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How to Improve Core Web Vitals: A Complete Guide for Better Website Performance (2026)

How to Improve Core Web Vitals
A fast, responsive website creates a better experience for visitors and can help support your SEO efforts. One of the best ways to measure your website’s performance is through Core Web Vitals. These are Google’s user experience metrics that evaluate how quickly your website loads, how responsive it is, and how visually stable it remains while loading.
Improving your Core Web Vitals not only enhances user satisfaction but can also lead to better engagement, lower bounce rates, and more conversions.
In this guide, we’ll explain what Core Web Vitals are, why they matter, and how you can improve them.

Quick Summary: Improve Core Web Vitals

  • 1. Optimise Largest Contentful Paint (LCP)
  • 2. Improve Interaction to Next Paint (INP)
  • 3. Reduce Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS)
  • 4. Compress and optimise images
  • 5. Enable browser caching
  • 6. Use a Content Delivery Network (CDN)
  • 7. Minify CSS and JavaScript
  • 8. Remove unused plugins and scripts
  • 9. Upgrade your hosting
  • 10. Monitor performance regularly

What Are Core Web Vitals?

Core Web Vitals are a set of performance metrics used by Google to measure real-world user experience.

The three Core Web Vitals are:

  • Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) – Measures loading performance.
  • Interaction to Next Paint (INP) – Measures how quickly your website responds to user interactions.
  • Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) – Measures visual stability by tracking unexpected layout changes.

Together, these metrics provide valuable insight into how visitors experience your website.

Why Core Web Vitals Matter

Good Core Web Vitals help you:

  • Improve user experience
  • Increase visitor engagement
  • Reduce bounce rates
  • Support technical SEO
  • Improve website performance
  • Encourage more conversions

Although Core Web Vitals are only one part of Google’s ranking systems, improving them benefits both your visitors and your business.

Understanding the Three Core Web Vitals

Largest Contentful Paint (LCP)

LCP measures how long it takes for the largest visible element on a page—such as a hero image or large heading—to load.

Improve LCP by:

  • Optimising images
  • Using faster web hosting
  • Enabling browser caching
  • Reducing server response time
  • Using a CDN
  • Removing render-blocking resources
  • Preloading important assets

Interaction to Next Paint (INP)

INP measures how responsive your website feels when users click, tap, or interact with elements.

Improve INP by:

  • Reducing JavaScript execution
  • Removing unnecessary plugins<
  • Deferring non-essential scripts
  • Optimising third-party code
  • Breaking up long tasks
  • Keeping pages lightweight

A responsive website makes interactions feel faster and smoother.

Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS)

CLS measures unexpected movement of page elements while a page is loading.

Examples include:

  • Buttons moving
  • Images loading without reserved space
  • Text shifting unexpectedly
  • Ads pushing content down

Improve CLS by:

  • Setting image dimensions
  • Reserving space for banners and ads
  • Avoiding dynamically inserted content above existing content
  • Optimising font loading
  • Using stable layouts

A visually stable website improves usability and reduces frustration.

10 Ways to Improve Core Web Vitals

1. Optimise Images

Large images often slow websites down.

Best practices:

  • Compress images
  • Use WebP or AVIF formats where supported
  • Resize images appropriately
  • Enable lazy loading
  • Serve responsive images

2. Choose Faster Hosting

Your hosting provider directly affects website performance.

Look for hosting with:

  • Fast SSD or NVMe storage
  • Modern PHP versions
  • Good uptime
  • HTTP/2 or HTTP/3 support
  • Server-side caching

Reliable hosting provides a strong foundation for better Core Web Vitals.

3. Enable Browser Caching

Browser caching stores frequently used files on visitors’ devices.

Benefits include:

  • Faster repeat visits
  • Reduced server requests
  • Improved loading times

4. Use a Content Delivery Network (CDN)

A CDN delivers static files from servers closer to your visitors.

Benefits include:

  • Faster global loading
  • Lower latency
  • Reduced server load
  • Improved LCP

5. Minify CSS and JavaScript

Removing unnecessary code helps reduce page size.

Optimise by:

  • Minifying CSS
  • Minifying JavaScript
  • Removing unused code
  • Combining files where appropriate

Smaller files download faster.

6. Remove Unnecessary Plugins

Too many plugins can increase page weight and processing time.

Regularly:

  • Remove unused plugins
  • Replace heavy plugins with lightweight alternatives
  • Update plugins regularly

Only keep plugins that provide real value.

7. Reduce Third-Party Scripts

External scripts such as chat widgets, analytics tools, and advertising code can slow your website.

Review:

  • Marketing tools
  • Tracking scripts
  • Social media widgets
  • Embedded content

Only keep essential third-party services.

8. Optimise Fonts

Poor font loading can affect both speed and layout stability.

Improve font performance by:

  • Using modern font formats
  • Preloading important fonts
  • Limiting font families and weights
  • Hosting fonts locally where appropriate

9. Keep Your Website Updated

Updates often include performance improvements.

Regularly update:

  • WordPress
  • Themes
  • Plugins
  • PHP version
  • Logging out inactive sessions

Outdated software can negatively impact both speed and security.

10. Monitor Performance Regularly

Website performance changes over time.

Regular testing helps identify:

  • Slow pages
  • Layout shifts
  • New performance issues
  • Opportunities for optimisation

Review your website after major updates or design changes.

Common Causes of Poor Core Web Vitals

Some of the most common issues include:

  • Slow hosting
  • Large image files
  • Heavy JavaScript
  • Too many plugins
  • No browser caching
  • No CDN
  • Poor font loading
  • Render-blocking resources
  • Large CSS files
  • Third-party scripts

Addressing these issues can significantly improve your performance metrics.

Core Web Vitals Best Practices

Follow these recommendations:

  • Compress images before uploading
  • Enable caching
  • Use a CDN
  • Keep your website lightweight
  • Optimise CSS and JavaScript
  • Remove unused plugins
  • Monitor performance regularly
  • Improve mobile performance
  • Optimise fonts
  • Keep WordPress updated

Consistent optimisation delivers long-term performance improvements.

Core Web Vitals Checklist

  • Images optimised
  • Browser caching enabled
  • CDN configured
  • CSS minified
  • JavaScript minified
  • Unused plugins removed
  • Fonts optimised
  • Hosting reviewed
  • Website updated regularly
  • Performance monitored

Common Core Web Vitals Mistakes

Avoid these common issues:

  • Uploading oversized images
  • Ignoring mobile performance
  • Installing too many plugins<
  • Leaving render-blocking scripts unoptimised
  • Forgetting to reserve image dimensions
  • Not testing after website updates<
  • Using slow hosting
  • Overloading pages with third-party scripts

Small improvements across multiple areas often produce the best results.

Frequently Asked Questions About Core Web Vitals

What are Core Web Vitals?

Core Web Vitals are Google’s user experience metrics that measure loading speed (LCP), responsiveness (INP), and visual stability (CLS).

Core Web Vitals are part of Google’s page experience signals. While they are not the only ranking factor, improving them supports better user experience and strengthens your technical SEO.

You can measure your Core Web Vitals using tools such as Google PageSpeed Insights, Google Search Console (Core Web Vitals report), or Lighthouse in Chrome DevTools.

As a general guideline:

  • LCP: 2.5 seconds or less
  • INP: 200 milliseconds or less
  • CLS: 0.1 or lower

Meeting these thresholds provides a better experience for most users.

It’s a good idea to review your Core Web Vitals regularly, especially after website redesigns, plugin installations, or major updates that could affect performance.

Improve Your Website Performance with GetWebsite.io

Strong Core Web Vitals help create a faster, smoother, and more engaging experience for your visitors. At GetWebsite.io, we provide professional Website Speed Optimisation Services for UK businesses, including Core Web Vitals improvements, image optimisation, caching configuration, CDN setup, code optimisation, and ongoing performance monitoring. Whether you’re running a business website or an eCommerce store, our team can help improve your website’s speed, user experience, and overall performance.
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