What is LCP?
Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) measures how long it takes for the largest element on your screen (usually a hero image or a massive headline) to load. Google demands an LCP of under 2.5 seconds. Anything slower is a "Poor" rating and hurts your SEO.
Step 1: Stop Lazy Loading the Hero Image
This is the #1 mistake developers make. Do NOT use loading="lazy" on the first image at the top of your website. The browser will intentionally delay loading it, destroying your LCP score. Only lazy load images below the fold.
Step 2: Format and Compress
Your hero image should never be a PNG unless it requires transparency. Convert it to WebP or AVIF using ImageTight, and resize it so its maximum width matches your container (e.g., max 1920px). This alone usually shaves 1.5 seconds off LCP.
Step 3: Preload Critical Assets
Add a <link rel="preload" as="image" href="..."> tag to your document head. This tells the browser to start fetching the hero image immediately, before it even parses the CSS.