What is Core Web Vitals?
A set of three Google metrics that measure real-world user experience: loading performance, interactivity, and visual stability.
Core Web Vitals Explained
Core Web Vitals are three specific metrics Google uses to evaluate user experience on web pages: Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) measures loading performance (how quickly the main content appears, target under 2.5 seconds), Interaction to Next Paint (INP) measures interactivity (how quickly the page responds to user interactions, target under 200 milliseconds), and Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) measures visual stability (how much the page layout shifts unexpectedly during loading, target under 0.1). These metrics are part of Google page experience ranking signals and are measured using real user data from Chrome User Experience Report. Improving Core Web Vitals improves both rankings and user experience.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the three Core Web Vitals?
LCP (Largest Contentful Paint) measures loading speed — target under 2.5 seconds. INP (Interaction to Next Paint) measures responsiveness — target under 200ms. CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift) measures visual stability — target under 0.1. All three must pass for a page to have good Core Web Vitals.
Do Core Web Vitals affect rankings?
Yes, Core Web Vitals are a confirmed Google ranking factor as part of the page experience signal. However, content relevance and quality remain more important. CWV acts as a tiebreaker between pages of similar content quality and relevance.
How do you measure Core Web Vitals?
Use Google PageSpeed Insights for per-page data, Google Search Console Core Web Vitals report for site-wide data, and Chrome DevTools for debugging. Field data (from real users) matters more than lab data (simulated tests) for ranking purposes.
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