What is the First Contentful Paint?

The First Contentful Paint (FCP) concept

The first content image or First Contentful Paint (FCP) is the first site element to appear in the browser. This is one of the common measures used to measure website performance.

The FCP is not one of Google’s three Core Web Vitals parameters, which aim to measure the impact of various loading times on the user experience of websites. The FCP makes it possible to calculate the time needed for visitors to see the first elements appear on a web page.

High FCP time often results in poor website performance. The longer it takes the first elements of the site to become visible, the slower the page will be to load in its entirety.

According to Google, a good FCP score must be between 0-1.8 seconds. Beyond that, your website or server may need adjustments for better performance.

Remember that the Fund does not represent a complete picture of a website’s performance. The basic parameters of Web Core Vitals include three settings, and the FCP isn't part of them. They are: the largest content image (Largest Contentful Paint or LCP), the Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) and the First Input Delay (FID).

Updated on: 23/03/2023