What are Core Web Vitals and why are they important for your SEO

If you have a website, you want people to be able to find it quickly via Google. That's where SEO (search engine optimization) comes in. But did you know that Google also looks at how well and quickly your website works? For that, Google uses something called Core Web Vitals.

What Are Core Web Vitals?

Core Web Vitals are three important components that say something about the performance of your website. They measure how quickly your site loads, how stable the page is while it loads, and how quickly visitors can interact with your site. Google uses these measurements to determine how user-friendly your site is.

The three Core Web Vitals are:

1. LCP – Largest Contentful Paint: how quickly the largest visible part of the page appears.
2. FID – First Input Delay: how quickly the site responds when someone clicks on it or tries to do something.
3. CLS – Cumulative Layout Shift: how much the page jumps around as it loads.

Let’s take a quick look at each of these.

1. LCP – Largest Contentful Paint

LCP measures the load time of the largest visible element on a page. This could be a large image or a block of text. The goal is for it to be visible to the visitor within 2.5 seconds.

If your site is slow, visitors will drop off more quickly. And Google wants to show people fast websites in the search results. A bad LCP score can therefore negatively affect your position in Google.

Tips to improve your LCP:

• Use fast hosting
• Optimize images (resize and compress them)
• Use a fast and light website layout
• Remove unnecessary scripts or slow plugins

2. FID – First Input Delay

FID measures how quickly the site responds to the first action of the visitor, such as clicking a button or filling out a form. This time must be shorter than 100 milliseconds.

If someone comes to your site and it responds slowly, the site feels “heavy” or unreliable. This is especially a problem on mobile devices. Google wants fast interaction, because that makes for a better user experience.

How do you improve FID?

• Reduce the use of heavy JavaScript files
• Load scripts asynchronously (so not all at once)
• Break large scripts into smaller pieces

3. CLS – Cumulative Layout Shift

CLS looks at how often the content of your page jumps while it is loading. This happens, for example, if text suddenly shifts because an image only appears later. A good score is lower than 0.1.

An unstable page can be frustrating. Imagine: you want to press a button, but at that moment everything shifts and you accidentally click on something else. Google sees this as a bad user experience.

How do you improve CLS?

• Make sure images and videos have fixed dimensions
• Load fonts in a smart way (for example, use font-display: swap)
• Do not add content above existing content during loading

Why Are Core Web Vitals Important for SEO?

Since June 2021, Core Web Vitals are an official ranking factor in Google. This means that websites that score well on these components have an advantage in the search results. So it is no longer just important what is on your website, but also how fast and stable it is.

Google wants to give users the best experience. If your site is slow or clunky, Google will be more likely to rank another site that is performing well.

How to Measure Your Core Web Vitals?

There are several tools you can use for free to check your scores:

• Google PageSpeed ​​Insights
• Google Search Console (under "Site Vitals")
• Chrome DevTools (for developers)

These tools not only give you the numbers, but also practical tips to improve your site.

What Happens When Your Core Web Vitals Are Bad?

A bad score doesn't mean your website will disappear from Google right away. But you do run the risk of ranking lower than competitors with better performance. That can result in fewer visitors, fewer customers and less turnover.

It also affects the experience of your visitors. A slow or jumping site makes people impatient. They click away before they see your content. So you don't just lose positions in Google, you also lose real visitors.

Are Core Web Vitals All That Matters?

No, definitely not. Google looks at hundreds of factors, such as:

• Good, relevant content
• Backlinks
• Mobile friendliness
• HTTPS security
• Keywords and metadata

However, Core Web Vitals are part of a group of signals that together measure user experience. The better you score, the more likely Google is to rank your website higher.

Practical Steps to Improve Your Core Web Vitals

Here’s a quick step-by-step guide to get you started today:

1. Test your website for PageSpeed ​​Insights
2. Note your LCP, FID, and CLS scores
3. Optimize images and remove slow scripts
4. Use a caching plugin (e.g. for WordPress)
5. Check if your site works well on mobile
6. Retest and see if your score improves

Conclusion

Core Web Vitals are more than a technical detail – they’re an important part of SEO. Google wants to show websites that are fast, stable, and easy to use. If your website is, you will be rewarded with better rankings.

Start measuring and improving today. Your visitors – and Google – will thank you.

Remember: a fast website is a smart investment!

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