Core Web Vitals are Google’s three user-experience metrics (LCP, INP, and CLS) that score how fast, responsive, and visually stable your webpages feel for real visitors.
In plain terms, they help you spot pages that feel slow, laggy, or “jumpy,” which is a common reason people bounce before calling, booking, or filling out a form. For Orlando and Central Florida businesses, this matters even more because a lot of your traffic is mobile, often on mixed network conditions, and visitors are quick to hit the back button when a site hesitates.
What the three metrics mean
Google evaluates Core Web Vitals using real-user (field) data and looks at the 75th percentile, which means you need a “good” experience for most visitors, not just your best-case tests.
| Metric | What it measures | Good | Needs improvement | Poor |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) | How quickly the main content becomes visible (the moment the page feels loaded) | ≤ 2.5s | 2.5s to 4.0s | > 4.0s |
| Interaction to Next Paint (INP) | How responsive the page feels when someone clicks, taps, types, or opens a menu | ≤ 200ms | 200ms to 500ms | > 500ms |
| Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) | How much the layout moves around while loading (buttons shifting, text jumping) | ≤ 0.1 | 0.1 to 0.25 | > 0.25 |
Quick note: INP officially replaced First Input Delay (FID) on March 12, 2024, so if you still see FID referenced in older audits, update your checklist to INP.
Why Core Web Vitals matter for SEO and leads
Core Web Vitals are part of Google’s page experience signals, so they can matter when competing pages are otherwise similar. More importantly, they hit your bottom line: slow or unstable pages reduce calls, appointment requests, and quote submissions, especially on high-intent pages like “Emergency dentist,” “Pest control near me,” or “Speak to a lawyer.” If you want the SEO side handled end-to-end, our SEO services focus on the pages that drive revenue, not vanity scores.
How to check your scores (without turning it into a project)
Start with Google Search Console’s Core Web Vitals report to see which URL groups fail and why, then spot-check your top service pages in PageSpeed Insights (your homepage is not the only page that matters). If you’re trying to connect the dots between speed and rankings, our FAQ on how site speed affects SEO breaks down what to watch first.
What usually fixes each metric fastest
- LCP: reduce heavy hero images, compress and properly size images, improve server response time, cache aggressively, and trim render-blocking CSS and JavaScript.
- INP: cut down JavaScript work on tap and click, delay non-essential third-party scripts (chat widgets, trackers), and simplify complex page builders on key landing pages.
- CLS: set width and height for images and embeds, reserve space for banners and popups, avoid injecting content above the fold, and handle web fonts carefully so text does not jump.
If your site is on WordPress, many Core Web Vitals issues come from theme bloat, plugin overlap, and unoptimized media. That’s where solid engineering and design choices matter, and our web design team builds pages that load cleanly and stay stable while still looking sharp. For the bigger picture on what falls under this kind of work, see our FAQ on what technical SEO is.
If you tell us your website platform and your top 3 money pages (the ones that actually bring calls), we can point you to the most likely Core Web Vitals wins to tackle first.
