What is the First Meaningful Paint?

The First Meaningful Paint (FMP) is the measurement of how long it takes for the primary content to load. The primary content is anything above the page fold (the bottom of the page that is visible without scrolling). From the moment the user loads the page to the second that the primary content has completely loaded is the FMP.

What is FMP Used For?

The first meaningful paint is used (along with other metrics) to calculate the performance score of your mobile and desktop page.

How Can the First Meaningful Paint Be Improved?

Heavy fonts and images can hurt your FMP score, but web fonts are the most common culprits. One way of improving your FMP is to make sure that there is a font visible while the web font loads. Web fonts are heavy files and take some time to show up on the screen. When an alternative font isn't visible, the web font will flash on the screen hurting your overall FMP.

For more information on improving your site's performance, check out Understanding Site Performance.