What are Core Web Vitals?

Quick Answer

Core Web Vitals are three specific performance metrics Google uses to measure user experience on your website: loading speed (LCP), interactivity (INP), and visual stability (CLS). They directly influence search rankings.

Google introduced Core Web Vitals as ranking factors because user experience matters. A website that loads slowly, responds sluggishly to clicks, or shifts content around while loading creates a poor experience – and Google penalises it accordingly.

Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) measures how long it takes for the main content on a page to load. Google considers under 2.5 seconds to be good. Common causes of poor LCP include large uncompressed images, slow server response times, and render-blocking CSS or JavaScript.

Interaction to Next Paint (INP) measures how quickly your site responds when a visitor clicks a button, taps a link, or interacts with a form. Under 200 milliseconds is considered good. Heavy JavaScript and unoptimised third-party scripts are the most common causes of poor INP.

Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) measures how much the page layout moves around during loading. Under 0.1 is considered good. Layout shift happens when images without defined dimensions load, fonts swap, or ads and embeds push content around.

You can check your Core Web Vitals in Google Search Console under Experience, or by running your URL through Google PageSpeed Insights. Both tools show your current scores and specific recommendations for improvement.

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