What Is Above the Fold? | Marketing Dictionary
DICTIONARY · WEB

What is above the fold?

The portion of a webpage visible before scrolling.

In plain English

Above the fold is whatever a visitor sees before they scroll. The phrase comes from newspapers, where the top half of the front page was what showed on the newsstand.

On the web there is no single fold, because every screen is a different size. The useful version of the idea is that the first screenful carries disproportionate weight, particularly on a phone where it is very small.

What to know

Answer the visitor question immediately
What you do, who for, and what to do next. If someone has to scroll to work out what the business is, the top of the page is failing.
Design for the phone fold first
A phone screen holds a heading, a line of supporting copy and a button. That is the real constraint.
People do scroll
The old rule that nothing below the fold gets seen is not true. Do not cram everything up top, just earn the scroll.
It is a performance metric too
What appears above the fold should load first. Core Web Vitals measures how quickly the largest visible element renders.

Why it matters

The first screenful decides whether the rest of the page gets read. On paid traffic that decision is what your click bought. Getting a clear proposition and one obvious next step into that space is usually worth more than any other change to the page.

Common mistakes

×Filling the first screen with a large image and a vague slogan.
×Pushing the actual proposition below a full-height hero.
×Cramming everything above the fold on the assumption nobody scrolls.
×Placing a heavy lazy-loaded image as the first thing, so the top of the page renders slowly.

FAQs

Where is the fold on mobile?

Roughly the first six hundred pixels, though it varies. Design as if you have a heading, a supporting line and a button.

Does anything below the fold get read?

Yes, when the top gives a reason to continue. Scrolling is normal behaviour, but it has to be earned.

WRITTEN BY TARIQ SALLAM
Marketing Consultant. Entrepreneur. Content Creator.

I'm a marketing consultant, entrepreneur and content creator. I help businesses grow through practical marketing, websites, SEO, content and AI.

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