LCP Issue with all web stories

Hello thanks for getting in touch. If you could please share your Site Health information or privately via this form then I’d be happy to check your setup to see if anything stands out.

I have run your story through AMP validation and can see all looks good. See here.

LCP can be affected by multiple factors, external scripts like the ones from the Web Stories format are just one.

While I’d recommend looking into reducing initial server response time, there is also some ongoing work on the Web Stories side to help further improve core web vitals such as LCP.

There is a significant effort underway that aims to meet some aggressive goals toward the end of the year to help improve these metrics. There’s nothing on your side that needs to be done to benefit from that.

• This reply was modified 3 years, 3 months ago by Adam Dunnage.

Hi Adam,

The reason I am concerned about LCP is because sometimes my web stories appear as blank pages and when I click update in the editor then it appears again. I think it could be related to LCP issues although I am not sure. I have copied and pasted the site health info below. Do let me know if you need anything else.

### wp-core ###

version: 5.8.2
site_language: en_US
user_language: en_US
timezone: America/Los_Angeles
permalink: /%postname%/
https_status: true
multisite: false
user_registration: 0
blog_public: 1
default_comment_status: undefined
environment_type: production
user_count: 2
dotorg_communication: true

### wp-paths-sizes ###

wordpress_path: /home/ladeek11/public_html
wordpress_size: 3.37 GB (3616447018 bytes)
uploads_path: /home/ladeek11/public_html/wp-content/uploads
uploads_size: 1.71 GB (1834668010 bytes)
themes_path: /home/ladeek11/public_html/wp-content/themes
themes_size: 12.74 MB (13356645 bytes)
plugins_path: /home/ladeek11/public_html/wp-content/plugins
plugins_size: 95.97 MB (100632188 bytes)
database_size: 485.46 MB (509043368 bytes)
total_size: 5.66 GB (6074147229 bytes)

### wp-dropins (2) ###

advanced-cache.php: true
maintenance.php: true

### wp-active-theme ###

name: MH Magazine (mh-magazine)
version: 3.9.9
author: MH Themes
author_website: https://mhthemes.com/
parent_theme: none
theme_features: core-block-patterns, widgets-block-editor, title-tag, automatic-feed-links, html5, post-thumbnails, post-formats, custom-background, custom-header, custom-logo, customize-selective-refresh-widgets, menus, widgets
theme_path: /home/ladeek11/public_html/wp-content/themes/mh-magazine
auto_update: Disabled

### wp-themes-inactive (4) ###

GeneratePress: version: 3.1.0, author: Tom Usborne, Auto-updates disabled
Mediavine Trellis: version: 0.14.4, author: Mediavine, Auto-updates disabled
MH Magazine lite: version: 2.9.1, author: MH Themes, Auto-updates disabled
Twenty Twenty-One: version: 1.4, author: the WordPress team, Auto-updates disabled

### wp-mu-plugins (1) ###

Endurance Page Cache: version: 2.1.2, author: Mike Hansen

### wp-plugins-active (16) ###

Autoptimize: version: 2.9.2, author: Frank Goossens (futtta), Auto-updates disabled
Booking.com Product Helper: version: 1.0.1, author: Booking.com, Auto-updates disabled
Classic Editor: version: 1.6.2, author: WordPress Contributors, Auto-updates disabled
Insert Headers and Footers: version: 1.6.0, author: WPBeginner, Auto-updates disabled
Link Whisper: version: 1.8.5, author: Link Whisper, Auto-updates disabled
Mediavine Control Panel: version: 2.8.0, author: mediavine, Auto-updates disabled
Real-Time Find and Replace: version: 4.0.2, author: Marios Alexandrou, Auto-updates disabled
Really Simple SSL: version: 5.1.3, author: Really Simple Plugins, Auto-updates disabled
Redirection: version: 5.1.3, author: John Godley, Auto-updates disabled
Schema & Structured Data for WP & AMP: version: 1.9.89, author: Magazine3, Auto-updates disabled
Smush Pro: version: 3.9.3, author: WPMU DEV, Auto-updates disabled
UpdraftPlus – Backup/Restore: version: 1.16.63, author: UpdraftPlus.Com, DavidAnderson, Auto-updates disabled
Web Stories: version: 1.14.0, author: Google, Auto-updates disabled
WP Fastest Cache: version: 0.9.5, author: Emre Vona, Auto-updates disabled
WPMU DEV Dashboard: version: 4.11.6, author: WPMU DEV, Auto-updates enabled
Yoast SEO: version: 17.6, author: Team Yoast, Auto-updates disabled

### wp-media ###

image_editor: WP_Image_Editor_GD
imagick_module_version: Not available
imagemagick_version: Not available
imagick_version: Not available
file_uploads: File uploads is turned off
post_max_size: 8M
upload_max_filesize: 6M
max_effective_size: 6 MB
max_file_uploads: 20
gd_version: bundled (2.1.0 compatible)
gd_formats: GIF, JPEG, PNG, BMP, XPM
ghostscript_version: unknown

### wp-server ###

server_architecture: Linux 2.6.32-042stab127.2 x86_64
httpd_software: Apache
php_version: 7.4.25 64bit
php_sapi: fpm-fcgi
max_input_variables: 1000
time_limit: 30
memory_limit: 256M
max_input_time: 60
upload_max_filesize: 6M
php_post_max_size: 8M
curl_version: 7.79.1 OpenSSL/1.1.1l
suhosin: false
imagick_availability: false
pretty_permalinks: true
htaccess_extra_rules: true

### wp-database ###

extension: mysqli
server_version: 5.7.36
client_version: mysqlnd 7.4.25

### wp-constants ###

WP_HOME: undefined
WP_SITEURL: undefined
WP_CONTENT_DIR: /home/ladeek11/public_html/wp-content
WP_PLUGIN_DIR: /home/ladeek11/public_html/wp-content/plugins
WP_MEMORY_LIMIT: 40M
WP_MAX_MEMORY_LIMIT: 256M
WP_DEBUG: false
WP_DEBUG_DISPLAY: true
WP_DEBUG_LOG: false
SCRIPT_DEBUG: false
WP_CACHE: false
CONCATENATE_SCRIPTS: undefined
COMPRESS_SCRIPTS: undefined
COMPRESS_CSS: undefined
WP_LOCAL_DEV: undefined
DB_CHARSET: utf8mb4
DB_COLLATE: undefined

### wp-filesystem ###

wordpress: writable
wp-content: writable
uploads: writable
plugins: writable
themes: writable
mu-plugins: writable

### web_stories ###

web_stories_version: 1.14.0
web_stories_db_version: 3.0.13
web_stories_amp_version: 2.1.4
web_stories_cdn_url: https://wp.stories.google/static/13
web_stories_dev_mode: false
web_stories_theme_support: Disabled
web_stories_enabled_experiments:
Archive Page: Enabled
Video trimming: Enabled
Thumbnail Caching: Enabled
Video Captions: Enabled
web_stories_libxml_version: 2.9.7

`

If your stories sometimes end up being completely blank, that is some unrelated and more severe issue. This could be caused by some conflicting plugin wiping out the story data, which we’ve sometimes seen related to backup or import/export plugins.

As for LCP, Adam’s message above still stands.

Thank you! I do use Updraft Plus which is a wordpress backup plugin, so maybe that could be the reason for the blank stories? Do you have any suggestions for a different wordpress backup plugin?

Are there any issues with the site health from the text I have copied above?

Many thanks

Blank story

https://besthotelshome.com/web-stories/what-is-san-jose-california-famous-for/

@ladeek Is this story still blank for you? It was blank initially when viewing but now I can see it. Have you recently made any changes that could have resulted in this?

Thanks Adam! Its not blank anymore but some stories do go blank every now and then and then return to normal. No changes from my end

This does in this case sound like a conflicting plugin issue. The next time you spot a blank story would you be able to temporarily disable your plugins one by one and check if disabling any of these causes the story to show.

There isn’t anything that stands out on your site health but it would be useful at this stage to try an isolate any plugin that may be causing a conflict when you see a blank story.

Please let me know how you get on with this.

Thanks Adam! Will try the plugin method to find the issue.

Many thanks

Thanks, @ladeek! If you do find a plugin that’s causing an issue, please do let us know.

Hi Bethany, at the moment it doesn’t seem to be a plug-in issue. I have changed the theme and I will monitor over the next few days if that helps at all. When I see blank pages my traffic figures from web stories drops significantly despite seeing no issues with GSC. I will keep an eye on traffic and check if the theme changed has helped.

Thanks for the update! It might be worth trying to deactivate the Updraft Plus plugin for a few days, since as Pascal noted, backup plugins can cause the blank page issue that you’re seeing. Since the blank page problem is only occurring every so often, I think it will be hard to see if something is working unless it’s done for a few days.

Hi Bethany, sure I have done that too! So from my end I have changed the theme (a lighter mediavine theme) and deactivated updraft plus and will see if that helps over the next few days.

Thank you!

Sounds good! Have a great weekend.

As we haven’t received a response, I’ll mark this as resolved. Feel free to open a new support topic if you continue to encounter issues, or reopen this topic and we’d be happy to assist. Thank you!