Core Web Vitals are Google's page-experience metrics. They are not a magic ranking boost, but poor scores hurt real users — and users who bounce do not convert.
The three metrics
- LCP (Largest Contentful Paint) — how fast the main content appears. Good: under 2.5s.
- INP (Interaction to Next Paint) — responsiveness to clicks and taps. Good: under 200ms.
- CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift) — visual stability. Good: under 0.1.
Fixing LCP
- Serve images in modern formats (WebP/AVIF) and size them correctly
- Preload the hero image and the fonts it needs
- Cut render-blocking CSS and JavaScript
- Use a CDN
Fixing INP
- Break up long JavaScript tasks
- Defer non-critical scripts
- Avoid heavy work on every keystroke
Fixing CLS
- Always set width and height (or aspect-ratio) on images and embeds
- Reserve space for ads and banners
- Avoid injecting content above existing content
Measure first
Use PageSpeed Insights and the Core Web Vitals report in Search Console to find your worst pages, then fix the metric with the biggest gap. Run a quick content check with the on-page audit while you are at it.