Core Web Vitals: what they are and why they affect your website's SEO

Google has used Core Web Vitals as a ranking factor since 2021. In 2026 they remain one of the most important indicators for ranking well.

What are Core Web Vitals?

LCP (Largest Contentful Paint): How long does it take for the main content to appear? Target: under 2.5 seconds.

CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift): Do elements move while the page loads? Target: under 0.1.

INP (Interaction to Next Paint): How long does the website take to respond to a user interaction? Target: under 200ms.

How do I improve them?

• Slow LCP: optimise images (WebP, lazy loading), remove render-blocking scripts
• High CLS: define fixed dimensions on images and ads
• High INP: reduce unnecessary JavaScript, use web workers