 0.00
Preconnect 3.7% 6,537 87% 0.00
Good Needs Improvement Poor Sorted best-passing first · median colored by its own rating · pass = good CLS (0.1 at p75) · one value per site

No variant stands out: pass rates sit between 87% and 91%. computed

The State of Web Vitals · Q2 2026 · 189,915 sites · phone field datacorewebvitals.io/state-of-cwv
4

Why this matters for the Core Web Vitals, and where to start fixing it

Browsers start most images at low priority, because most images do not matter. The LCP image is the exception, and without help the browser only finds out after layout. fetchpriority=high says it upfront. A preload moves the discovery earlier as well. None means the most important resource on the page starts at the back of the queue.

One hint on one image. Spraying fetchpriority=high across the page puts the queue right back where it started.

Go fix it Preload the LCP image → Guide to resource prioritization → Fix slow hero images →
Related signals LCP image size → LCP origin → LCP image format → LCP element type → Chrome field data from 189,915 sites, representing millions of real page loads · How we measured