How to Improve Google Core Web Vitals on WordPress

If you have a WordPress site, you understand the value of a top-notch user experience. It impacts your conversion rate, subscriber count, ad views, search engine rankings, and more.

A low Core Web Vitals score is an indication of a poor user experience.

But what exactly are Core Web Vitals? Why are they so important? And how can you improve WordPress Core Web Vitals? Let’s take a look.

What are Core Web Vitals?

Core Web Vitals are a set of metrics used by Google to determine how websites perform.

Unlike other performance measurements, they use real-world data to examine how specific aspects of the loading process impact a site’s user experience.

There are currently three Core Web Vitals metrics:

1. Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), which relates to loading performance
2. Interaction to Next Paint (INP), which measures responsiveness to user interactions
3. Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS), which relates to visual stability

We’ll take a closer look at them in a moment. 

Why are Core Web Vitals important for a WordPress site?

So, why do Core Web Vitals matter?

Well, they show how visitors interact with your website, providing valuable insights into your user experience.

The happier your visitors are, the more likely they are to subscribe to your newsletter, purchase your products, or inquire about your services.

On the other hand, if they have to wait and wait for your website to load, they might leave and visit a competitor.

Google also uses Core Web Vitals as a ranking factor. It considers your scores when determining where your website appears on search engines for your target keywords. 

After all, Google wants to provide the best quality results for searchers, so it’s no surprise that it values these user experience metrics.

Which metrics make up Core Web Vitals?

Core Web Vitals might seem confusing without a clear explanation of how they work. So let’s take a closer look at each one.

Largest Contentful Paint (LCP)

LCP relates to the perceived load speed of your website, reporting the time it takes for the largest element to fully load on the page. In many cases, this is a large hero image or video at the top of the page, though this can vary from site to site. In some cases, it might even just be a block of text. This can also be different on desktop and mobile devices. 

Largest Contentful Paint only applies to elements that render and are visible to a visitor. This means that scripts loading in the background wouldn’t impact this metric. 

Ideally, you’d like your LCP to be as low as possible. Google considers less than 2.5 seconds to be a “good” score, less than or equal to 4.0 seconds to “need improvement,” and more than 4.0 seconds to be a “low” score

Learn more about Largest Contentful Paint on WordPress.

Interaction to Next Paint (INP)

INP measures the time between a user’s interaction (like clicking or pressing a key) and the page’s response. For example, if a customer clicks on a Buy Now button and it responds after 400 milliseconds, that’s your INP for that interaction.

INP indicates how responsive your site is. Google categorizes this metric as follows:

• Good: under 200 milliseconds
• Needs improvement: 200–500 milliseconds
• Poor: more than 500 milliseconds

A website with an INP of under 200ms feels instant. If your site’s INP is more than 500 ms, it may feel sluggish, and the delay in response will be noticeable.

Google recommends that at least 75 percent of user interactions occur within 200 milliseconds.

Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS)

CLS measures the degree to which site visitors experience unexpected shifts in the layout of a page.

Let’s say that a follower is reading a recipe on your food blog. They’re about to click on a link to an ingredient when, suddenly, the entire page shifts, and they end up clicking on an ad by mistake. They’re taken off-site to the advertiser’s landing page and, frustrated, decide not to come back to your blog at all.

This is a perfect example of why CLS is so important. If your page suddenly moves, it can cause visitors to have trouble reading your content, or they accidentally click on something else. That’s a surefire way to lose fans, readers, and customers. 

Google defines a layout shift as “any time an element that is visible within the viewport changes its start position…between two frames.” 

A poor CLS score is typically caused by elements that load at different times — an image without a defined size, an ad without set dimensions, custom fonts, or other third-party embeds.

The CLS score is measured as the difference between the original loading site and the final place that an element ends up. A good score is anything less than 0.1. Scores between 0.1 and 0.25 need improvement, while anything above 0.25 is considered poor.

Learn more about Cumulative Layout Shift in WordPress.

How to measure Core Web Vitals on WordPress

Now that you know what WordPress Core Web Vitals are and why they matter, let’s find out how you can test your site. There are several tools you can use to do this.

1. PageSpeed Insights

PageSpeed Insights is a Google tool that provides a wealth of information about your website’s performance, including your Core Web Vitals. All you have to do is enter your URL, and in a few seconds, you’ll see a speed report for both desktop and mobile. 

At the very top, you’ll see your Core Web Vitals, with scores for LCP, INP, and CLS. They’re presented very visually, so you’ll know right away if your site is good to go or if it needs improvement. You’ll also get related speed metrics that aren’t part of Core Web Vitals, like Time to First Byte (TTFB) and First Contentful Paint (FCP). You can click on Expand View to see more information about each one.

If you keep scrolling, you’ll see a list of opportunities for improvement, which you can filter based on the Core Web Vital. Click on the arrow to the right of each one to see more details.

Finally, at the bottom, there is a list of Passed Audits, which are all the things your site is doing well.

2. Google Search Console

Google Search Console is a Google-owned tool that’s chock-full of information about SEO. There’s a lot you can do here, from submitting your sitemap to viewing and fixing indexing issues. Since Core Web Vitals impact SEO, there’s also an entire section dedicated to these metrics.

If you don’t already have a Google Search Console account, you’ll need to register your website. First, find the Select Property dropdown and click on Add Property.

You’ll then be presented with two options:

1. Domain. This covers all the URLs, including both HTTPS and HTTP, and all subdomains. This is the most exhaustive option, but also the most complicated to set up, as it involves editing your DNS records.
2. URL prefix. This covers just the URLs that fall under the domain name that you enter. So, if you enter example.com, it would include example.com/contact-us, but not blog.example.com. This route also allows for a variety of verification methods.

For this tutorial, we’ll choose the URL prefix method. Enter your URL in the box provided and click on Continue.

Now, you’ll see several different verification options:

• HTML file: Download an HTML file and upload it to your site via FTP or cPanel.
• HTML tag: Copy the meta tag provided, then add it to the <head> section of your site’s homepage.
• Google Analytics: Use your existing Google Analytics account to verify your site.
• Google Tag Manager: Use your existing Google Tag Manager account to verify your site.
• Domain name provider: Edit your DNS records to associate your site with Google.

Choose whichever method is easiest for you — Google provides additional instructions on each one. Once your site is verified, you can click on Core Web Vitals in the left-hand menu of Google Search Console.

There, you’ll see charts for both the mobile and desktop versions of your site, which give you an overview of how it’s performing.

Click on Open Report for more information. Here, you can view how each of your URLs stacks up when it comes to Core Web Vitals.

Once you’ve made improvements to your page, you can resubmit it to Google and validate your fixes.

3. Google Lighthouse

Google Lighthouse is a tool designed for developers and site owners to improve the quality of their websites. It runs tests based on accessibility, performance, SEO, and more.

There are several different ways you can run Google Lighthouse: 

• With Chrome DevTools
• Using a Chrome extension
• With a Node module
• With a web User Interface (UI)

In this tutorial, we’ll show you how to use Chrome DevTools to find your Core Web Vitals in Google Lighthouse.

In the Google Chrome browser, navigate to your website. Right click anywhere on the page and select Inspect from the options that appear. This will open a variety of tools that you can explore, but you’ll want to click on the Lighthouse tab.

Now, select the Mode, Device, and Categories you want to test. You can select as many categories as you’d like if you want additional information, but to find Core Web Vitals, make sure that you check the box next to Performance. Click on Analyze page load.

Once the audit is complete, it will show you your Core Web Vitals, along with other data and metrics about your site performance.

Make sure to keep the window in the foreground while the results are loading. 

How to improve Core Web Vitals on WordPress

By now, you should have a good idea of how your website performs. Next, let’s take a look at how you can improve your WordPress Core Web Vitals.

1. Install a plugin designed for Core Web Vitals

A simple way to improve performance is to use a Core Web Vitals WordPress plugin like Jetpack Boost.

This plugin was created by Automattic, the people behind WordPress.com, so you can trust that it works seamlessly with your site, themes, and plugins.

The best part? It’s free to use!

Jetpack Boost enables you to implement essential optimization tasks just by toggling a few buttons. It also provides instant performance scores.

In your WordPress dashboard, go to Plugins → Add New Plugin. Search for “Jetpack Boost” and click Install Now → Activate. You will be asked to connect to your WordPress.com account or create one for free.

Then, navigate to Jetpack → Boost. Here, you’ll see a performance score for your site.

You’ll then be able to activate five key settings:

• Optimize critical CSS loading
• Optimize LCP images
• Cache site pages
• Defer nonessential JavaScript
• Concatenate JS 
• Concatenate CSS
• Image CDN 
• Image guide

Once you’ve enabled any or all of these settings, click on Refresh to recalculate your performance and see the improvements made.

Let’s take a look at each setting.

Optimize Critical CSS Loading

Before a browser can show your page to visitors, it has to download and analyze all the CSS for that page. If your CSS files are large, this can take a significant amount of time, slowing down your site.

Generating critical CSS extracts the code that’s strictly necessary for the content that’s visible above the fold to render. It prioritizes this CSS so the rest can be loaded in the background. 

This speeds up load time tremendously and helps improve your LCP score.

Optimize LCP images

This setting specifically targets Largest Contentful Paint by specifically optimizing key images to load first. This helps your score and makes your page appear to be faster as a whole.

Cache Site Pages

When you enable caching, Jetpack will store and serve preloaded content to repeat visitors. This will reduce load times as your server won’t have to render the content from scratch.

Defer Non-Essential JavaScript

This causes JavaScript code that isn’t immediately essential to render after the rest of the page loads. Not only does this help the visual content of your page load faster, but it can also improve your INP and LCP scores.

Concatenate JS and Concatenate CSS

The concatenate JS feature groups scripts by their original placement and minifies them to reduce site loading time and the number of requests. Likewise, the concatenate CSS setting removes unnecessary code from your CSS — such as spaces, indents, and comments — so that it loads faster.

Image CDN

Jetpack’s image content delivery network will load heavy image files and deliver them to visitors from WordPress servers located around the world. This will make a page load faster, as your server will have less work to do.

Plus, images will automatically be resized and served to visitors based on their individual devices and platforms. It’s a quick, free way to improve the performance of your WordPress site.

Image guide 

The Image Guide gives you a visual reference of image file sizes as you browse your site. Quickly identify opportunities for improvement and choose which images to optimize and which to leave alone. This blends flexibility and automation for those who value both their time and creative autonomy. 

2. Choose a high‑performance hosting provider

The hosting provider you choose plays a significant role in your website’s performance. 

Selecting a reputable host that offers fast server response times, SSD storage, and server-level caching can make a considerable difference in your site’s loading speed.

Some factors to consider while choosing a hosting provider are:

• Fast server response times. Look for a provider that guarantees low server response times, ideally below 200ms.
• SSD storage. Solid-state drives (SSDs) offer faster data access and higher reliability than traditional hard drives.
• Server-level caching. Providers that offer server-level caching can reduce the load on your server and increase the speed of your site.

Additionally, choosing a host with data centers close to your target audience can reduce latency and improve user experience. Managed WordPress hosting services can provide better performance and optimization compared to shared hosting solutions, as they’re tailored specifically to WordPress websites.

3. Use a lightweight and optimized theme

A well-optimized theme contributes to the basis of a fast-loading website. To ensure the best performance, select a minimal, performance-oriented theme that avoids excessive features, bloated code, or too many HTTP requests.

Here are some actionable tips to help you choose the right theme:

• Check the theme’s demo site. Analyze the performance of the theme’s demo site using tools like Google PageSpeed Insights or GTMetrix. This can give you an idea of how the theme will perform on your site.
• Look for performance-focused features. Opt for themes that highlight performance-related features, such as optimized code, minimal use of JavaScript, and support for responsive design.
• Test the theme before committing. Install the theme on a test site and evaluate its performance with your desired plugins and content to ensure it meets your needs.

Learn more about the fastest WordPress themes for Core Web Vitals.

4. Optimize images

Images account for a significant portion of your site’s loading time. To optimize your images, follow these best practices:

• Use proper image formats. WebP, JPEG XR, or AVIF offer better compression and quality compared to older formats like JPEG and PNG. Converting images takes a lot of time, but it helps performance significantly. Short on time? Jetpack Boost can do it for you.
• Compress and resize images. Compress your images to reduce their file size without losing quality. You should also resize your images to the appropriate dimensions for your site’s layout. If you have Jetpack Boost, this is taken care of for you automatically.
• Use a CDN to serve images. A CDN like Jetpack CDN can deliver images from a server closer to your users, reducing latency and improving loading speed. This is another tool included with Jetpack Boost — one of many reasons why it’s an ideal performance plugin for WordPress sites. 

It’s also good practice to only use images when they add value to your content. This way, you can minimize the number of unnecessary files on your website.

5. Optimize CSS and JavaScript

CSS and JavaScript files can have a significant impact on your site’s loading speed. To optimize these files, follow these best practices:

• Minify and compress CSS and JavaScript files. Use tools like Jetpack Boost to optimize CSS and JavaScript delivery, thus improving loading speed.
• Combine and inline critical CSS and JavaScript. Combining and inlining critical CSS and JavaScript can help minimize the number of HTTP requests, speeding up your site’s load time. This is one of the many features of Jetpack Boost.
• Use async or defer attributes for non-critical JavaScript files. Adding async or defer attributes to your non-critical JavaScript files can help reduce render-blocking. The async attribute allows the script to be downloaded asynchronously, while the defer attribute delays script execution until the page has finished parsing. You can use a plugin like Jetpack Boost to defer non-essential JavaScript.
• Remove render-blocking resources. Identify render-blocking CSS and JavaScript files using a tool like Google PageSpeed Insights, and remove or replace them to reduce the time it takes for your site’s content to become visible. This may involve removing unnecessary plugins or scripts, or finding more performance-friendly alternatives.

As we have seen, Jetpack Boost lets you enable these settings with just a few clicks.

6. Implement server‑side optimizations

Server-side optimizations can greatly impact your site’s performance. Follow these best practices to optimize your server configuration:

• Enable GZIP or Brotli compression. Enabling GZIP or Brotli compression on your server can reduce file sizes and speed up transfers. You can enable compression via your server’s configuration files.
• Configure HTTP/2 or HTTP/3 for faster connections. HTTP/2 and HTTP/3 offer improved performance over the older HTTP/1.1 protocol, such as multiplexing, header compression, and server push. Check with your hosting provider to ensure they support these protocols and enable them if possible.
• Set up server-level caching and cache-control headers. Configuring server-level caching and cache-control headers can help improve performance by reducing the load on your server. You can achieve this by modifying your server’s configuration files or using a plugin like WP Super Cache.
• Use a reverse-proxy setup (e.g., NGINX or Varnish). A reverse-proxy setup can help improve the performance and scalability of your site by caching content and distributing the load among multiple servers. Consult your hosting provider or server administrator to determine the best reverse-proxy solution for your needs.

Many reputable hosting providers will already have caching solutions implemented in the servers. 

7. Use a content delivery network (CDN)

A CDN can significantly improve your site’s loading speed by serving static assets, like images, CSS, and JavaScript files, from a global network of servers. This reduces latency by delivering these assets from a server that is geographically closer to each visitor.

To implement a CDN, follow these steps:

• Select a WordPress-friendly CDN provider. Choose a CDN provider that offers easy integration with WordPress. If you’ve already opted to use Jetpack Boost for its other performance-enhancing features, you’ll have instant access to Jetpack’s powerful image CDN.
• Configure your CDN to serve static assets. Once you’ve selected a CDN provider, configure it to serve your site’s static assets, like images, CSS, and JavaScript files. This can typically be done through the provider’s dashboard or by using a plugin. If you’re using Jetpack Boost, this is taken care of automatically. 
• Enable CDN-level caching and optimizations. Some CDN providers offer additional performance optimizations, such as image optimization, minification, and compression. Be sure to enable these features to get the most out of your CDN.

After implementing a CDN, you should see a significant improvement in your site’s Core Web Vitals scores.

8. Optimize your WordPress database

Optimizing your WordPress database helps improve performance by removing unnecessary data and reducing the database size. 

Here are some best practices to optimize your database:

• Clean up unnecessary data. Remove unwanted data like revisions, spam comments, and transients from your database. You can do this manually using a tool like phpMyAdmin or by using a plugin.
• Automate database maintenance. Use a plugin to automate database cleanup and optimization tasks, ensuring your database stays lean and efficient.
• Regularly back up your database. Always back up your database before performing any optimizations to avoid data loss. You can use a plugin like Jetpack VaultPress Backup to back up your database in real time.

It’s a good idea to audit your database and remove any unnecessary data every few months, especially if you regularly update new content.

9. Use a performance‑focused caching plugin

Caching plugins can dramatically improve your site’s performance by storing static versions of your pages and serving them to visitors instead of generating them on each request.

To implement caching on your WordPress site, here’s what you’ll need to do:

• Install a caching plugin. Install a performance-focused caching plugin like WP Super Cache, which is designed to work seamlessly with WordPress and improve your site’s speed.
• Configure page caching, browser caching, and object caching. This can be done through the plugin’s settings page, with detailed instructions available in the plugin’s documentation.
• Enable CSS and JavaScript minification, concatenation, and deferment. Some caching plugins, like WP Super Cache, also offer additional optimization features such as minification, concatenation, and deferment of CSS and JavaScript files. Enable these features to further improve your site’s performance.

Note that Jetpack Boost also offers a caching feature, which you can enable with a toggle button.

10. Optimize web fonts

Web fonts can have a significant impact on your site’s performance and user experience. To optimize your web fonts, you’ll want to do the following:

• Limit the number of font variants. Each font variant adds weight to your site, so only use the necessary font weights and styles.
• Use the “font-display” property. This CSS property controls how fonts are rendered while they are being loaded, helping to prevent layout shifts and improve user experience. Set the “font-display” property to “swap” or “fallback” to ensure that text remains visible during font loading.
• Serve fonts locally or from a reliable CDN. Hosting fonts locally or using a reliable CDN can help improve performance by reducing the number of external requests and ensuring faster font delivery.

11. Optimize third‑party scripts and plugins

Third-party scripts and plugins can negatively impact your site’s performance. Here’s what you’ll need to do to optimize them:

• Audit your plugins. Regularly review your installed plugins and remove any that are unnecessary or slowing down your site. This can be done by deactivating plugins one by one and testing your site’s performance using a tool like GTMetrix or Google PageSpeed Insights.
• Defer or async load non-critical third-party scripts. Use the defer or async attributes to load non-critical third-party scripts — like social media widgets or analytics scripts — after the main content has loaded. Deferring non-essential JavaScript can be done in just a few clicks with a plugin like Jetpack Boost.
• Replace slow plugins with lightweight alternatives. If a particular plugin is causing performance issues, consider replacing it with a more lightweight alternative that offers similar functionality.

Before you add a new plugin, it’s always a good idea to read reviews from other users. If the tool has led to slower loading times, you’ll want to avoid installing it. 

12. Address CLS issues

Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) measures the visual stability of your site, with lower scores indicating a more stable layout. Here’s how to address CLS issues:

• Set explicit dimensions for images, videos, and iframes. Assign width and height attributes to images, videos, and iframes to reserve space in the layout, preventing content from shifting as these elements load.
• Avoid inserting content above existing content. Dynamically inserting content above existing content can cause layout shifts. Instead, use techniques like overlays or sidebars to display additional content.
• Use CSS containment properties and the “transform” property. Apply CSS containment properties, such as “contain”, and use the “transform” property to isolate layout shifts and prevent them from affecting other elements on the page.

Once you complete these tasks, run another test on PageSpeed Insights to see if your CLS score has improved.

13. Implement DNS prefetching and preconnect

DNS prefetching and preconnect help establish early connections to important third-party domains, reducing the time it takes for resources to be fetched. To implement these techniques, follow these steps:

• Use “dns-prefetch” and “preconnect” link tags. Add “dns-prefetch” and “preconnect” link tags to your site’s header to establish early connections to critical external resources like web fonts, CDNs, and analytics services.
• Prioritize connections to critical external resources. Ensure you are prefetching and preconnecting to the most important external resources to optimize performance. You can use a tool like Lighthouse to identify critical resources, then do this manually or using a WordPress plugin.

These tasks require some technical knowledge, so it might be a good idea to use a WordPress plugin or hire a developer.

14. Optimize Time to First Byte (TTFB)

TTFB is a measurement of the time it takes for a visitor’s browser to receive the first byte of data from your server. To optimize TTFB, follow these best practices:

• Implement server-side caching and opcode caching. Enable server-side caching and opcode caching (e.g., using OPcache or APCu) to reduce the amount of time it takes for your server to process and deliver content.
• Use PHP-FPM or HHVM for improved PHP processing. PHP-FPM and HHVM are alternative PHP processing engines that can offer improved performance over the standard PHP interpreter. Check with your hosting provider to see if they support these engines and enable them if possible.
• Optimize your database by using an object cache like Redis or Memcached. Implementing an object cache like Redis or Memcached can improve database performance and reduce TTFB. Consult your hosting provider or server administrator to determine the best object caching solution for your needs.

As mentioned earlier, you can check your TTFB using a tool like Lighthouse and PageSpeed Insights.

15. Use Critical Request Chains analysis

Analyzing your site’s critical request chains can help identify opportunities to optimize the loading order of resources and minimize render-blocking resources. To perform a critical request chains analysis, follow these steps:

• Analyze your site using tools like Lighthouse or WebPageTest. These tools can help you identify critical request chains and highlight potential performance issues.
• Optimize the loading order of critical resources. Based on the analysis, rearrange the loading order of your critical resources to minimize render-blocking resources and improve performance. This may involve adjusting the placement of CSS and JavaScript files, using the “preload” attribute, or implementing HTTP/2 server push.

Once again, these tasks require technical skill, so you’ll want to use a plugin or a developer.

16. Implement server push and preload

Server push and preload are techniques that can help improve the performance of your critical resources. Here’s how to implement them:

• Use HTTP/2 server push. HTTP/2 server push allows you to send critical assets to the browser before they’re requested, improving the loading performance of your site. To implement server push, consult your hosting provider or server administrator, as the configuration varies depending on your server setup.
• Implement “preload” link tags. Add “preload” link tags for high-priority resources like web fonts, critical CSS, and important images. This can be done manually by adding the tags to your site’s header or by using a plugin.

17. Improve server response times

Optimizing server response times can significantly improve your site’s performance and user experience. To optimize server response times, here’s what you’ll need to do:

• Monitor server response times using tools like New Relic or Datadog. These monitoring tools can help you track server response times and identify any bottlenecks or performance issues.
• Identify and address bottlenecks. Investigate the bottlenecks identified by your monitoring tools and address them accordingly. This may involve upgrading your server hardware, optimizing your database, or adjusting your server configuration.

18. Optimize WordPress cron jobs

WordPress cron jobs are scheduled tasks that run in the background, performing tasks like updating plugins, publishing scheduled posts, and sending email notifications.

Optimizing your cron jobs can help improve your site’s performance. Here’s how to get started:

• Disable the default WordPress cron system. The default WordPress cron system relies on visitors to trigger scheduled tasks, which can be inefficient and slow down your site. Disable the default system by adding the following line to your wp-config.php file: define(‘DISABLE_WP_CRON’, true);
• Use a real server-side cron job instead. Replace the default WordPress cron system with a real server-side cron job, which runs independently of your site’s visitors. This can be set up through your hosting provider’s control panel or by consulting your server administrator.
• Schedule resource-intensive tasks during periods of low traffic. To minimize the impact of resource-intensive tasks on your site’s performance, schedule them to run during periods of low traffic, such as overnight or on weekends.

19. Consider advanced caching techniques

Advanced caching techniques can further improve your site’s performance by optimizing the way content is cached and delivered.

To implement advanced caching techniques, follow these best practices:

• Implement Edge Side Includes (ESI) for fragment caching. ESI is a technique that lets you cache individual fragments of a web page separately, enabling more efficient and fine-grained caching. To implement ESI, consult your hosting provider or server administrator, as the configuration varies depending on your server setup.
• Use HTTP caching headers like “stale-while-revalidate” and “stale-if-error”. These caching headers can improve cache efficiency by allowing the browser to serve stale content while fetching updated content in the background or in case of an error. To use these headers, update your server’s configuration or consult your hosting provider or server administrator for assistance.

Frequently asked questions about WordPress Core Web Vitals

Are you still looking for information about Core Web Vitals in WordPress? Let’s answer some frequently asked questions.

Do Core Web Vitals impact SEO on WordPress?

Yes, Core Web Vitals can impact your WordPress SEO. In fact, Google made Core Web Vitals a ranking factor, meaning that the scores are considered when the search engine determines the order in which websites rank for certain keywords.

This is because Core Web Vitals are a great indication of user experience. If a site takes a long time to load valuable content or moves around a lot when someone’s using it, it can really negatively impact their experience.

Since Google wants to provide the highest-quality results to searchers, your website’s performance and user experience are important to them.

Do Core Web Vitals impact user experience on WordPress?

While Core Web Vitals don’t exactly impact user experience, they are a measurement of the quality of your user experience.

Let’s say you’re visiting your favorite blog or online store, and it takes a long time for the hero image to load. Perhaps you click on a button, and nothing seems to happen for several seconds. Or you’re scrolling and, all of a sudden, the page jumps, and you completely lose track of where you were.

If any of those things were to happen to you, it would be frustrating. You might even leave the site entirely and go somewhere else. At the very least, your opinion of the brand would be impacted.

That’s exactly why Core Web Vitals are connected to your site’s user experience. Poor Core Web Vitals are a sign of difficulty interacting and engaging with your content, which you never want, no matter what type of site you run.

How can I easily optimize my Core Web Vitals right now?

The easiest, fastest way to quickly optimize your Core Web Vitals in WordPress is to use a plugin like Jetpack Boost. It’s the best WordPress speed plugin, designed specifically to address Core Web Vitals.

By just toggling a few settings, you can optimize CSS loading, defer non-essential JavaScript, turn on lazy image loading, and more. 

And it couldn’t be simpler to set up! All you have to do is install and activate the plugin, run an initial speed test, and then turn on toggles for each setting you want to enable. That’s it!

No matter your experience level or the type of site you own, you can use Jetpack Boost to quickly and easily optimize your Core Web Vitals.

Ready to take the first step towards a better user experience and improved search engine rankings? Get started with Jetpack Boost.