What are Core Web Vitals and why are they important?
In short and in plain language
The Core Web Vitals are speed measures from Google. They show how well visitors experience your site.
They measure how fast the main content appears. They measure how fast the page reacts to a click. And they measure if the page jumps while it loads.
Google uses these values in search. That is why they matter for every website.
These values can be improved step by step. You can read more on our Core Web Vitals page.
Core Web Vitals are three Google-defined metrics that measure the user experience from different angles. LCP (Largest Contentful Paint) captures how quickly the largest visible content appears, in other words when the page feels loaded. INP (Interaction to Next Paint) measures how promptly the page reacts to clicks, taps and input. CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift) rates how calmly the layout stays during loading, that is whether buttons jump away from under the finger.
Since June 2021 these three values have been a confirmed ranking factor and therefore relevant to every website owner, not just SEO specialists. They translate abstract user perception into measurable numbers that can be improved in a targeted way. On our dedicated Core Web Vitals page we explain each metric in detail and show the typical causes of poor values.