A Guide to Core Web Vitals: How to Improve LCP, INP, and CLS for Better SEO

Core Web Vitals are a specific set of metrics that Google uses to measure a website’s real-world user experience. Improving them is crucial for SEO ranking and involves optimizing Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) for loading performance, Interaction to Next Paint (INP) for interactivity, and Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) for visual stability.

Why Do Core Web Vitals Matter?

Google’s goal is to provide users with the best possible results, and that includes the experience on the page itself.

• SEO Ranking Factor: Google uses Core Web Vitals as part of its “page experience” signals, which directly influence search rankings.
• User Experience: These metrics directly translate to a better user experience. A fast, responsive, and stable site leads to lower bounce rates and higher user satisfaction.

The 3 Core Web Vitals Explained

1. LCP (Largest Contentful Paint): Loading Performance 🐢➡️🐇

• What it measures: The time it takes for the largest single element (usually an image or a large block of text) to become visible on the screen. It’s a measure of how quickly a user feels like the page is loaded.
• How to improve it:
  • Optimize Images: Compress images and use modern formats like WebP or AVIF.
  • Use a CDN: A Content Delivery Network serves your assets from a server closer to the user, speeding up delivery.
  • Prioritize Critical Resources: Ensure the most important content loads first.

2. INP (Interaction to Next Paint): Interactivity unresponsive ➡️ responsive

• What it measures: How responsive your page is to user interactions. It measures the time from when a user clicks, taps, or types until the page visually responds (the next “paint”). A low INP means the page feels snappy and responsive.
• How to improve it:
  • Reduce JavaScript Execution: Break up long-running JavaScript tasks so the browser isn’t blocked.
  • Optimize Third-Party Scripts: Be mindful of heavy scripts from ads or analytics that can slow down the page.

3. CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift): Visual Stability shaky ➡️ stable

• What it measures: How much the content on a page unexpectedly shifts around as it loads. Have you ever tried to click a button, only for an ad to load above it and push it down, causing you to click the wrong thing? That’s a high CLS.
• How to improve it:
  • Set Image/Video Dimensions: Always include width and height attributes on your <img> and <video> tags.
  • Reserve Space for Ads: If you have ads, define a container for them so they don’t push content down when they load.
  • Preload Fonts: Ensure web fonts load quickly to prevent a flash of unstyled text that causes a layout shift.

Step 2: Offer Next Step

The guide to Core Web Vitals is now complete. The next topic on our list is about Web Components. Shall I prepare that for you?