Core Web Vitals (CWV) consists of three core metrics that Google defines to measure the quality of a page’s user experience. Since 2021, it has been used as an official ranking signal.
The three metrics:
- LCP (Largest Contentful Paint): How long it takes for the page’s main content to load. Target: under 2.5 seconds.
- INP (Interaction to Next Paint): How quickly the page responds to user interactions. Target: under 200 ms. (It replaced FID in March 2024.)
- CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift): How much the content shifts and moves around while the page is loading. Target: under 0.1.
Core Web Vitals is measured not from lab data but from real user (field) data, and it is reported to Google through the Chrome User Experience Report (CrUX). You can see your site’s status in the “Core Web Vitals” report in Search Console.
Tip: Even if CWV is good, rankings will not improve if the content is weak; however, if the content is good but CWV is poor, rankings may drop. The right approach is to treat it as a hygiene factor.