If your site is slow to load or "jumps around" as it assembles, you lose visitors before they even see what you offer. Google knows this, which is why it measures the experience with Core Web Vitals.
The three metrics that matter
- LCP (Largest Contentful Paint): how long the main content takes to appear. Target: under 2.5 seconds.
- INP (Interaction to Next Paint): how quickly your site responds when the user clicks or types. Target: under 200 ms.
- CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift): how much content shifts unexpectedly. Target: under 0.1.
Why they're money
It's not just SEO. Every tenth of a second of delay cuts conversions. A site that loads in 1.5 s sells more than one that loads in 4 s, even when they're selling the exact same thing.
Speed isn't a technical detail: it's part of the buying experience.
How to improve them
- Optimize images: modern formats (AVIF/WebP) and the right sizes.
- Load fonts carefully:
font-display: swapand subsets. - Reserve space: define dimensions to avoid layout shifts (CLS).
- Reduce JavaScript: less code on the client, more speed.