SEO·8 min·
Core Web Vitals: A Guide for Business Owners
What LCP, INP and CLS are, why they affect Google rankings and how to improve them without technical magic.
Core Web Vitals are three metrics Google uses to measure real user experience. They affect both search rankings and how many visitors stay on your site.
The three key metrics
- LCP — how fast the main content appears (target < 2.5s)
- INP — how quickly the site responds to actions (target < 200ms)
- CLS — how stable the layout is while loading (target < 0.1)
Why it matters for sales
Every extra second of loading reduces conversion. A slow site loses customers before they even see your product.
How to improve the scores
- Optimise images (AVIF/WebP, srcset, lazy load)
- Reduce and split JavaScript into chunks
- Set media dimensions to avoid layout shifts
- Use preconnect and caching
- Consider server rendering for key pages
The good news: most issues are solved at the development stage. A site built with speed in mind passes Core Web Vitals out of the box.