Core Web Vitals Explained: What Local Business Owners Need to Know

What Are Core Web Vitals

Core Web Vitals are three specific measurements that Google uses to evaluate how well your website performs for visitors. They measure speed, responsiveness, and visual stability. Google has publicly stated that these metrics directly influence your search rankings.

Think of Core Web Vitals as a report card for your website's user experience. Google grades every website on these three metrics and uses the results to help determine where your site appears in search results.

For local service businesses, understanding these metrics is important because they directly affect whether potential customers can find you on Google. A website that scores poorly on Core Web Vitals will struggle to rank, even if the content and SEO are otherwise solid.

The Three Core Web Vitals

Largest Contentful Paint (LCP)

LCP measures how long it takes for the biggest visible element on your page to fully load. This is usually a hero image, a large heading, or a block of text. It answers the question: "How quickly does the main content appear?"

Google's target: Under 2.5 seconds.

When someone visits your plumbing company's website, LCP measures how quickly they see your headline, your hero image, or whatever the largest visible element is. If that takes four seconds, visitors are staring at a blank or partially loaded screen for four seconds - an eternity in web terms.

Common causes of poor LCP:

• Large, unoptimized images
• Slow server response times
• Render-blocking JavaScript and CSS
• Slow loading web fonts

Interaction to Next Paint (INP)

INP replaced the original First Input Delay (FID) metric in 2024. It measures how quickly your website responds when someone interacts with it - clicking a button, tapping a link, or typing in a form field.

Google's target: Under 200 milliseconds.

This metric matters because visitors expect instant responses when they interact with your site. If someone taps your "Call Now" button and nothing happens for half a second, they wonder if the site is broken. If they click a navigation link and the page feels sluggish, the experience feels unprofessional.

Common causes of poor INP:

• Heavy JavaScript execution blocking the main thread
• Too many third-party scripts (analytics, chat widgets, ad trackers)
• Complex DOM structures that take time to update
• Poor event handler implementation

Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS)

CLS measures visual stability - how much your page content moves around while it loads. Have you ever tried to tap a button on a website and the page shifted at the last second, causing you to tap something else? That is what CLS measures.

Google's target: Under 0.1.

Layout shift is one of the most frustrating user experiences. It happens when images load without defined dimensions, when ads insert themselves into the content, or when fonts change size as they load. For a service business website, layout shift can cause visitors to accidentally tap the wrong link or button, creating a confusing experience.

Common causes of poor CLS:

• Images without width and height attributes
• Ads or embeds that insert content dynamically
• Web fonts causing text to resize as they load
• Content injected by JavaScript after page load

Why Core Web Vitals Matter for Your Business

Google uses Core Web Vitals as a ranking signal. This means two websites with identical content and SEO can rank differently based solely on their Core Web Vitals scores. The faster, more stable site gets the advantage.

For local service businesses, this is particularly significant because:

Local search is competitive. In any city, there are dozens of plumbers, roofers, and HVAC companies competing for the same first-page spots. Core Web Vitals can be the tiebreaker between otherwise similar websites.

Most small business websites fail. The average small business website built on WordPress with cheap hosting scores poorly on all three Core Web Vitals. If you fix your Core Web Vitals while your competitors do not, you gain an immediate advantage.

Mobile performance is weighted heavily. Google measures Core Web Vitals on mobile devices, where performance issues are amplified by slower connections and less powerful hardware. Since most local searches happen on mobile, mobile Core Web Vitals are especially important.

How to Check Your Core Web Vitals

You can check your website's Core Web Vitals using these free tools:

Google PageSpeed Insights (pagespeed.web.dev) - Enter your URL and get a detailed breakdown of all three Core Web Vitals with specific recommendations for improvement.

Google Search Console - If you have Search Console set up, the Core Web Vitals report shows you how your pages perform based on real user data.

Chrome DevTools Lighthouse - Open Chrome, press F12, go to the Lighthouse tab, and run an audit. This gives you detailed scores and recommendations.

Web.dev Measure - Another Google tool that provides Core Web Vitals scores along with other performance metrics.

Run your site through PageSpeed Insights right now. If your performance score is below 70, you have significant room for improvement. If it is below 50, your Core Web Vitals are actively hurting your search rankings.

How Next.js Solves Core Web Vitals

Most Core Web Vitals problems stem from the underlying website platform. WordPress, with its dynamic page generation and plugin-heavy architecture, frequently produces poor Core Web Vitals scores.

Next.js solves these problems by design:

LCP is fast because pages are pre-built and served from a global CDN. There is no database query or server-side processing to slow things down.

INP is responsive because Next.js produces clean, minimal JavaScript. There are no bloated plugins competing for processing power.

CLS is minimal because Next.js includes built-in image optimization (the next/image component) that automatically handles image dimensions, preventing layout shift.

The websites webIQ builds consistently score 90 or higher on Google PageSpeed Insights because of these architectural advantages. We do not have to fight against the platform to achieve good performance - it is the default behavior.

Improving Your Core Web Vitals

If you want to improve your current site's Core Web Vitals without rebuilding entirely, here are the most impactful changes:

For LCP:

• Compress and properly size all images
• Use modern image formats (WebP)
• Upgrade to faster hosting
• Remove render-blocking resources

For INP:

• Remove unnecessary plugins and third-party scripts
• Defer non-critical JavaScript
• Minimize DOM complexity
• Use efficient event handlers

For CLS:

• Add width and height to all images and videos
• Reserve space for ads or dynamic content
• Use font-display: swap for web fonts
• Avoid inserting content above the fold after load

These optimizations can help, but they have limits. If your website is built on a fundamentally slow platform, you are optimizing within constraints that prevent you from ever reaching truly good scores.

The Business Impact of Good Core Web Vitals

Improving your Core Web Vitals does not just help with Google rankings. It improves every aspect of your website's performance:

• Lower bounce rate - Faster pages keep visitors on your site
• Higher conversion rate - Responsive, stable pages encourage form submissions and phone calls
• Better user perception - A fast, smooth website makes your business look professional and trustworthy
• More pages viewed per session - Visitors explore more of your site when every page loads quickly
• Better mobile experience - Mobile users are the most sensitive to performance issues

For a local service business, these improvements translate directly into more leads and more revenue. Getting a website built on a platform that nails Core Web Vitals by default is one of the smartest investments you can make.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a good Core Web Vitals score?

Google categorizes scores as Good, Needs Improvement, or Poor. For LCP, under 2.5 seconds is good. For INP, under 200 milliseconds is good. For CLS, under 0.1 is good. Aim for all three metrics in the Good category for the best ranking advantage.

Do Core Web Vitals really affect Google rankings?

Yes. Google has confirmed that Core Web Vitals are a ranking factor. While content quality and relevance are still the most important factors, Core Web Vitals serve as a tiebreaker between otherwise similar pages. In competitive local markets, this tiebreaker can make a meaningful difference.

How often does Google measure Core Web Vitals?

Google continuously collects Core Web Vitals data from real users visiting your site through the Chrome User Experience Report. This data is updated monthly and reflects the actual experience of your visitors over a 28-day rolling period.

Can I fix Core Web Vitals on WordPress?

You can improve them through optimization - image compression, plugin reduction, better hosting, and caching. However, WordPress has inherent limitations that make it difficult to achieve consistently high scores. Next.js and similar modern frameworks produce better Core Web Vitals by default.

Which Core Web Vital is most important?

LCP (Largest Contentful Paint) has the most direct impact on user experience and is often the most actionable metric. If your LCP is slow, visitors see a blank or partially loaded page, which directly increases bounce rate. However, all three metrics matter for rankings.