Lazy loading images often breaks in ways you won’t notice. You think they’re loading later, but sometimes they never load at all.
Googlebot sees blank spaces where images should be. That hurts indexing and frustrates real visitors.
What Is a Lazy Load Checker?
Lazy Load Checker is a free browser-based tool that scans your page and tells you which images are set to load lazily and whether they’ll actually appear when needed.
It checks the loading attribute, offset behavior, and if fallbacks exist for scripts that might fail.
Why It Matters for SEO
If lazy-loaded images don’t trigger, Google can’t index them. That means zero traffic from image search—where pages often get 20-30% of their visibility.
Core Web Vitals suffer too. Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) spikes when images pop in late or collapse entirely. Google recrawls most sites every 3-7 days, so flaws stick around longer than you think.
The real issue is that broken lazy loading looks fine to you but fails for bots and slower connections.
How to Use It
- Go to https://scrawl.tools/tools/lazy-load-checker (no login needed)
- Enter any URL from your site
- Click “Check” and wait 10 seconds for the full image breakdown
It shows every image, its loading attribute, and whether it’s at risk of not loading.
This tool is free and requires no setup—test as many pages as you want.
What the Results Tell You
You’ll see a list of all images, each marked with loading="lazy", loading="eager", or no attribute.
Red flags appear if an image has lazy loading but no height/width set—that’s a CLS risk. It also warns if JavaScript-based lazy loading lacks <noscript> fallbacks.
Most people miss that some CMS plugins add lazy loading by default, even to hero images. That’s a disaster.
Here’s what actually happens: a lazy-loaded banner image delays 2+ seconds, pushing your content down after visitors already start reading. That’s a bad UX and a Google penalty.
The tool also flags placeholder images used in lazy setups that never get replaced.
3 Mistakes Most People Make
- Letting lazy loading apply to above-the-fold images
Hero banners and logos should never be deferred. Yet 40% of sites with lazy load enabled don’t exclude these assets.
- Relying only on JavaScript for lazy loading
If the script fails or loads late, those images never appear. Always pair it with native loading="lazy" or use <noscript> backups.
- Not setting explicit dimensions
Without width and height, the browser can’t reserve space. That causes layout shifts—even if the image loads correctly.
Most developers assume lazy loading is “set and forget.” That’s wrong.
You can lose 15-20% of your image-driven traffic if key visuals don’t render on time.
Test with the Core Web Vitals Checker too—see how these flaws impact real metrics.
Fix it now
Don’t guess whether your images load right. Test them in 10 seconds with a real tool that shows exactly what’s broken.
Go to https://scrawl.tools/tools/lazy-load-checker (free, no login) and check your most important page today.