Performance
Core Web Vitals: The Speed Signals That Decide Your Rankings
LCP, INP and CLS aren't just acronyms — they're the experience metrics Google uses to judge your site. Here's how to win all three.
Why speed is a ranking signal
Google measures real user experience through Core Web Vitals: Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) for load speed, Interaction to Next Paint (INP) for responsiveness, and Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) for visual stability. Poor scores cost rankings and conversions.
LCP: make the main content load fast
LCP should be under 2.5 seconds. The biggest levers are serving pre-rendered HTML, compressing and properly sizing images, removing render-blocking resources, and caching at the edge. Static sites have a structural advantage here.
INP: responsiveness wins
INP replaced First Input Delay and measures the worst interaction latency. Heavy JavaScript, layout thrash and main-thread blocking are the usual culprits. Shipping less JS and deferring non-critical work keeps interactions snappy.
CLS: stop the shifting
CLS under 0.1 means no surprise layout jumps. Reserve space for images and ads with explicit dimensions, avoid injecting content above existing content, and let fonts swap gracefully. Small fixes, big stability gains.
Frequently asked questions
What's a good Core Web Vitals score?
Aim for LCP under 2.5s, INP under 200ms and CLS under 0.1 — the 'good' thresholds Google uses for ranking evaluation.
How do I measure my Core Web Vitals?
Use PageSpeed Insights, the Chrome User Experience Report (CrUX) and Google Search Console's Core Web Vitals report for real-world field data.
Will fixing speed actually improve rankings?
Speed is one of many signals, but it directly improves user experience, which lifts engagement and conversions — and pages with good CWV consistently outperform in search.