LCP priority hint

The strongest priority signal on the LCP element: preload, fetchpriority, preconnect, or none.

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

At a glance the headline numbers for LCP priority hint

The strongest priority signal on the LCP element: preload, fetchpriority, preconnect, or none.

4
Categories
176,552 sites
86.2%
Top share
none
48ms
Top INP
Median for none

86.2% of LCP images get no priority help at all.

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

LCP priority hint who uses what, and how fast each group loads

Median INP
0
100ms
200ms
300ms
400ms
500ms
none48ms86% of sites
highprio54ms8% of sites
preload55ms2% of sites
preconnect57ms4% of sites
VariantShare of sitesMedian
none 152,211 sites
86%
48ms
highprio 14,632 sites
8%
54ms
preload 3,180 sites
2%
55ms
preconnect 6,529 sites
4%
57ms

Little daylight between the groups: every variant sits near 48ms median INP. computed

The State of Web Vitals · Q2 2026 · 189,915 sites · desktop field datacorewebvitals.io/state-of-cwv
3

Passing INP per LCP priority hint which group passes the INP most often

VariantSitesPassing INPINP
Preload 1.8% 3,180 99% 55ms
None 86.2% 152,211 99% 48ms
Highprio 8.3% 14,632 99% 54ms
Preconnect 3.7% 6,529 98% 57ms
Good Needs Improvement Poor Sorted best-passing first · median colored by its own rating · pass = good INP (200ms at p75) · one value per site

No variant stands out: pass rates sit between 98% and 99%. computed

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

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

Browsers start most images at low priority, because most images do not matter. The LCP image is the exception, and without help the browser only finds out after layout. fetchpriority=high says it upfront. A preload moves the discovery earlier as well. None means the most important resource on the page starts at the back of the queue.

One hint on one image. Spraying fetchpriority=high across the page puts the queue right back where it started.

How does this affect the Core Web Vitals?

The choice barely moves the LCP: 87% pass at best, 85% at worst. This signal does not separate passing sites from failing ones.

The split is bigger on CLS. With Highprio, 82% of sites pass it. With Preload, 76% do.

Related signals LCP image size → LCP origin → LCP image format → LCP element type → Chrome field data from 189,915 sites, representing millions of real page loads · How we measured