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How can I improve LCP by optimizing critical CSS?

Asked on Nov 13, 2025

Answer

Improving the Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) by optimizing critical CSS involves delivering only the essential styles needed for the initial render, reducing render-blocking resources. This can be achieved by inlining critical CSS and deferring non-essential styles.

Example Concept: Critical CSS refers to the minimal set of CSS rules required to render the above-the-fold content of a webpage. By inlining these styles directly into the HTML document's head, you reduce the time to first render. Non-critical CSS can be loaded asynchronously to ensure it doesn't block rendering.

Additional Comment:

Use tools like Critical or Penthouse to extract critical CSS automatically.
Ensure that the inlined CSS is minimized to avoid bloating the HTML document.
Load non-critical CSS using the "media" attribute with "media='print'" and switching to "media='all'" once the page is loaded.
Regularly audit and update critical CSS as your design changes to maintain performance.

✅ Answered with Core Web Vitals best practices.

Ask any question about Performance here... and get an instant response.

How can I improve LCP by optimizing critical CSS?

Asked on Nov 13, 2025

Answer

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