Image Optimisation Strategies for Better LCP Scores

On many marketing and product pages, Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) is not abstract. It is a hero photograph, a product shot, or a full-width banner. The metric tracks when that largest visible element finishes rendering; if the element is an image, your optimisation work is mostly bytes, dimensions, and discovery order—not another round of “general speed tips”. This guide assumes you already know what LCP measures. If you need the full picture first, read What Are Core Web Vitals? A Practical Guide for 2026 and LCP, INP, CLS: What Each Core Web Vital Means and How to Fix It. Here we go deep on image-specific strategies that move LCP toward the “good” band (≤ 2.5 seconds in the field), and how to pair them with performance budgets so improvements stick. Start by identifying the real LCP element You cannot optimise “the page” in the abstract. LCP is tied to one element in the viewport. In PageSpeed Insights or Lighthouse, open the diagnostics and note which node is reported as LCP—often