A Tested and Proven Conversion Boost: Core Web Vitals

You’re about to purchase something online, but the website takes ages to load.

Annoyed, you leave and find a faster site, costing that business a sale.

Rings a bell?

We’re all “guilty” of being impatient.

In fact, Google says that as load times jump from 1 to 3 seconds, bounce rates spike by 32%.

Let’s say most of us are very impatient.

In this article we will dissect Core Web Vitals, and no, they’re not just about speed…

These metrics measure how users experience your site through stability, responsiveness, and visual clarity.

Unlike basic speed optimization, CWV improves the entire interaction, making visitors more likely to trust, engage, and ultimately convert into customers.

So yes, when deciding to optimize for speed, go for CWV and you will improve many other factors along the road.

Stay along and we’ll explore how optimizing these key metrics doesn’t just keep Google happy but keeps users—and their wallets—coming back for more.

Understanding Core Web Vitals

Core Web Vitals consist of three key metrics that measure how users experience your website beyond just page speed:

Largest Contentful Paint (LCP): How fast the most important content loads. Slow LCP makes users feel like your page isn’t worth waiting for.

Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS): Measures visual stability. No one likes clicking something only for the page to shift and make them hit the wrong button. Yikes.

Interaction to Next Paint (INP): Replaces First Input Delay (FID). This measures how quickly your page responds to user interactions, ensuring they get what they want, as soon as they ask for it.

These metrics go beyond mere speed, they’re about making every interaction fluid and frustration-free, which of course, leads to better user retention and drives conversion.

In essence, while speed helps get users through the door, CWV ensures they have a seamless experience that keeps them exploring.

Why Core Web Vitals Are Not Just Ranking Factors

While Core Web Vitals are essential for SEO, their impact stretches far beyond Google rankings.

Yes, Google’s algorithm now rewards sites with strong CWV performance, but we all know it’s not just about getting to the top of the search results.

The goal is twofold: staying amongst the top and regularly converting traffic into customers.

Google’s Ranking Algorithm Rewards CWV Optimized Sites

Core Web Vitals became an official ranking signal in June 2021. It’s been 3 years on board for CWV!

Since then, sites with good CWV scores consistently outperform their competitors.

It’s a simple equation: better UX equals better rankings.

But here’s the catch. Your content may be amazing, absolutely perfect fit with the searcher, but if your site is slow or jumpy, users will dissipate like ice on the sun.

This is where CWV steps in.

Poor CWV means users are more likely to bounce, less likely to engage, and least likely to convert.

Improving the key CWV metrics helps keep users on your site long enough to make it count.

But the easiest way to understand this is through a real case example.

Example Case Study:

Vodafone’s Core Web Vitals Success

Vodafone experienced the power of CWV firsthand.

By focusing on improving their CWV scores, especially Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), they increased organic traffic by 31% and boosted conversion rates by 8%.

Their improvements to page load times also decreased bounce rates significantly.

As you can see, this shift wasn’t just about improving SEO rankings. It directly translated into business growth by creating a seamless experience for users .

When your site shows longer session durations, fewer bounces, and more pages viewed per session, Google takes these user signals into account when ranking your site.

And these markers definitely don’t improve your conversion rates.

Let’s put this way, if your keywords game is not at your best, nailing CWV can play as a joker card in the pocket, inside the SEO race.

Beyond Ranking: The Role of CWV in User Retention

A study by UX experts found that 88% of online consumers are less likely to return to a site after one bad experience, such as layout shifts​ (Dev, Conductor).

Each of CWV metrics has its own role in driving conversions by making the UX better. Let’s see how.

• Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) measures how quickly the largest visible element loads, which is typically the main content a user sees when they first land on a page.

As stated in the introduction, studies show that a load time longer between 1-3 seconds increases bounce rates up to 32%, with even slight delays making users abandon a site in frustration ​(Dev; Webmonster)

Especially in the e-commerce world, where users expect instant gratification, often scrolling late at night, making impulsive purchase decisions.

A fast LCP keeps visitors from leaving during their first interaction with your brand.

If the homepage or product page loads quickly, users are more likely to browse further, increasing time on site, page views, and conversions.

Key takeaway: A fast LCP isn’t just about making uncle Google happy—it’s about meeting your users’ need for immediacy, keeping them on your site longer and opening doors for them to buy the goodies.

• Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) is a lesser-known but powerful metric.

It measures how often a page shifts its layout as elements load, such as images or ads.

These jumpy elements cause mis-clicks, which users feel very strongly about—on the negative side.

Trust is broken, tears are shed and this leads users to abandon the site altogether. Without a goodbye.

A high CLS can cause real-world problems.

Imagine trying to click "Buy Now" on a product, only for the page to shift, causing you to accidentally hit an ad or a different link. So. Not. Fun.

Users naturally tend to distrust sites with such behavior.

Visual stability through low CLS protects good quality UX on your site without these interruptions.

Opposite to the high CLS, users browsing the site with low CLS will enjoy the frictionless experience, get easily engaged and feel more keen to return for more.

Key takeaway: CLS is about creating a confident UX, where users feel in control, fostering trust, long-term loyalty and no broken hearts.

• Interaction to Next Paint (INP) (replacing First Input Delay) measures how responsive a page is when users interact with it.

Whether clicking a button, filling out a form, or navigating through different pages, slow responses cause friction.

If users experience lag or delays in interactivity, the impatience syndrome kicks in and there you are, watching your balloon deflate before it even takes off.

Responsiveness is critical during high-stakes actions like filling out a checkout form, subscribing to a newsletter, or navigating through a complex menu.

You’ve likely experienced the pain of clicking on a button, whether it’s adding an item to the cart or submitting a form, only to be left waiting as nothing happens.

If INP scores are poor, these crucial moments become frustrating and tend to lead to abandonment. Research indicates that users expect sites to respond to interactions within 100 milliseconds, and anything slower can cause dissatisfaction​(KCS)

Key takeaway: INP keeps users in the flow of action, preventing their frustration and deflation of your balloon before it even takes off.

How Core Web Vitals Directly Impact Business Outcomes

Let’s start with a famous story by a giant Amazon. They discovered that for every 100 milliseconds of additional load time, they lost 1% in revenue.

That might not sound like much until you realize that it equates to hundreds of millions of dollars annually​(KCS).

This example highlights how even minor performance improvements directly affect business outcomes, especially for e-commerce giants.

But as discussed, Core Web Vitals (CWV) don’t just stop at improving speed—they address a wider range of user experience issues, all of which directly impact the conversation rates.

Core Web Vitals actively shape the user journey, from the moment someone lands on your site to the final conversion point.

By focusing on improving LCP, CLS, and INP, you’re crafting a smooth, predictable, and responsive user experience that translates directly into business results. And meanwhile improve your SEO. Whether you’re a large e-commerce site or a smaller business, investing in CWV improvements is a tested and proven, direct investment in your bottom line.

4 Steps to Improve Core Web Vitals and Boost Your Ranking

Imagine your website is like a high-performance sports car.

To get that chequered flag (conversions), you need speed, control, and responsiveness. If your engine sputters (poor load times), your wheels wobble (layout shifts), or your steering jams (unresponsive clicks), you’re going to lose the race. And obviously, you’re here to win.

So you better bring the Core Web Vitals in.

CWV is the tune-up your website needs to perform at its best and win the SEO race.

Let’s pop the hood and dive into actionable steps to get your website firing on all cylinders.

STEP 1: Optimize Images for Faster Loading (LCP)

A slow Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) often comes down to oversized or improperly optimized images. Luckily you can fix that easily:

• Use Next-Gen Formats: Switch to next-gen image formats like WebP and AVIF, which are lighter and load faster than traditional formats like JPEG and PNG​
  
  

• Lazy Loading: This technique ensures images are only loaded when they are about to appear in the user’s viewport, speeding up the initial page load.
  
  

• Compress and Resize Images: Use tools like ImageOptim or TinyPNG to reduce file sizes without sacrificing quality. Always ensure that images are scaled appropriately based on the user’s device​

Actionable tip for Faster Loading (LCP): Analyze your pages with Google PageSpeed Insights to identify which images are slowing down your LCP, and take action by compressing or switching formats.

STEP 2: Minimize CLS by Fixing Layout Shifts

Avoid those sudden, jarring shifts on your webpage (measured by CLS), which can happen due to dynamic content loading. Here’s how to keep your layout stable and user’s patience in check:

• Specify Size Attributes for Media: Make sure every image, video, or ad has explicit width and height attributes so the browser knows how much space to allocate.
  
  

• Reserve Space for Ads: Ads are notorious for causing layout shifts. Ensure your ad slots have predefined sizes to prevent them from pushing content around​.
  
  

• Use Font Display: Fonts can cause CLS if they load late. Using the font-display: swap; CSS property ensures that fallback fonts are used until your custom fonts fully load.

Actionable tip to minimize CLS: Run a Lighthouse report to detect layout shifts and tackle them by fixing media dimensions and setting proper ad spaces.

STEP 3:

Boost Responsiveness (INP) by Optimizing JavaScript

Interaction to Next Paint (INP) focuses on how quickly your site responds to user actions. Help them get what they want as soon as they demand:

• Defer and Async JavaScript: Minimize the delay in interactivity by using async or defer attributes on non-essential JavaScript files. This prevents them from blocking the initial page load.
  
  

• Reduce Main Thread Work: If you have heavy JavaScript running on your site, split it up. Tools like Webpack and Parcel allow for code-splitting, which breaks up JavaScript into smaller chunks, improving response time​.
  
  

• Minimize Third-Party Scripts: Third-party scripts (like tracking or social media embeds) can be heavy and slow down responsiveness. Only include necessary third-party scripts and delay the loading of non-essential ones.

Actionable tip to boost responsiveness: Use Chrome DevTools to identify long-running JavaScript tasks and optimize them. Also, try reducing unnecessary third-party scripts by loading them conditionally.

STEP 4: Improve Server Response Times

A sluggish server will hold back all of your optimization efforts. Improving your server response times can make a dramatic impact on all three Core Web Vitals.

• Use a Content Delivery Network (CDN): CDNs like Cloudflare or Fastly distribute your content across multiple global servers, reducing the distance data has to travel and improving speed.
  
  

• Enable Caching: Implement browser caching to store static assets like images and CSS locally, allowing for quicker page reloads​.
  
  

• Optimize Critical Rendering Path: Remove render-blocking resources like CSS and JavaScript in the critical rendering path to reduce time to interactive.

Actionable tip for server response times: Use tools like Pingdom or WebPageTest to monitor server response times and identify areas for improvement.

Measuring and Monitoring Core Web Vitals for SEO and Conversions

To keep your CWV scores in top shape, continuous monitoring and testing are key.

Improving your Core Web Vitals (CWV) is only half the battle—the other half is constantly monitoring and measuring them to ensure they’re performing as expected.

That’s where tools come in handy.

Use tools to monitor LCP, CLS, and INP (formerly FID) in real-time and keep tabs on how your website is performing from both an SEO and user experience perspective.

Additional Field Data

Use Google Search Console to track real-world user data.

Google Search Console pulls field data from Chrome User Experience Report (CrUX), giving you insights into how users across different devices and connection speeds experience your website.

How to Use It: In Search Console, head to the "Core Web Vitals" report, which breaks down how your site performs in terms of LCP, CLS, and INP. It classifies pages into “Good,” “Needs Improvement,” or “Poor,” allowing you to prioritize which pages need optimization.

Why It’s Useful: Google Search Console gives you a broader view based on real-world performance, ensuring you have a holistic understanding of how your site is experienced by users.

PageSpeed Insights for Detailed Performance Breakdowns

For more granular, page-specific insights, you can turn to Google’s PageSpeed Insights. It provides an on-demand breakdown of individual pages, showing how LCP, CLS, and INP can be improved.

How to Use It: Enter a specific URL into PageSpeed Insights, and it will return a detailed report showing how your page performs on desktop and mobile. It also offers actionable suggestions, like compressing images or deferring JavaScript, to help you improve your CWV.

Why It’s Useful: It allows you to dive into specific URLs and immediately see what’s slowing down your pages.

Key benefit: Use PageSpeed Insights to fine-tune individual pages and get precise, actionable feedback.

In-Depth Performance Audits

If you need more technical insight, Lighthouse is a great option for running performance audits. Built into Chrome DevTools, Lighthouse offers a more in-depth look at CWV and other performance metrics like Time to Interactive (TTI) and Total Blocking Time (TBT).

How to Use It: Open Chrome, navigate to a page, right-click, and select “Inspect.” From there, go to the “Lighthouse” tab and generate a report. Lighthouse will simulate how a user experiences your site and provide recommendations to optimize your CWV metrics.

Why It’s Useful: It helps diagnose deeper issues that may not be immediately visible through standard monitoring tools.

Key benefit: Use Lighthouse for comprehensive audits and to troubleshoot more complex performance issues.

Brilliant Content Deserve a Good Foundation

Core Web Vitals (CWV) are the foundation of a great user experience, fueling both SEO and conversions. No brilliant content will convince a user it’s worth their time, if the site loads for ages and the button they click is misplaced by an ad.

By fine-tuning LCP, CLS, and INP, you’re ensuring your site is fast, stable, and keeps users engaged, happy and ultimately married to your brand.

Looking ahead, CWV will only grow in importance as Google continues to love making the users satisfied.

So, the future of SEO? It’s not just what you say—it's how well your site performs as you're saying it. So, better get ahead now by optimizing your Core Web Vitals… or risk playing catch-up later.