The first three seconds on your site determine everything. It’s when your visitors decide to stay or bounce. When a page loads, the first visible section is called the above-the-fold content. It’s the part of your page that is shown before a visitor scrolls.

This space matters more than you think. Visitors decide based on it whether to read further, click, or close the tab. Get it right, and your visitors keep reading. Miss the mark, and the rest of your page may never get a chance.

From newspapers to websites

Above-the-fold content dates back to the early publishing days. At newsstands, papers were folded in half, showing only the top half to people passing by. That section had to sell the whole paper to customers, so they packed it with attention-grabbing headlines, teasers, and images.

Today, websites face the same challenge. They need to grab the attention of visitors within seconds. The above-the-fold content has to convince people to stick around. The question is, what content actually works here?

Say who you are

Your core message belongs at the very top of your page for a reason. It answers the two questions every visitor has: who are you, and what do you do? If it’s not clear in seconds, visitors will bounce.

A strong core message that defines who you are and what you stand for sets the tone for the rest of your page. It should show value straight away, so visitors know why they should care. 

Guide visitors with a clear CTA

Besides your core message, you should include a call to action (CTA). Prompt visitors to move further on your site or to take action. This could be “Get your free guide,” “Join the waitlist,” or “Browse our products.” The key is to make the action clear and specific. Your call to action should eliminate guesswork. Tell your visitor exactly what they’ll get out of the action.

Read our blog post on how to create a good call to action to learn more.

Fast pages win, slow pages lose

Even the best core message and CTA won’t matter if your above-the-fold content takes too long to load. Visitors expect it to load within three seconds, and if it doesn’t, most will leave without reading a word.

Optimizing above-the-fold content is crucial here. Compress large images, remove unnecessary scripts, and optimize your site speed. The faster it loads, the sooner people actually see it.

Stop your layout from jumping around

Cumulative Layout Shifts (CLS) measure how stable your page looks as it loads. If elements suddenly move or jump, it frustrates people and kills trust. Imagine trying to click a button, only for a late-loading image to push it out of the way. You end up clicking something else by mistake, and the experience feels broken.

It can happen when ads, embeds, or images without defined dimensions are placed above the fold. The site doesn’t know how much space to leave for it until the last second. Or when you add in dynamic content, like a banner that appears after a certain amount of time. To avoid it, always set a size for images, reserve space for embeds, and keep assets lightweight. 

You can test your CLS score with tools like Google PageSpeed Insights. The score shows how stable your layout is as the page loads. 

Test it

Not sure which approach to take for your above-the-fold content? Test it!

A/B testing lets you show two variations of a page to your audience and see which performs better based on metrics such as clicks, sales, or sign-ups. Learn how you can perform A/B testing in WordPress with this guide. 

But here’s the catch: A/B testing only works well on pages that get a decent amount of traffic. If one of your pages only gets a handful of visitors a day, the test will take a long time to run, and the results won’t be as reliable.

When you decide to run the test, focus on testing one element at a time. Otherwise, you’ll never know what actually caused the difference in results. You might start testing two different headlines, and from there you can move on to experiment with which CTA works better. Also test different placements of buttons and your call to action. Or test different images. 

Each test gives you more clarity about what your visitors respond to. These insights let you refine your above-the-fold content into something that consistently grabs attention and drives conversions.

Your first impression

Above-the-fold content is your digital first impression. Done right, it tells visitors who you are, what you do, and what they should do next. A clear core message, a single call to action, fast loading, and a stable layout are the foundation. From there, use A/B testing to refine the details and discover what works for your audience.

In those first three seconds, your site has one chance to make people stay.