Core Web Vitals are a subset of Web Vitals that Google considers essential for delivering a great user experience. They are used as ranking signals in Google Search.
The three Core Web Vitals
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Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) - Measures loading performance. To provide a good user experience, LCP should occur within 2.5 seconds of when the page first starts loading.
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Interaction to Next Paint (INP) - Measures interactivity. To provide a good user experience, pages should have an INP of 200 milliseconds or less.
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Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) - Measures visual stability. To provide a good user experience, pages should maintain a CLS of 0.1 or less.
Why Core Web Vitals matter
Since 2021, Core Web Vitals have been a ranking factor in Google Search. Pages that provide a better user experience (as measured by these metrics) may rank higher in search results.
How to measure Core Web Vitals
- Lab data: Tools like Lighthouse, PageSpeed Insights, and Chrome DevTools
- Field data: Chrome User Experience Report (CrUX), Real User Monitoring (RUM)
VitalSentinel and Core Web Vitals
VitalSentinel tracks all three Core Web Vitals from both real users (RUM) and Google's CrUX data, giving you a complete picture of your performance.
Related Terms
Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS)
A Core Web Vital that measures visual stability by quantifying how much page content unexpectedly shifts during loading.
Interaction to Next Paint (INP)
A Core Web Vital that assesses page responsiveness by measuring the latency of all user interactions throughout the page lifecycle.
Largest Contentful Paint (LCP)
A Core Web Vital that measures how long it takes for the largest content element visible in the viewport to render.
Page Experience
A set of signals that Google uses to measure how users perceive the experience of interacting with a web page beyond its pure information value.