What does the lazy-loading check look for?
It checks that lazy-loading is applied to the right things — off-screen content — and not to critical above-the-fold elements. Specifically:
- Critical image lazy-loading — whether the LCP / hero image is being deferred when it should load eagerly.
- Main content deferral — whether key text or sections are loaded late via JavaScript or lazy techniques.
- Appropriate use — confirming below-the-fold images and media are lazy-loaded (good) while above-the-fold content isn't (also good).
Critical content loading immediately (with lazy-loading reserved for off-screen media) passes; some above-the-fold content deferred is a warning; the main content or LCP image being lazy-loaded is a fail.
How is it evaluated, and how is it scored?
GEObubbly inspects how content and images are loaded and flags critical above-the-fold elements that are being deferred. It's an extended Performance check that runs partially, since loading behaviour depends on how the live page is built.
Why lazy-loading the right content matters for SEO and GEO
Lazy-loading — deferring a resource until it's about to be needed — is a genuinely useful performance technique, but only when applied to the right things. Images and media below the fold should be lazy-loaded so the browser doesn't waste bandwidth on content the user may never scroll to. The problem is lazy-loading content that's above the fold or critical to the first paint: if your hero image (often the LCP element) is lazy-loaded, the browser deliberately delays the very thing that defines your loading metric, making LCP worse. Worse still, content deferred via JavaScript-driven lazy techniques may never load for crawlers that don't scroll or run JS — so it can be invisible the same way JS-only content is. The rule of thumb is simple: load critical, above-the-fold content eagerly (use loading="eager" or no lazy attribute on the hero image), and reserve loading="lazy" for off-screen images and iframes. Done right, lazy-loading speeds up the page; done wrong, it hides your most important content.