Core Web Vitals are a set of specific metrics Google uses to measure user experience on web pages. They focus on loading performance, interactivity, and visual stability.
The three Core Web Vitals:
- LCP (Largest Contentful Paint): Loading - measures how quickly the main content loads. Good: under 2.5 seconds.
- INP (Interaction to Next Paint): Interactivity - measures responsiveness to user input. Good: under 200 milliseconds.
- CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift): Visual stability - measures unexpected layout shifts. Good: under 0.1.
Why Core Web Vitals matter:
- They're a Google ranking factor
- Poor scores hurt user experience
- Fast sites get crawled more efficiently
- Performance signals indicate quality
Core Web Vitals and AI visibility:
- Well-performing sites are more likely to be trusted
- AI systems may consider performance signals
- Fast sites are crawled more thoroughly
- User experience signals indicate content quality
Improving Core Web Vitals requires technical optimization including image optimization, code minification, server improvements, and layout stability fixes.