Why Your Hero Section Is Killing LCP

The most visible part of your UI might be hurting your performance and SEO. ☐ Your Hero Section Looks Good — But Is It Slowing Your Page? Most landing pages start with a large hero section. <section class="hero"> <img src="hero.jpg" alt="Landing hero"> </section> It looks great. But this element is often your Largest Contentful Paint (LCP). ☐ What Is LCP (And Why It Matters) LCP measures how fast the largest visible element loads on your screen. Usually it is: • hero image • large heading • banner section If this loads late → your page feels slow. And yes, it directly affects SEO rankings via Google. ☐ The Common Mistake Many developers do this: <img src="hero.jpg" loading="lazy"> This is wrong for hero sections. Why? Because lazy loading delays the most important content. ☐ Another Hidden Problem Using CSS background images: .hero { background-image: url(hero.jpg); } Browsers cannot prioritize this properly for LCP. So your main content loads late. ☐ The Better