Core Web Vitals are three measurements Google uses to judge how pleasant a page is to use. They affect rankings, but more importantly, they affect whether visitors stay.

LCP — Largest Contentful Paint

LCP measures how long it takes for the main content (often a big image or heading) to appear. Aim for under 2.5 seconds.

How to improve: better hosting, page caching, a CDN, compressed hero images and preloading key fonts.

CLS — Cumulative Layout Shift

CLS measures how much the page jumps around while loading. We have all tried to tap a button just as an advert pushes it down.

How to improve: set width and height on images, reserve space for ads and embeds, and avoid inserting content above what is already visible.

INP — Interaction to Next Paint

INP measures how quickly the page responds when someone taps or clicks. Aim for under 200 milliseconds.

How to improve: reduce heavy JavaScript, remove unused plugins and delay non-essential scripts like chat widgets.

Where to check your scores

• Google PageSpeed Insights — quick test of any page.
• Search Console — real data from your visitors across the whole site.

Common WordPress causes

• Heavy themes with lots of unused features
• Too many plugins loading scripts on every page
• Large, uncompressed images
• Cheap, overloaded hosting

Good Core Web Vitals mean a faster, calmer experience — and visitors notice.

We fix Core Web Vitals on WordPress sites every week. See our speed optimisation service.

Further reading

• Web Vitals (web.dev)
• PageSpeed Insights
• Google Search Console