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 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 · desktop 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 99% 48ms
1 14,501 99% 49ms
2 7,044 99% 49ms
3 3,428 99% 52ms
4 2,243 99% 59ms
5 1,078 100% 56ms
6 587 100% 58ms
7 354 99% 58ms
8–9 603 98% 59ms
>p98 564 99% 61ms
Good Needs Improvement Poor Faded rows: under 100 sites

Connection hints — dns prefetch 0. p75 1. p99 8. At the low end (0): INP 48ms. At the high end (>p98): INP 61ms. computed

The State of Web Vitals · Q1 2026 · 94,910 sites · desktop 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 · desktop 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 99% 47ms
1 10,230 99% 53ms
2 8,950 99% 52ms
3 3,772 98% 58ms
4 1,932 99% 59ms
5 762 99% 64ms
6 340 97% 64ms
7 226 100% 62ms
>p98 420 97% 64ms
Good Needs Improvement Poor Faded rows: under 100 sites

Connection hints — preconnect 0. p75 1. p99 6. Spearman with INP r = +0.31. At the low end (0): INP 47ms. At the high end (>p98): INP 64ms. computed

The State of Web Vitals · Q1 2026 · 94,910 sites · desktop 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 · desktop 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 99% 47ms
1 7,633 99% 52ms
2 5,532 99% 56ms
3 2,509 98% 57ms
4 3,625 98% 52ms
5 2,253 99% 54ms
6–7 2,361 99% 57ms
8–9 1,147 98% 60ms
10–13 1,014 96% 61ms
14–17 374 98% 62ms
18–24 460 99% 64ms
>p98 537 95% 66ms
Good Needs Improvement Poor Faded rows: under 100 sites

Connection hints — preload 0. p75 1. p99 18. Spearman with INP r = +0.31. At the low end (0): INP 47ms. At the high end (>p98): INP 66ms. 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