Ever wondered why some websites feel smooth and easy to navigate while others make you want to pull your hair out waiting for pages to load? The difference often comes down to something called Core Web Vitals. Google has a checklist of what makes a website perform well—and it’s incredibly important for your site’s success.
So what are web vitals and why should you care? Simply put, they are a list of metrics that Google uses to measure the user experience on your site based on real world data. In a pursuit of a user-centric web, these metrics are Google’s way of making sure your site isn’t just good-looking, but also fast, responsive, and easy to use. There are three web vital metrics in particular that Google focuses on, these are the CORE Web Vitals.
The Core Web Vitals were chosen as a focus because they directly influence the user experience, including page load speed, interactivity, and visual stability.
Think of the last website you visited that was frustrating to use, there’s a good chance the difficulties you encountered were measurable through Core Web Vitals. As AI Overview continues to take up more space in search engine result pages (SERPs), and the organic search landscape continues to evolve, Google is primed to reward sites that adhere to the guidelines they’ve set around these metrics.
So, if your brand wants to stay competitive online (i.e. rank well), optimizing for Core Web Vitals is a must. Below, we explore how nailing these metrics can keep your users happy and your site visible!
Let’s break down the three key players in the Core Web Vitals lineup: Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), Interaction to Next Paint (INP), and Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS). Each one tells a different part of the story when it comes to how users experience your website.
Ever clicked on a link and stared at your screen, waiting for the main part of the page to show up? That’s where the Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) comes in. LCP measures how long it takes for
A good LCP score is 2.5 seconds or less. If your site takes longer than that, you risk losing visitors before they even get a chance to see what you're offering. Fast loading times are crucial for keeping people engaged—and, spoiler alert, Google loves fast-loading websites (because they’re always playing favorites).
Formerly First Input Delay (FID), Google officially replaced FID for INP on September 10, 2024. INP measures interactivity, which is a fancy way to say “how responsive a page is to user interactions.” INP measures the time between when a user interacts with a website and when the browser responds - think clicking a button or tapping a link and the time it takes for that request to go through.
For a smooth experience, your INP score should be under 200 milliseconds (yes, we’re talking Lightning McQueen fast). A fast response time keeps users happy, making them more likely to stick around and explore your site.
Lastly, there's Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS). Have you ever been reading an article, and suddenly, the text shifts because an ad or
A good CLS score is less than 0.1. When your site’s elements stay put as they load, users can interact with your content without any annoying shifts. Keeping things steady not only improves the user experience but also builds trust—because no one enjoys accidentally clicking on something they didn’t mean to!
Now that you know what Core Web Vitals are and why they’re so important, the next step is figuring out how to measure them. Luckily, there are some handy tools out there that make this process pretty painless.
Let’s start with the gold standard: Google’s PageSpeed Insights. This tool not only gives you a snapshot of how your site is performing on both desktop and mobile, but it also provides a detailed breakdown of your Core Web Vitals scores.
Just pop your URL into the tool, and voilà—you’ll get insights into your LCP, INP, and CLS, along with suggestions for improving them. Plus, it shows you real-world data, which means you're seeing how actual users are experiencing your site.
Keep in mind that Core Web Vitals are measured by page. This means that you should be running this report for all vital pages to your site (home page, service pages, location pages, contact pages, etc.) to ensure that you are providing a great user experience at your most critical conversion points.
If you're the type that loves checking things on the fly, the Web Vitals Extension is perfect for you. It’s a simple browser extension that gives you real-time Core Web Vitals metrics as you browse your site.
Once you have your Core Web Vitals scores in hand, the real fun begins—interpreting them. Google rates your performance on a call, marking your scores as “good,” “needs improvement,” or “poor,” but the real question is, what do you do with that information?
At the end of the day, focus on tackling the biggest issues indicated by your reports first, which will provide the most immediate benefit to your users (and your search ranking!). Keep tracking your progress, and remember: a website is never truly “done.” Continuous monitoring of your Core Web Vitals ensures your site stays fast, responsive, and user-friendly.
So, you've measured your Core Web Vitals—now it's time to roll up your sleeves and improve those scores! Here are some tried-and-true strategies to enhance your site’s performance across all three key metrics.
If your LCP score is lagging, it’s all about speeding up the time it takes for the largest element on your page to load. Here’s how:
For INP, it’s all about getting your site to respond as quickly as possible when users interact with it. Here’s what you can do:
To reduce CLS, focus on keeping your page visually stable as it loads so users aren’t thrown off by unexpected shifts in content. Here’s how:
To sum it all up, Core Web Vitals tell the story of user experience on your site based on real-world data
Not sure where to start? Don’t worry—we’re here to help. Contact BFO for a Core Web Vitals audit, and we’ll guide you through optimizing your site to meet Google’s standards!
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