The State of Web Vitals

Connection hints

dns-prefetch, preconnect and preload links the document declares.

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

At a glance the headline numbers for Connection hints

dns-prefetch, preconnect and preload links the document declares.

0
dns-prefetch hints
on the typical page
0
preconnect hints
on the typical page
0
preloads
on the typical page
180,899
sites measured
desktop field data

Connection hints on the typical site: 0 dns-prefetch, 0 preconnect, 0 preload.

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

Distribution & median CLS site count and median CLS at each level of connection hints — dns prefetch

0.00 0.04 0.08 0.11 0.15
0.1
0 61448 122895
0–0 1–1 2+
Good (≤0.1) Needs improvement Poor (>0.25) Site count
The State of Web Vitals · Q2 2026 · 189,915 sites · desktop field datacorewebvitals.io/state-of-cwv
3

Passing CLS by connection hints — dns prefetch which level passes the CLS most often

Connection hints — dns prefetchSitesPassing CLSCLS
0–0 122,895 78% 0.03
1–1 27,829 79% 0.03
2+ 30,175 76% 0.03
Good Needs Improvement Poor Faded rows: under 100 sites

Connection hints — dns prefetch 0. p75 1. p99 8. At the low end (0–0): CLS 0.03. At the high end (2+): CLS 0.03. computed

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

Distribution & median CLS site count and median CLS at each level of connection hints — preconnect

0.00 0.04 0.08 0.11 0.15
0.1
0 64859 129717
0–0 1–1 2+
Good (≤0.1) Needs improvement Poor (>0.25) Site count
The State of Web Vitals · Q2 2026 · 189,915 sites · desktop field datacorewebvitals.io/state-of-cwv
5

Passing CLS by connection hints — preconnect which level passes the CLS most often

Connection hints — preconnectSitesPassing CLSCLS
0–0 129,717 78% 0.03
1–1 19,666 74% 0.04
2+ 31,516 78% 0.03
Good Needs Improvement Poor Faded rows: under 100 sites

Connection hints — preconnect 0. p75 1. p99 6. At the low end (0–0): CLS 0.03. At the high end (2+): CLS 0.03. computed

The State of Web Vitals · Q2 2026 · 189,915 sites · desktop field datacorewebvitals.io/state-of-cwv
6

Distribution & median CLS site count and median CLS at each level of connection hints — preload

0.00 0.04 0.08 0.11 0.15
0.1
0 64262 128523
0–0 1–1 2–2 3–3 4+
Good (≤0.1) Needs improvement Poor (>0.25) Site count
The State of Web Vitals · Q2 2026 · 189,915 sites · desktop field datacorewebvitals.io/state-of-cwv
7

Passing CLS by connection hints — preload which level passes the CLS most often

Connection hints — preloadSitesPassing CLSCLS
0–0 128,523 78% 0.03
1–1 14,628 77% 0.03
2–2 10,639 78% 0.03
3–3 4,702 79% 0.03
4+ 22,407 78% 0.03
Good Needs Improvement Poor Faded rows: under 100 sites

Connection hints — preload 0. p75 1. p99 18. At the low end (0–0): CLS 0.03. At the high end (4+): CLS 0.03. computed

The State of Web Vitals · Q2 2026 · 189,915 sites · desktop field datacorewebvitals.io/state-of-cwv
8

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

Hints move network work earlier. dns-prefetch resolves a domain name before it is needed. preconnect goes further and completes the TCP and TLS setup too. preload fetches one specific file that the scanner would otherwise find late, like a background hero image or a critical font.

Hints are easy to overuse. Every preconnect spends sockets and CPU on a connection you might never use. A preload that is not critical steals bandwidth from something that is. A handful of deliberate hints beats a wall of them.

Go fix it Guide to resource prioritization → Preload the LCP image → When preloading stylesheets does not make sense → 103 Early Hints →
Related signals Cacheable responses → Last-Modified present → Requests via CDN → HTML size (kB) → Chrome field data from 189,915 sites, representing millions of real page loads · How we measured