Core Web Vitals Explained in Plain English (SMB Guide)

What is Core Web Vitals, really?

So, what is core web vitals? It is a set of three measurements Google uses to score how a real person experiences your website loading and behaving. Google built them to put a number on something you already feel: a fast, stable site is pleasant to use, and a slow, jumpy one sends people elsewhere. Google now measures that instead of guessing at it.

The catch is where the measurement comes from. Google scores your core web vitals from your visitors' phones, the person on a train at Central, someone on patchy 4G in the Blue Mountains, a staff member on a three-year-old handset. This is not a lab benchmark on a fast machine. That gap is why a site that opens instantly on your office NBN can still fail out in the real world.

The three core web vitals metrics, in plain terms

There are three core web vitals metrics. Each one answers a question your customer asks without realising it. Here is what each means, its technical name, and the threshold Google calls "good".

LCP, Did the page load quickly?

Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) measures how long it takes for the biggest thing on screen, usually your hero image or main heading, to appear. It answers the visitor's unspoken question: "Has this loaded yet, or is it broken?" Google wants it under 2.5 seconds. Slow website speed here is the most common reason a small business fails its core web vitals test.

INP, Did it respond when I tapped it?

Interaction to Next Paint (INP) measures how fast the page reacts when someone taps a button, opens a menu, or types into a form. It answers: "Is this frozen, or did it hear me?" Google wants it under 200 milliseconds. INP replaced the older "First Input Delay" metric in 2024, and it is stricter because it watches every interaction during a visit, not just the first.

CLS, Did the page stay still?

Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) measures how much the page jumps around as it loads. You know the feeling: you go to tap "Buy", an ad loads above it, everything shifts down, and you tap the wrong thing. It answers: "Why did the page move?" Google scores it on a scale and wants it under 0.1. A stable layout reads as professional; a jumpy one reads as broken.

• •LCP = loading speed. Target: under 2.5 seconds.
• •INP = responsiveness. Target: under 200 milliseconds.
• •CLS = visual stability. Target: under 0.1.

Why this matters to your bottom line

You can dismiss core web vitals as a technical box to tick. These numbers map onto money. The longer your page takes to load, the more people give up before they reach your phone number or your prices. Industry research shows conversion rates drop sharply once load times push past a few seconds, and most of those visitors do not come back. They go to a competitor whose site loaded faster.

If you run a Sydney trades business, a professional service, or a local shop, most of your traffic arrives on a phone, often on a shaky connection. A site that fails its core web vitals on mobile leaks enquiries every day, and you never see it, because the customer you lost never made contact. Good website speed is the difference between a quote request and a bounce.

A slow website does not announce the customers it loses. They leave, and you wonder why the enquiries dried up.

Does Core Web Vitals affect SEO?

Does core web vitals affect SEO? Yes, and it pays to be precise, because plenty of people online overstate it. Google has confirmed that core web vitals form part of its "page experience" signals, one of the factors it uses to rank pages in search. Google core web vitals scores are a genuine ranking signal, so core web vitals SEO is real rather than a myth.

They work as a tie-breaker, not a magic wand. When two pages match on relevance and quality, the faster, more stable one tends to win. Strong content on a slow page still ranks; weak content on a fast page does not suddenly leap to the top. Think of it this way: fixing your core web vitals removes a handicap and improves the experience for the people who already find you. It works alongside strong content and solid technical foundations, which is what good website development and AI search optimisation deliver together.

How to check your Core Web Vitals

Here is how to check core web vitals without technical skills. You have a few free, official options, and you can run a core web vitals test in a couple of minutes.

• •PageSpeed Insights (pagespeed.web.dev), paste in your web address and it scores your page against all three metrics, on mobile and desktop. Start here.
• •Google Search Console, its "Core Web Vitals" report under the Experience section shows how every page on your site performs, using real visitor data over time.
• •Chrome DevTools / Lighthouse, built into Chrome for a more detailed lab test. Your web developer will get more out of this one than you will.

One thing trips people up: there are two kinds of data. "Lab data" is a single simulated test run on Google's machine, handy for diagnosis. "Field data" is what real visitors experienced over the past 28 days, and that is what Google uses for ranking. Check the mobile score on field data, because that is where most small business sites struggle and where most of your customers are.

Practical ways to improve your score

Most core web vitals problems on small business sites trace back to a handful of usual culprits, and the fixes are well understood. You do not need to memorise them, but knowing the territory helps you talk sensibly with whoever maintains your site.

• •Compress and right-size images. Oversized photos are the number one cause of slow LCP. A 5MB hero image straight off a phone can sink your loading speed on its own. Modern formats and proper sizing sort it out fast.
• •Cut heavy plugins and scripts. On WordPress and similar platforms, each extra plugin, chat widget, and tracking tag adds delay and hurts INP. Audit what you actually use.
• •Reserve space for images and ads. Tell the browser how big things will be before they load, and the page stops jumping around, which fixes CLS.
• •Use quality hosting and caching. Cheap, overloaded shared hosting adds delay to every visit. Caching and a content delivery network serve your pages faster, especially to visitors outside Sydney.
• •Keep the underlying build lean. Bloated page builders and unused code are hard to fix after the fact. A site built lean from day one rarely runs into core web vitals problems.

When your site sits on an ageing platform with deep speed problems, patching one metric at a time turns into whack-a-mole. In those cases a rebuild on a modern, performance-first foundation often costs less over time than endlessly tuning a slow one, and it gives you a faster site you can measure. Talk it through as part of a broader IT strategy rather than in isolation.

This article reflects best practices as of the publication date. Technology and security recommendations evolve, so verify current guidance with the original sources or our team before acting.