The State of Web Vitals

Connection hints

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

Field data PhoneDesktopAll Scope All sites Q1 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
94,748
sites measured
desktop field data

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

The State of Web Vitals · Q1 2026 · 94,910 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 32173 64346
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8–9 >p98
Good (≤0.1) Needs improvement Poor (>0.25) Site count
The State of Web Vitals · Q1 2026 · 94,910 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 64,346 78% 0.03
1 14,501 79% 0.03
2 7,044 77% 0.03
3 3,428 75% 0.03
4 2,243 79% 0.03
5 1,078 81% 0.03
6 587 79% 0.04
7 354 75% 0.03
8–9 603 77% 0.04
>p98 564 73% 0.04
Good Needs Improvement Poor Faded rows: under 100 sites

Connection hints — dns prefetch 0. p75 1. p99 8. At the low end (0): CLS 0.03. At the high end (>p98): CLS 0.04. computed

The State of Web Vitals · Q1 2026 · 94,910 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 34058 68116
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 >p98
Good (≤0.1) Needs improvement Poor (>0.25) Site count
The State of Web Vitals · Q1 2026 · 94,910 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 68,116 79% 0.02
1 10,230 75% 0.04
2 8,950 79% 0.03
3 3,772 80% 0.03
4 1,932 77% 0.03
5 762 73% 0.04
6 340 75% 0.04
7 226 78% 0.03
>p98 420 66% 0.06
Good Needs Improvement Poor Faded rows: under 100 sites

Connection hints — preconnect 0. p75 1. p99 6. At the low end (0): CLS 0.02. At the high end (>p98): CLS 0.06. computed

The State of Web Vitals · Q1 2026 · 94,910 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 33652 67303
0 1 2 3 4 5 6–7 8–9 10–13 14–17 18–24 >p98
Good (≤0.1) Needs improvement Poor (>0.25) Site count
The State of Web Vitals · Q1 2026 · 94,910 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 67,303 78% 0.03
1 7,633 77% 0.03
2 5,532 78% 0.03
3 2,509 78% 0.03
4 3,625 81% 0.02
5 2,253 81% 0.03
6–7 2,361 79% 0.03
8–9 1,147 76% 0.04
10–13 1,014 72% 0.04
14–17 374 76% 0.04
18–24 460 72% 0.04
>p98 537 73% 0.05
Good Needs Improvement Poor Faded rows: under 100 sites

Connection hints — preload 0. p75 1. p99 18. At the low end (0): CLS 0.03. At the high end (>p98): CLS 0.05. computed

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

How does this affect the Core Web Vitals?

Connection hints correlate with the LCP. Dns-prefetch hints separates passing sites from failing sites the most. With few dns-prefetch hints, 89% of sites pass the LCP. With many, 73% do. The decline is gradual. There is no point where sites suddenly start failing.

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