What: This guide shares five practical ways to improve Core Web Vitals and enhance website performance.
Who: Website owners, marketers, SEO teams, and developers looking to improve rankings and UX.
Why: Google uses Core Web Vitals as a ranking signal. Slow or unstable pages can hurt visibility and conversions.
How: Step-by-step fixes for LCP, CLS, FID, and INP, plus tools to monitor performance.
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Improve user experience and boost SEO by fixing the performance metrics Google cares about most.
Search engines have become more focused on how users experience your website, not just what it says. Core Web Vitals are Google’s way of measuring that experience. These metrics track how fast your site loads, how stable it appears while loading, and how quickly users can interact with it.
In 2025, Core Web Vitals are not just technical details. They are part of the page experience signal that can influence where your site ranks in search results. If your site feels slow, shifts around when loading, or delays user input, it may lose both traffic and credibility.
The good news is that improving Core Web Vitals does not require a complete site rebuild. In this blog, we will explain what these metrics mean, why they matter, and show you five simple and effective fixes that can boost your site’s performance and visibility.
What Are Core Web Vitals? A Quick Guide
Core Web Vitals are a set of user-focused metrics that measure the quality of experience on your website. Introduced by Google, these metrics reflect how quickly your page loads, how visually stable it is, and how responsive it feels to user actions. They apply to all websites and directly influence search rankings.
Here are the main metrics you need to know:
Metric
What It Measures
Good Score
Largest Contentful Paint (LCP)
Loading speed of the main content visible to the user
Under 2.5 seconds
Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS)
Visual stability as the page loads (avoiding sudden shifts)
Less than 0.1
First Input Delay (FID)
Time from first user interaction to browser response
Under 100 milliseconds
Interaction to Next Paint (INP)
A new metric replacing FID, offering a more complete view of interactivity
Under 200 milliseconds
In 2024, Google began shifting from FID to INP as the primary measure of input responsiveness.
These metrics are measured using both lab tools (for developers) and real-world user data. Websites that meet the recommended thresholds across all three metrics are considered to have a good page experience.
Why Core Web Vitals Impact Your Google Rankings
Core Web Vitals are part of Google’s page experience update, which evaluates how users interact with your content beyond just keywords and links. Since this update became a ranking factor in 2021, performance metrics like LCP, CLS, and INP have played a supporting role in how pages are ranked, especially when multiple results are otherwise equal in content relevance.
Google’s goal is to prioritise websites that offer not only valuable information but also a smooth and responsive user experience. This means that pages loading slowly, shifting visually during load, or responding poorly to user actions are considered less helpful, even if their content is strong.
Why Each Metric Matters to Google and Users
Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) A slow LCP means users are left staring at a blank or incomplete page. This increases bounce rates and reduces the chance of engagement or conversion.
Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) Unexpected layout shifts frustrate users, especially on mobile devices. Pages that move buttons or text during load can cause accidental clicks or reduce trust.
Interaction to Next Paint (INP) Replacing FID, INP tracks how responsive your site feels when users interact with it. A lag between a user clicking and seeing something happen signals a poor experience.
Google uses these metrics across groups of similar pages. If multiple product or blog pages perform poorly on CWV, it can affect the entire group’s visibility.
Mobile Experience Is Key
Because Google uses mobile-first indexing, your site’s mobile Core Web Vitals have a direct impact on how it ranks, even in desktop results. A site that performs well on desktop but poorly on mobile may still lose search visibility if mobile scores are not optimised.
Real-World Example
Many e-commerce websites that improved LCP by compressing product images and reducing third-party scripts saw measurable increases in rankings and revenue. In industries where speed and usability directly affect sales, small performance gains lead to significant SEO and business outcomes.
With Core Web Vitals affecting both how users experience your site and how search engines evaluate it, improving these metrics is no longer optional. It is a vital part of SEO in 2025.
5 Simple Fixes to Improve Core Web Vitals
Improving Core Web Vitals does not always require a complete website redesign. In many cases, a few targeted fixes can significantly boost performance and user experience. These five actions are some of the most effective and accessible ways to improve your LCP, CLS, and INP scores.
Fix 1: Optimise and Compress Images
Large, uncompressed images are one of the most common causes of poor LCP scores. To improve loading speed:
Use next-gen image formats like WebP or AVIF
Resize images to the exact dimensions needed on the page
Apply image compression tools such as TinyPNG or Squoosh
Serve responsive images with the <picture> tag or srcset attribute
Impact: Improves Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), especially on image-heavy landing or product pages.
Fix 2: Eliminate Render-Blocking Resources
Render-blocking scripts delay page loading and interactivity. To reduce their impact:
Defer non-essential JavaScript using defer or async attributes
Minify CSS and JavaScript files to reduce size
Inline critical CSS for above-the-fold content
Remove unused third-party scripts where possible
Impact: Improves both LCP and Interaction to Next Paint (INP) by reducing delays in rendering key elements.
Fix 3: Set Explicit Width and Height for Media
Unexpected layout shifts are often caused by images, videos, or iframes loading without predefined dimensions. To prevent this:
Always set width and height attributes in your HTML
Reserve space for ads or dynamic content blocks
Avoid inserting large elements above existing content after page load
Impact: Reduces Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) and creates a smoother visual experience.
Fix 4: Reduce and Optimise Third-Party Scripts
Third-party tools like chat widgets, ad trackers, or embedded video players can slow down load time and interaction speed. To manage their impact:
Audit and remove unused or duplicate scripts
Load scripts asynchronously where possible
Self-host critical scripts, such as fonts or analytics, for better control
Impact: Improves INP and overall site responsiveness, especially on mobile devices.
Fix 5: Use a Content Delivery Network (CDN) and Browser Caching
Serving your content from geographically closer servers and reducing repeated downloads helps improve page load times. To implement:
Use a CDN like Cloudflare, Fastly, or BunnyCDN
Enable browser caching through server configurations
Compress assets using Gzip or Brotli
Impact: Improves LCP and INP across users in different locations, making performance more consistent.
Each of these fixes can be measured and monitored using Google’s performance tools, which we will cover in the next section.
Which Tools Help You Monitor and Improve Core Web Vitals?
To improve Core Web Vitals, you first need reliable data. Google provides a set of free tools that help track loading speed, layout shifts, and input responsiveness. These tools combine simulated testing with real-world usage data to give you a complete picture of your site’s performance.
Below are the four most effective and distinct tools for monitoring Core Web Vitals:
PageSpeed Insights analyses individual URLs using both lab data (simulated performance) and field data (real user metrics from Chrome). It highlights LCP, CLS, and INP scores separately for mobile and desktop.
Use it to:
Measure Core Web Vitals for any public URL
Identify performance bottlenecks
Prioritise optimisations based on real-user impact
Lighthouse is built into the Chrome browser and provides detailed performance reports. It simulates how your page performs under average network conditions and flags elements that slow down rendering or cause layout shifts.
How to use it:
Open your website in Chrome
Right-click and select Inspect
Navigate to the Lighthouse tab
Choose either mobile or desktop, then run the audit
If your site is verified in Search Console, you can access the Core Web Vitals report, which shows how groups of URLs are performing based on real-world Chrome user data.
Use it to:
Monitor site-wide Core Web Vitals trends
Detect groups of pages failing LCP, CLS, or INP thresholds
CrUX provides anonymised, real-world performance data from Chrome users. It powers the field data seen in tools like PageSpeed Insights and Search Console.
Use it to:
Benchmark your site’s performance against others in your industry
Analyse large-scale trends in user experience
Understand how your site performs across different devices and networks
By using these tools together, you can monitor both individual pages and overall site health, identify what needs fixing, and measure the impact of your optimisations over time.
Growth Plan
Looking to improve your website’s performance across all devices?
Use upGrowth’s Core Web Vitals Audit checklist or connect with our growth team to explore practical improvements for your site.
Core Web Vitals are not just technical scores; they reflect how users experience your website. In 2025, improving these metrics is one of the simplest ways to enhance both your SEO performance and user satisfaction.
Fixes like compressing images, stabilising layouts, and reducing script delays can lead to faster loading times, smoother browsing, and higher search visibility. When these improvements are applied consistently across your site, they also lead to better retention and conversion outcomes.
At upGrowth, we encourage businesses to treat performance optimisation as an ongoing part of digital strategy, not just a one-time fix. Core Web Vitals are a key indicator of how well your website meets user expectations, and fixing them should be a priority for anyone serious about growth.
FAQs
1. How can I quickly improve my website’s Largest Contentful Paint (LCP)? You can improve LCP by compressing large images, using next-gen formats like WebP, and reducing render-blocking scripts that delay content from loading.
2. What are the easiest ways to reduce Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS)? To reduce CLS, always set fixed width and height for images and videos, avoid inserting new content above the fold during load, and minimise dynamic layout changes.
3. How does Interaction to Next Paint (INP) affect user experience and rankings? INP measures how quickly a page responds to user interactions. A high INP score means your site feels unresponsive, which can lower engagement and potentially affect your Google rankings.
4. Can fixing Core Web Vitals boost my position on Google in 2025? Yes. While content remains a core ranking factor, Core Web Vitals influence your site’s page experience score. Better performance can give you an edge in competitive SERPs.
5. Which tools can help monitor and improve Core Web Vitals? Trusted tools include PageSpeed Insights, Lighthouse in Chrome DevTools, Google Search Console, and the Chrome User Experience Report (CrUX).
6. Is there a difference between lab data and field data in Core Web Vitals? Yes. Lab data is based on simulated conditions and helps developers test performance. Field data reflects real-user experience and is what Google uses to evaluate ranking impact.
7. How often should I audit my website’s Core Web Vitals? Monthly audits are ideal for most websites. However, high-traffic or e-commerce sites should monitor them weekly, especially after making design, speed, or layout changes.
8. Can I use ChatGPT to interpret my Core Web Vitals data? Yes. You can input your PageSpeed Insights report into ChatGPT and ask for a simplified explanation or a step-by-step action plan based on your site’s metrics.
9. How can Gen AI tools assist in fixing Core Web Vitals issues? Generative AI can help you identify performance bottlenecks, summarise audit reports, and recommend code optimisations, especially if you integrate it with development workflows or analytics dashboards.
10. Are Core Web Vitals equally important on mobile and desktop? Yes, but Google evaluates performance using mobile-first indexing. This means mobile Core Web Vitals scores typically have a greater influence on your search rankings.
Amol has helped catalyse business growth with his strategic & data-driven methodologies. With a decade of experience in the field of marketing, he has donned multiple hats, from channel optimization, data analytics and creative brand positioning to growth engineering and sales.
Growth Strategy and Planning
