Glossary
Largest Contentful Paint (LCP)
The time from navigation start until the largest content element in the viewport is rendered. The Haryes performance budget is an LCP under 2.0 seconds.
In plain terms
The moment the biggest thing on screen finishes rendering, usually a hero image, a heading or a block of text. It is the closest single number to the question a visitor is actually asking: when can I start reading this?
It is measured from the start of navigation, so everything in between counts: server response, redirects, fonts, stylesheets and whatever the browser has to download before the main element can paint.
Why it matters in Kenya
Our own performance budget puts it under two seconds on a mid-range Android on a Kenyan mobile connection, and it goes into the contract rather than the pitch. Most sites we audit here land between four and seven seconds, almost always because of uncompressed images or a page builder loading its whole library on every page.
What to do about it
Four checks you can run on your own site this week.
- Find the largest element on the page: usually a hero image or headline
- Serve images in modern formats, sized to the space they occupy
- Avoid fonts and scripts that block the first paint
- Put the number in the contract, so it is a commitment rather than an aspiration
More terms
Other words you will meet when commissioning web, e-commerce or search work in Kenya.
- Topical AuthorityThe degree to which a website is recognised by search engines as a comprehensive, trustworthy source on a subject, built by covering a topic in connected depth rather than publishing isolated pages.
- Semantic SiloA group of pages tightly interlinked around one theme (typically a hub, pillar pages and spoke pages) that concentrates topical relevance and internal link equity on the subject.
- Pillar PageA page that summarises a broad topic and links down to detailed spoke pages.
