Core Web Vitals tips
- LCP (Largest Contentful Paint) should be under 2.5 seconds. The biggest gains come from optimising your hero image — compress it, serve it as WebP, and preload it in your <head>.
- CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift) should be below 0.1. Always set explicit width and height on images and embeds so the browser reserves space before they load.
- FID/INP measures interactivity. Reduce JavaScript execution time by deferring non-critical scripts and code-splitting large bundles.
- A CDN can reduce TTFB (Time to First Byte) by 40–60% for international visitors — it's the single highest-impact infrastructure change most sites can make.
Why page speed is a ranking factor — not just a UX metric
Since Google's Core Web Vitals update, page speed has been a confirmed ranking signal. Sites that score well on LCP, CLS, and FID/INP receive a ranking boost in competitive SERPs. But the business case goes beyond rankings: a 1-second delay in page load time can reduce conversions by 7%, and 53% of mobile users abandon sites that take more than 3 seconds to load.
The good news is that most speed issues are fixable without a full rebuild. Image compression, caching, a CDN, and removing unnecessary third-party scripts can together reduce load times by 50% or more on the average WordPress or Shopify site.
Frequently asked questions
What is LCP, CLS, and FID?
These are Google's Core Web Vitals. LCP (Largest Contentful Paint) measures how fast the main content loads — good is under 2.5s. CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift) measures visual stability — good is under 0.1. FID (First Input Delay) / INP (Interaction to Next Paint) measures responsiveness — good is under 200ms. All three are now used as Google ranking signals.
How does page speed affect SEO?
Page speed is a confirmed Google ranking factor for both desktop and mobile searches. While it rarely overrides relevance (a slow page about a highly relevant topic will still rank), when content quality is equal, the faster site wins. Speed also affects crawl budget — Google crawls fast sites more efficiently, which benefits large sites significantly.
What's a good page speed score?
On Google PageSpeed Insights, 90+ is considered "Good," 50–89 is "Needs Improvement," and below 50 is "Poor." For mobile, scores of 60–70+ are realistic targets for content-rich sites. For simple landing pages, aim for 85+. The actual field data (Core Web Vitals) matters more than the lab score for ranking purposes.
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