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Term

FCP (First Contentful Paint)

FCP measures when the browser renders the first visible DOM element (text, image, SVG). "Good" at ≤ 1.8 s. The earliest signal that the page is responding — not a Core Web Vital, but an important PageSpeed metric.

FCP — explained in more detail

FCP (First Contentful Paint) marks the moment the browser renders the first visible content element: text, an image, a non-empty <canvas>, or an SVG element. Background colors or empty <div>s don’t count.

Google classifies FCP values from CrUX field data: ≤ 1.8 s = good, ≤ 3.0 s = needs improvement, > 3.0 s = poor. FCP isn’t part of Core Web Vitals (those are LCP, INP, CLS), but Lighthouse, PageSpeed Insights, and Search Console report it prominently — as the signal that the page “is starting to appear”.

Example / In practice

A site with a render-blocking web font (no font-display: swap) shows invisible text for 2.5 s — FCP waits for the font to load. Fix: font-display: swap, font preload, or a system-font stack. FCP drops below 1 s and the user sees content immediately.

Distinction from similar terms

LCP measures the largest visible element — FCP the first. TTFB comes before (server response). TTI (Time to Interactive) comes after (page responds to input).

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