Question 1

What is LCP and what is a good LCP score?

Accepted Answer

LCP (Largest Contentful Paint) measures how long it takes for the largest visible element on the page to load — typically the hero image, H1, or above-the-fold content block. Good LCP is under 2.5 seconds. Needs improvement is 2.5–4 seconds. Poor is over 4 seconds. LCP is one of Google's Core Web Vitals and is a direct ranking factor. The most common causes of poor LCP are large unoptimized images, render-blocking JavaScript, slow server response times (TTFB), and client-side rendering without SSR.

Question 2

How much does page speed affect Google rankings?

Accepted Answer

Page speed has been a Google ranking factor since 2010 for desktop and 2018 for mobile. In 2021, Google made Core Web Vitals (LCP, FID/INP, CLS) an official ranking signal via the Page Experience Update. Sites in the "Good" range for all Core Web Vitals have a ranking advantage over sites in "Needs Improvement" or "Poor" ranges — though the effect is a tiebreaker rather than a primary ranking factor. Fast pages also have lower bounce rates, higher conversion rates, and better crawl efficiency, all of which indirectly improve rankings.

Page Speed Test

What gets checked