Description
FetchPriority Featured Image is a lightweight plugin that automatically adds the fetchpriority="high" attribute to featured images on your WordPress site. This helps browsers prioritize the loading of these important images, improving your site’s performance and Core Web Vitals scores.
Key Features
- 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/.webpfile 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/gravataror 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.
Installation
- Upload the
fetchpriority-featured-imagefolder to the/wp-content/plugins/directory - Activate the plugin through the ‘Plugins’ menu in WordPress
- That’s it! The plugin works automatically with no configuration needed
FAQ
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Does this plugin modify my images?
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No, this plugin only adds an HTML attribute to the image tag. It doesn’t modify your actual image files or database entries.
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Will this work with my theme?
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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.
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Do I need to configure anything?
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No, the plugin works automatically once activated with sensible defaults. Optional fine-tuning is available under Settings FetchPriority (contexts, first-N posts on archives, preload, debug badge).
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Will this slow down my site?
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No, the plugin adds minimal overhead and should actually improve your site’s performance by helping browsers prioritize important images.
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How can I verify it’s working?
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You can view the HTML source of your pages and look for
fetchpriority="high"in the featured image HTML.
Reviews
There are no reviews for this plugin.
Contributors & Developers
“FetchPriority Featured Image” is open source software. The following people have contributed to this plugin.
Contributors
Translate “FetchPriority Featured Image” into your language.
Interested in development?
Browse the code, check out the SVN repository, or subscribe to the development log by RSS.
Changelog
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 herohightag. - 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_callbackwalk 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_attributesfilter 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
1.1.0
- Updated for WordPress 6.9 compatibility
- Improved security with nonce verification for AJAX calls
- Updated minimum PHP requirement to 7.4
- Enhanced code quality and WordPress coding standards compliance
- Added proper input sanitization and escaping
- Aligns with WordPress 6.9’s frontend performance improvements
1.0.0
- Initial release