FetchPriority Featured Image WordPress Plugin

Q: How can I verify it’s working?

View the HTML source and look for fetchpriority="high" on the hero image and a matching <link rel="preload"> in the <head> . The admin-bar badge (enable it in Diagnostics) also shows how many images were tagged on the current page.

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About FetchPriority Featured Image

Measures your real LCP element from visitors and auto-applies fetchpriority + preload. Visual picker and Core Web Vitals report.

FetchPriority Featured Image is a self-learning LCP (Largest Contentful Paint) optimizer. Instead of guessing which image is your hero like every other plugin, it measures the real LCP element from your actual visitors (via the browser’s PerformanceObserver), learns it per template, and then automatically applies fetchpriority="high" plus a <link rel="preload"> to that exact image — whether it’s a normal <img> or a CSS background-image. It self-corrects as your design and content change, with zero configuration.

What makes it different

Self-learning real LCP — no competitor in this space measures field LCP from real users and auto-targets it. Most plugins blindly prioritize the featured image and hope it’s the hero.
CSS background-image preload — hero sliders and background heroes are a blind spot for most performance plugins; this preloads them.
Visual LCP picker — click your hero element on the front end to lock it in as a manual override per template.
Built-in Core Web Vitals before/after report — pulls real-world LCP, INP, and CLS from the Chrome UX Report so you can prove the impact.
Per-template control — Auto / Learned-only / Manual-only / Off for every template the plugin sees.

Key Features

Self-learning LCP detection from real-user field data (PerformanceObserver beacon), aggregated per template
Visual click-to-pick LCP element on the front end (admin-bar “Pick LCP element”)
Core Web Vitals before/after report via the Chrome UX Report (CrUX) API
Dashboard widget — run the Core Web Vitals report and PageSpeed audit straight from the WordPress dashboard
One-click PageSpeed Insights (Lighthouse) audit from the admin, showing the score, LCP, page weight, image-saving opportunities, and Google’s own detected LCP element
Oversized-LCP detection — warns when your hero image is larger than it displays, with a recommended width
Slowest-templates leaderboard built from real-user LCP timing
loading="eager" on the LCP image and loading="lazy" below the fold so native lazy-loading never delays the hero
Preloads + prioritizes the measured LCP, including CSS background-image, video poster, and <picture> heroes
Text-LCP web-font preload — when the largest element is a heading or paragraph, learns the web font it used (self-hosted or Google Fonts) and preloads it
Cross-origin CDN preconnect — opens an early connection to the exact host serving your hero image or font, with a dns-prefetch fallback
WooCommerce — prioritizes the main image in the single-product gallery (shop and product-category pages are covered by the archive rules)
Settings import/export to move one tuned configuration across sites, plus a reset-to-defaults button
WP-CLI commands: wp fpfi lcp list, wp fpfi lcp reset, and wp fpfi settings-export/import/reset
Translation-ready — ships a full .pot template for localisation into any language
Per-template modes: Auto, Learned-only, Manual-only, Off
Tabbed settings screen (Smart LCP / Targeting / Preload / Diagnostics) with a clean, flat interface
Automatically adds fetchpriority="high" to the hero / featured image
Optional fetchpriority="low" for below-fold images — paired complement that tells the browser to defer non-critical loads
<link rel="preload" as="image"> for the hero featured image on singular pages — strongest LCP signal
AVIF / WebP detection — when a sibling .avif / .webp file exists on disk, an extra <link rel="preload" type="image/avif|image/webp"> is emitted so the browser picks the supported modern format automatically (works with ShortPixel, Imagify, Optimole, and similar)
Theme presets — auto-detects Astra, GeneratePress, Kadence, Divi, and Hello Elementor and excludes their site-logo / header-image classes so the priority budget is spent on the real hero
Avatar / Gravatar exclusion — never tags images with class avatar / gravatar or hosted on gravatar.com
Settings page (Settings FetchPriority) for per-context toggles, first-N control, preload, and exclusions
Admin-bar debug badge showing how many images were tagged on the current page (total + how many got high)
Compatible with most WordPress themes including Divi, Elementor, Astra, GeneratePress, Kadence, and any theme using standard the_post_thumbnail() / wp_get_attachment_image()

Why Use FetchPriority?

The fetchpriority attribute is a modern web standard that tells browsers which images should be prioritized during page load. By marking featured images as high priority, you can improve:

Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) scores
User experience with faster loading of important images
Overall page performance

Developer-Friendly

The plugin uses WordPress’s native filters and doesn’t modify your database or image files.

Screenshots

Smart LCP tab — self-learning toggle, sample rate, and the per-template targets table.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does this plugin modify my images?

No, this plugin only adds an HTML attribute to the image tag. It doesn’t modify your actual image files or database entries.

Will this work with my theme?

Yes! This plugin works with any theme that uses WordPress’s standard featured image functions. It also includes specific support for popular page builders like Divi and Elementor that use custom image rendering methods.

Do I need to configure anything?

No. The plugin works automatically once activated with sensible defaults, and self-learning LCP is on out of the box. Optional fine-tuning lives under Settings FetchPriority, organised into tabs: Smart LCP, Targeting, Preload, and Diagnostics.

How does the self-learning work, and how long does it take?

A small first-party script measures the Largest Contentful Paint element in real visitors’ browsers and reports it back per template. After a few samples on a template, the plugin starts preloading and prioritising that exact image. The more traffic a template gets, the faster it settles — and it re-learns automatically if your hero changes. You can also set it manually with the visual picker.

Does it send any data to third parties?

The self-learning measurement is entirely first-party — reports go only to your own site, and store image URLs and timings, never visitor data. The optional Core Web Vitals report and PageSpeed audit call Google’s APIs (Chrome UX Report and PageSpeed Insights) only when you click those buttons in the admin.

Will this slow down my site?

No. The measurement script is tiny and loads on only a sample of page views (20% by default, adjustable). Everything else runs in PHP at output time. The plugin’s job is to make pages faster by prioritising the right image.

How can I verify it’s working?

View the HTML source and look for fetchpriority="high" on the hero image and a matching <link rel="preload"> in the <head>. The admin-bar badge (enable it in Diagnostics) also shows how many images were tagged on the current page.

Ratings & Reviews

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Changelog

1.6.0

NEW: Dashboard widget — the Core Web Vitals snapshot and the one-click PageSpeed audit are now available right on your WordPress dashboard, so you can measure without opening the settings screen. Admins only; it reuses your saved API key and the existing results.

1.5.4

FIX: Core Web Vitals and PageSpeed requests now send your site URL as the referer, so a Google API key restricted to your domain (HTTP-referrer restriction) is accepted. Previously these server-side calls carried no referer and Google blocked them with “Requests from referer are blocked”.
IMPROVED: When a PageSpeed request made with your key fails, the plugin now reports that key error (for example a referrer or “API not enabled” problem) instead of the misleading shared-quota message from its keyless fallback.

1.5.3

FIX: The settings toggles showed a hard outline ring after you clicked them (Chrome treats a toggle click as keyboard focus), which looked like the control was stuck or broken. Replaced it with a soft focus glow.
FIX: The Export / Import buttons rendered their icon dropped into the bottom-left corner instead of next to the label. They now use a flex layout so the icon and text stay centered together.

1.5.2

IMPROVED: Redesigned the settings toggle switches — larger, with a shadowed knob, a smooth slide animation, a cleaner off state, and a proper keyboard focus ring. Purely visual; no settings or behaviour changed.

1.5.1

FIX: The “Measure Core Web Vitals” and “Run PageSpeed audit” buttons (plus “Clear learned data” and the new import/reset controls) did nothing when clicked. The admin script bound its click handlers before the page had finished loading, so they never attached. Wrapped the script so it runs after the DOM is ready.
IMPROVED: PageSpeed audit now falls back to a keyless request if your Google API key is rejected — handy when the key was created only for the Chrome UX Report and doesn’t have the PageSpeed Insights API enabled.
IMPROVED: CrUX and PageSpeed errors now show up in the panel itself instead of a small status line, so a “no field data for this origin” message (common on lower-traffic sites) is actually visible.

1.5.0

NEW: WooCommerce support — the main image in the single-product gallery now gets prioritised as the hero. Shop and product-category pages were already covered by the archive rules; this fills the one gap, since the gallery builds its own markup. Toggle it under Targeting (shown only when WooCommerce is active).
NEW: Text-LCP font preload — on the many pages where the largest element is a heading or paragraph rather than an image, the plugin now learns which web font that text used and preloads it. Works with self-hosted fonts and Google Fonts, per template, from the same real-visitor measurements.
NEW: CDN preconnect — when your hero image or font lives on another host (an image CDN, Google Fonts), the plugin opens the connection early with <link rel="preconnect"> plus a dns-prefetch fallback, matched to the exact cross-origin host. Same-origin heroes emit nothing.
NEW: Backup & migrate — export your settings to a JSON file and import them on another site. Great for rolling one tuned configuration across a fleet. Learned data and your API key stay per-site and are kept out of the file. There’s also a “Reset to defaults” button.
NEW: WP-CLI — wp fpfi lcp list, wp fpfi lcp reset, and wp fpfi settings-export/import/reset for reading learned data and scripting deployments.
Full translation template (.pot) shipped so the plugin can be localised into any language via translate.wordpress.org or a tool like Poedit.
Friendlier template labels for WooCommerce (Product pages, Shop, Product categories) in the learning tables.

1.4.0

NEW: Self-learning LCP — a lightweight PerformanceObserver beacon reports the real Largest Contentful Paint element per template; once enough samples are collected the plugin auto-preloads and tags that exact image with fetchpriority="high".
NEW: CSS background-image hero support — preloads the measured/manual background image, a blind spot for most performance plugins.
NEW: Visual LCP picker — open the front-end admin bar, click “Pick LCP element”, click your hero, done. Saved as a manual override per template.
NEW: Core Web Vitals before/after report — connect a free Chrome UX Report (CrUX) API key to see real-world LCP, INP, and CLS, with a saved baseline to measure improvement.
NEW: Per-template control table — Auto / Learned-only / Manual-only / Off for every template the plugin has seen.
NEW: PageSpeed audit — run Google Lighthouse on any URL from the admin; see the performance score, LCP, page weight, image-saving opportunities, and Google’s own detected LCP element to confirm correct targeting.
NEW: Oversized-LCP detection — compares the measured LCP image’s real pixels against its displayed size and warns when you’re serving wasted bytes, with a recommended width.
NEW: Loading optimization — forces loading="eager" on the LCP image and loading="lazy" on below-fold images so native lazy-loading never delays your hero.
NEW: Slowest-templates leaderboard — measured real-user LCP per template, sorted slowest first, as a built-in to-do list.
Video poster and <picture> heroes are supported as LCP targets via the learned/manual preload.
Configurable sampling rate for the measurement script to keep front-end overhead minimal.
Learned/manual targets supersede the featured-image guess for both preload and the fetchpriority tag.
Redesigned settings screen — tabbed (Smart LCP / Targeting / Preload / Diagnostics), card-based, flat interface with toggle controls and a sticky save bar.
Post-update notice highlighting what’s new (shown to upgrading sites, not fresh installs).

1.3.0

Added Settings page under Settings FetchPriority (Contexts / Preload / Below-fold / Exclusions / Theme preset / Debug).
Added per-context toggles: Single posts & pages, Blog home, Archives, Search results.
Added “First N posts on archives” setting (1–20) — previously hardcoded to first post only.
Added optional <link rel="preload" as="image" fetchpriority="high"> for the featured image on singular pages (strongest LCP signal).
Added AVIF / WebP detection — when a sibling modern-format file exists on disk, additional <link rel="preload" type="image/avif|webp"> tags are emitted; browsers pick the supported variant automatically.
Added fetchpriority="low" for below-fold images (opt-in) as a paired complement to the hero high tag.
Added theme presets (Astra / GeneratePress / Kadence / Divi / Hello Elementor) with auto-detection — excludes theme logo & header classes so the priority budget hits the real hero.
Added Avatar / Gravatar exclusion to keep author avatars from consuming the priority budget.
Added admin-bar debug badge showing total tagged + how many were tagged high.
Added Settings link to plugin action links on the Plugins screen.
Content filter rewritten to use a preg_replace_callback walk so the high/low budget is honored across all images in the content, not only the first.
Cleaner reset logic on each request via template_redirect.
Author display name updated to “Gunjan Jaswal”.

1.2.1

Updated “Tested up to” to WordPress 7.0.
Updated donation link to Ko-fi (https://ko-fi.com/gunjanjaswal).
Removed extraneous GITHUB_DESCRIPTION.md from plugin root for WordPress.org compliance.

1.2.0

Added support for Divi theme and Elementor page builder
Implemented wp_get_attachment_image_attributes filter for broader compatibility
Added content filter fallback to catch custom image implementations
Improved image detection across different theme rendering methods
Enhanced compatibility with themes that bypass standard WordPress image functions