Web Development
Core Web Vitals: The Speed Metrics That Actually Move Revenue
Horizont Ace Team · September 16, 2026 · 5 min read
Every 100ms of delay costs conversions. Google's Core Web Vitals give you a clear scoreboard.
The big three
- LCP (Largest Contentful Paint): how fast the main content appears. Aim for under 2.5s.
- INP (Interaction to Next Paint): how quickly the page responds to clicks and taps. Aim for under 200ms.
- CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift): how much the layout jumps around. Aim for under 0.1.
Quick wins
- Serve modern image formats and size images correctly.
- Preload your hero image and critical fonts.
- Reserve space for images, embeds and ads to stop layout shift.
- Ship less JavaScript — split code by route and defer the rest.
- Render on the server so content arrives ready to read.
Make it a habit
Performance isn't a one-off project. Add budgets to your build pipeline and monitor real-user data monthly.