How to Fix: Lazy loading enabled

Lazy loading enabled is an SEO check in the Image SEO category. This is a high-priority issue with a significant impact on performance — and it is one of the rare high-priority items you can genuinely resolve in ten minutes.

What this check is really about

Lazy loading defers off-screen images until the user scrolls near them, so the browser is not forced to download every image on a long page before it can paint. This check verifies that your below-the-fold images use it — via the native loading="lazy" attribute, which WordPress has added by default since 5.5. The nuance the check is really probing is whether it is applied correctly: lazy where it helps, and deliberately not lazy on the one image that must load immediately.

Why it matters for SEO

Images are usually the heaviest thing on a page, and loading all of them up front slows initial render, wastes bandwidth on content the user may never scroll to, and drags down Core Web Vitals — which are a confirmed ranking signal. Lazy loading trims the initial payload directly. But there is a sharp edge here that trips a lot of people: your Largest Contentful Paint element — typically the hero image at the top — must not be lazy-loaded. Lazy-load your LCP image and you delay the exact thing Google is timing, making the score worse. Correct lazy loading is therefore a two-part answer, and this is why I flag it high priority: the fix is easy, but the wrong version actively harms you.

How I would fix it

Difficulty Level: EASY – This fix is straightforward and can typically be completed by anyone with basic WordPress knowledge.

Estimated Time: 10 min

1. Confirm native lazy loading is active. On modern WordPress it is on by default; make sure no old plugin or theme tweak has disabled it or is double-applying a JavaScript lazy-loader on top.
2. Exclude the LCP image. Your hero/above-the-fold image should load eagerly — many performance plugins (WP Rocket, Perfmatters) have a “exclude first image / above-the-fold” setting for exactly this. Use it.
3. Do not lazy-load tiny images like logos or icons; the overhead is not worth it and it can cause layout shift.
4. Always set explicit width and height (or aspect-ratio) on images so lazy loading does not introduce Cumulative Layout Shift as images pop in.
5. Measure with PageSpeed Insights / Lighthouse before and after, and check the LCP element it reports is your hero — not a lazy-loaded image.

Recommended Tools & Plugins

• Yoast SEO – Comprehensive SEO plugin with built-in checks
• Rank Math – Feature-rich SEO plugin with detailed analysis
• Google Search Console – Free tool to monitor your site’s search presence
• SEO Roadmap – Complete SEO audit and action plan tool

What I would not do

• Do not lazy-load your LCP/hero image. This is the single most common way a “performance fix” makes Core Web Vitals worse.
• Do not stack a JavaScript lazy-load plugin on top of native loading="lazy". Double lazy-loading can break images and adds script you do not need.
• Do not ship images without dimensions. Lazy loading plus missing width/height is a reliable recipe for layout shift.
• Do not lazy-load everything indiscriminately. Above-the-fold and tiny UI images should load immediately.

This guide is part of the SEO Roadmap knowledge base – your complete resource for WordPress SEO optimization.