Lazy Loading Without Hurting SEO

Lazy loading speeds pages by loading images and content only when needed. Done incorrectly, it can hide content from Google.

Safe lazy loading

• Use native loading="lazy" for images and iframes.
• Keep image URLs in the HTML (src or srcset).
• Do not lazy-load the main image at the top of the page.
• Set width and height to prevent layout shifts.

Risky patterns

• Content that loads only after scrolling via custom scripts without crawlable URLs.
• Images inserted only on user interaction.
• Infinite scroll without paginated URLs.

Video

Load a thumbnail first and the player on click; generate embed code with our YouTube embed code generator.

Check rendering

Use Search Console’s URL Inspection to see the rendered page.

Compress too

Lazy loading does not replace compression; use our image compressor.

Read lazy loading on landing pages.