Title: FetchPriority Featured Image
Author: Gunjan Jaswal
Published: <strong>2025-11-03</strong>
Last modified: 2026-05-21

---

Search plugins

![](https://ps.w.org/fetchpriority-featured-image/assets/banner-772x250.png?rev=
3424799)

![](https://ps.w.org/fetchpriority-featured-image/assets/icon.svg?rev=3424808)

# FetchPriority Featured Image

 By [Gunjan Jaswal](https://profiles.wordpress.org/gunjanjaswal/)

[Download](https://downloads.wordpress.org/plugin/fetchpriority-featured-image.1.3.0.zip)

 * [Details](https://tt.wordpress.org/plugins/fetchpriority-featured-image/#description)
 * [Reviews](https://tt.wordpress.org/plugins/fetchpriority-featured-image/#reviews)
 *  [Installation](https://tt.wordpress.org/plugins/fetchpriority-featured-image/#installation)
 * [Development](https://tt.wordpress.org/plugins/fetchpriority-featured-image/#developers)

 [Support](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/fetchpriority-featured-image/)

## 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` / `.webp` file 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` / `gravatar`
   or 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

 1. Upload the `fetchpriority-featured-image` folder to the `/wp-content/plugins/` 
    directory
 2. Activate the plugin through the ‘Plugins’ menu in WordPress
 3. That’s it! The plugin works automatically with no configuration needed

## FAQ

### Does this plugin modify my images?

No, this plugin only adds an HTML attribute to the image tag. It doesn’t modify 
your actual image files or database entries.

### Will this work with my theme?

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.

### Do I need to configure anything?

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).

### Will this slow down my site?

No, the plugin adds minimal overhead and should actually improve your site’s performance
by helping browsers prioritize important images.

### How can I verify it’s working?

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

 *   [ Gunjan Jaswal ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/gunjanjaswal/)

[Translate “FetchPriority Featured Image” into your language.](https://translate.wordpress.org/projects/wp-plugins/fetchpriority-featured-image)

### Interested in development?

[Browse the code](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/fetchpriority-featured-image/),
check out the [SVN repository](https://plugins.svn.wordpress.org/fetchpriority-featured-image/),
or subscribe to the [development log](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/log/fetchpriority-featured-image/)
by [RSS](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/log/fetchpriority-featured-image/?limit=100&mode=stop_on_copy&format=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 hero `high` tag.
 * 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_callback` walk 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_attributes` filter 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

## Meta

 *  Version **1.3.0**
 *  Last updated **6 көн ago**
 *  Active installations **200+**
 *  WordPress version ** 5.0 or higher **
 *  Tested up to **7.0**
 *  PHP version ** 7.4 or higher **
 *  Language
 * [English (US)](https://wordpress.org/plugins/fetchpriority-featured-image/)
 * Tags
 * [featured image](https://tt.wordpress.org/plugins/tags/featured-image/)[fetchpriority](https://tt.wordpress.org/plugins/tags/fetchpriority/)
   [images](https://tt.wordpress.org/plugins/tags/images/)[performance](https://tt.wordpress.org/plugins/tags/performance/)
   [web vitals](https://tt.wordpress.org/plugins/tags/web-vitals/)
 *  [Advanced View](https://tt.wordpress.org/plugins/fetchpriority-featured-image/advanced/)

## Ratings

No reviews have been submitted yet.

[Your review](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/fetchpriority-featured-image/reviews/#new-post)

[See all reviews](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/fetchpriority-featured-image/reviews/)

## Contributors

 *   [ Gunjan Jaswal ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/gunjanjaswal/)

## Support

Got something to say? Need help?

 [View support forum](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/fetchpriority-featured-image/)

## Donate

Would you like to support the advancement of this plugin?

 [ Donate to this plugin ](https://ko-fi.com/gunjanjaswal)