Technical SEO: Core Web Vitals and performance

Core Web Vitals: What Are They?

Core Web Vitals are three metrics Google uses to assess user experience on your site. In 2024, these are very important ranking factors.

LCP (Largest Contentful Paint)

Definition: The time for your page's main content to become visible.

Good score: Less than 2.5 seconds

How to improve it:

• Optimize your images (compress them, use modern formats)
• Minify your CSS and JavaScript
• Use a CDN (Content Delivery Network)
• Improve your server response time
• Defer loading of non-critical resources

INP (Interaction to Next Paint)

Definition: The time between when a visitor clicks and when the page reacts visually.

Good score: Less than 200 milliseconds

How to improve it:

• Minimize blocking JavaScript
• Optimize expensive JavaScript functions
• Use Web Workers for complex tasks
• Test with real devices and connections

CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift)

Definition: Visual stability of your page. Good CLS means nothing moves unexpectedly.

Good score: Less than 0.1

How to improve it:

• Size images and videos correctly
• Avoid ads and embeds that might shift
• Use space reservations for web fonts
• Test on mobile (more critical there)

Tools to Measure Your Core Web Vitals

• Google PageSpeed Insights - Fast and comprehensive
• Google Search Console - Real data from your visitors
• Lighthouse - Very detailed Google tool
• WebVitals.dev - Real-time verification

Action Plan

1. Measure your site with PageSpeed Insights
2. Identify metrics to improve
3. Prioritize changes (LCP then INP then CLS)
4. Test each change
5. Check impact in Google Search Console