First Contentful Paint (FCP) measures the time from when the page starts loading to when any content (text, image, SVG) is first rendered on screen. Target is under 0.4 seconds for AI search optimization, under 1.8 seconds for a 'good' Google score.
Why FCP (First Contentful Paint) matters for SEO
FCP is critical for AI search visibility. Pages with FCP under 0.4 seconds average 6.7 AI citations, while pages over 1.13 seconds drop to just 2.1 citations. AI crawlers appear to have timeout thresholds, meaning slow pages may not be fully retrieved for citation.
Pro tip on FCP (First Contentful Paint)
Reduce server response time (TTFB). Minimize render-blocking resources (CSS, JS). Inline critical CSS. Preload web fonts with font-display: swap. Enable compression (brotli/gzip). Use a CDN for static assets.
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FCP under 0.4s earns 3x more AI citations. CrawlRaven checks FCP across every page and prioritizes the fixes that matter most.
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