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 · Phone 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
phone 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 · phone field datacorewebvitals.io/state-of-cwv
2

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

0ms 63ms 125ms 188ms 250ms
200ms
0 32173 64346
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8–9 >p98
Good (≤200ms) Needs improvement Poor (>500ms) Site count
The State of Web Vitals · Q1 2026 · 94,910 sites · phone field datacorewebvitals.io/state-of-cwv
3

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

Connection hints — dns prefetchSitesPassing INPINP
0 64,346 91% 96ms
1 14,501 95% 97ms
2 7,044 95% 101ms
3 3,428 92% 103ms
4 2,243 93% 113ms
5 1,078 91% 112ms
6 587 91% 115ms
7 354 88% 117ms
8–9 603 88% 112ms
>p98 564 91% 119ms
Good Needs Improvement Poor Faded rows: under 100 sites

Connection hints — dns prefetch 0. p75 1. p99 8. At the low end (0): INP 96ms. At the high end (>p98): INP 119ms. computed

The State of Web Vitals · Q1 2026 · 94,910 sites · phone field datacorewebvitals.io/state-of-cwv
4

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

0ms 63ms 125ms 188ms 250ms
200ms
0 34058 68116
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 >p98
Good (≤200ms) Needs improvement Poor (>500ms) Site count
The State of Web Vitals · Q1 2026 · 94,910 sites · phone field datacorewebvitals.io/state-of-cwv
5

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

Connection hints — preconnectSitesPassing INPINP
0 68,116 92% 96ms
1 10,230 93% 102ms
2 8,950 92% 103ms
3 3,772 92% 107ms
4 1,932 91% 109ms
5 762 82% 126ms
6 340 83% 127ms
7 226 87% 124ms
>p98 420 83% 135ms
Good Needs Improvement Poor Faded rows: under 100 sites

Connection hints — preconnect 0. p75 1. p99 6. At the low end (0): INP 96ms. At the high end (>p98): INP 135ms. computed

The State of Web Vitals · Q1 2026 · 94,910 sites · phone field datacorewebvitals.io/state-of-cwv
6

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

0ms 63ms 125ms 188ms 250ms
200ms
0 33652 67303
0 1 2 3 4 5 6–7 8–9 10–13 14–17 18–24 >p98
Good (≤200ms) Needs improvement Poor (>500ms) Site count
The State of Web Vitals · Q1 2026 · 94,910 sites · phone field datacorewebvitals.io/state-of-cwv
7

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

Connection hints — preloadSitesPassing INPINP
0 67,303 92% 96ms
1 7,633 94% 101ms
2 5,532 91% 107ms
3 2,509 90% 113ms
4 3,625 92% 97ms
5 2,253 94% 104ms
6–7 2,361 92% 107ms
8–9 1,147 84% 116ms
10–13 1,014 85% 114ms
14–17 374 85% 118ms
18–24 460 82% 121ms
>p98 537 85% 124ms
Good Needs Improvement Poor Faded rows: under 100 sites

Connection hints — preload 0. p75 1. p99 18. At the low end (0): INP 96ms. At the high end (>p98): INP 124ms. computed

The State of Web Vitals · Q1 2026 · 94,910 sites · phone 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. Preloads separates passing sites from failing sites the most. With few preloads, 82% of sites pass the LCP. With many, 63% 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