Definition
Core Web Vitals - Google's user experience metrics: Largest Contentful Paint (LCP - loading speed), Interaction to Next Paint (INP - responsiveness), and Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS - visual stability). All three are official ranking signals as of 2024.
In more depth
Core Web Vitals are Google's attempt to quantify user experience in objective, measurable terms. They became official ranking signals as part of the Page Experience update, and as of March 2024 include three metrics: LCP (how quickly the main content loads), INP (how quickly the page responds to user interactions - replaced FID in 2024), and CLS (how much page elements shift unexpectedly during loading).
Google measures these from real Chrome user data collected through the Chrome User Experience Report (CrUX). This means your scores reflect what real users experience on real devices and connections - not what you see in a lab test on a fast machine. Australian users on mobile connections to servers hosted only in the US often see worse LCP scores than desktop users, making Australian-focused CDN configuration important for AU businesses.
Good thresholds: LCP <= 2.5 seconds, INP <= 200ms, CLS <= 0.1. These are evaluated at the 75th percentile - meaning 75% of your real visits must meet the threshold for your site to be considered "Good." See our detailed guide to Core Web Vitals for specific fix strategies.
Related terms: Page Speed - Indexation
Frequently asked questions
Do Core Web Vitals directly affect Google rankings?
Yes, but as a tiebreaker rather than a primary signal. Google has confirmed that content relevance and quality matter more than CWV in most cases. But in competitive niches where pages are close in quality, CWV becomes a differentiator. More practically, good CWV improves conversion rates independently of any ranking effect.
What replaced FID in Core Web Vitals?
Interaction to Next Paint (INP) replaced First Input Delay (FID) on 12 March 2024. FID measured only the delay before the browser started processing the first user interaction. INP measures the full visual response time across all interactions during a page visit - a more demanding and more realistic measure of responsiveness.
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