LCP priority hints (fetchpriority, preload, preconnect) and the Core Web Vitals
fetchpriority="high", <link rel="preload">, <link rel="preconnect">, or no hint at all: how priority hints cut LCP resource load delay (200 ms with preload vs 272 ms with no hint) and move Largest Contentful Paint.
86.0% of sites have no LCP priority hints. Of the 14.0% that do, 26% use <link rel="preconnect">, and 87% of those sites have a good LCP, against 86% of all sites.
LCP pass rate
Sites with <link rel="preconnect"> LCP priority hints have a good LCP most often: 87%, against 86% of all sites. Sites with <link rel="preload"> priority hints have it least often, at 85%.
LCP priority hints usage
14.0% of sites use LCP priority hints, and three in five of those use fetchpriority="high". <link rel="preconnect"> is 26% of the sites with priority hints, 3.7% of all sites.
Where priority hints save time: the four LCP phases
Across the four LCP sub-parts in Chrome's field data, the largest gap between <link rel="preconnect"> and no sits in time to first byte (TTFB): 494 ms median for <link rel="preconnect"> against 573 ms for no. Overall median field LCP is 1.4s for <link rel="preconnect"> (TTFB 494 ms, load delay 333 ms, load duration 121 ms, render delay 216 ms) versus 1.4s for no.
LCP priority hints combined with the loading attribute
Combining fetchpriority="high" with Eager reaches 91% good LCP across 1,649 sites (366 ms median load delay). At the other end, fetchpriority="high" paired with Auto sits at 85% across 3,714 sites (258 ms median load delay).
| Priority hint | No loading attribute (auto) | loading="lazy" | loading="eager" |
|---|---|---|---|
| No priority hint | 88% 46,193 sites | 89% 12,639 sites | 90% 2,831 sites |
| fetchpriority="high" | 85% 13,398 sites | 85% 208 sites | 91% 3,188 sites |
| <link rel="preload"> | 86% 592 sites | 72% 38 sites | 89% 80 sites |
| <link rel="preconnect"> | 85% 2,205 sites | 90% 1,622 sites | 91% 273 sites |
Understanding LCP priority hints
How fetchpriority and preload change Chrome's network queue
Chromium starts <img> requests at Low network priority while stylesheets and head scripts download at Highest or High priority, only promoting visible viewport images to High after layout completes. Adding fetchpriority="high" to the hero <img> sets its initial network priority to High during the preload scan, while <link rel="preload" as="image"> starts the download from the document <head> and cuts median resource load delay from 272 ms to 200 ms.
Add fetchpriority="high" directly to your hero <img> element, and use <link rel="preload" as="image" fetchpriority="high"> if the image is discovered late. Across all audited sites, 86.0% of LCP elements carry no priority hint at all (86% good LCP, 272 ms median resource load delay). Sites using fetchpriority="high" reach 87% good LCP (293 ms load delay), and sites using <link rel="preload"> cut median resource load delay to 200 ms. Apply priority hints strictly to the single LCP resource so other images do not compete for the same bandwidth.
How LCP priority hints plays out per platform
What the field data shows when you isolate a single CMS or framework.
WordPress 62,223 sites 84.8% of WordPress hero elements carry no priority hint (78% good LCP with highprio vs 75% with none).
WordPress 6.3+ adds fetchpriority="high" to the first detected content image during server rendering. Across WordPress, 10.7% of LCP elements carry fetchpriority="high" (78% good LCP, 1.6s median) and 84.8% carry no priority hint (75% good LCP, 1.8s median).
React & Next.js 9,390 sites 35.7% of React & Next.js sites set fetchpriority="high" on the LCP element (88% vs 76% good LCP).
Next.js <Image> supports the fetchPriority="high" and priority props. Across React sites, 35.7% set fetchpriority="high" on the LCP element (88% good LCP, 1.3s median) compared with 60.5% with no hint (76% good LCP, 1.6s median, 12 percentage points apart).
Shopify 8,177 stores 27.7% of Shopify stores set fetchpriority="high" on the hero image (1.2s median LCP).
Across Shopify storefronts, 27.7% set fetchpriority="high" on the LCP element (97% good LCP, 1.2s median) and 69.8% carry no priority hint (97% good LCP, 1.3s median).
By Arjen Karel · 210,902 crawled sites (69,745 with desktop Chrome field data, 196,430 sites with LCP priority hints, October 2026). How we measured.