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 Q1 2026 edition · Desktop 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
90,431 sites
85.9%
Top share
none
0.03
Top CLS
Median for none

85.9% of LCP images get no priority help at all.

The State of Web Vitals · Q1 2026 · 94,910 sites · desktop 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
highprio0.029% of sites
none0.0386% of sites
preconnect0.044% of sites
preload0.042% of sites
VariantShare of sitesMedian
highprio 7,739 sites
9%
0.02
none 77,667 sites
86%
0.03
preconnect 3,364 sites
4%
0.04
preload 1,661 sites
2%
0.04

Little daylight between the groups: every variant sits near 0.02 median CLS. computed

The State of Web Vitals · Q1 2026 · 94,910 sites · desktop field datacorewebvitals.io/state-of-cwv
3

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

VariantSitesPassing CLSCLS
Highprio 8.6% 7,739 82% 0.02
None 85.9% 77,667 78% 0.03
Preconnect 3.7% 3,364 77% 0.04
Preload 1.8% 1,661 74% 0.04
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

82% of Highprio sites pass CLS. Preload trails 8 points behind, leaving 26% of its sites failing. computed

The State of Web Vitals · Q1 2026 · 94,910 sites · desktop 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.

How does this affect the Core Web Vitals?

The choice barely moves the LCP: 87% pass at best, 85% at worst. This signal does not separate passing sites from failing ones.

The split is bigger on CLS. With Highprio, 82% of sites pass it. With Preload, 74% do.

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 94,910 sites, representing millions of real page loads · How we measured