What Are Google’s Core Web Vitals and Page Experience Factors?

Google announced that Core Web Vitals would become a ranking factor in June 2021, and the rollout is set to complete in August. The folks at WebsiteBuilderExpert have put together this comprehensive infographic that speaks to each of Google’s Core Web Vitals (CWV) and Page Experience Factors, how to measure them, and how to optimize for these updates. 

What is Page Experience?

Page experience reflects how users feel when they interact with a webpage. It goes beyond technical performance and looks at whether the page is fast, stable, responsive, secure, and free of interruptions. When a site delivers a smooth, predictable experience, users stay longer, engage more deeply, and face fewer barriers as they navigate or complete tasks.

Core Web Vitals sit at the center of this evaluation. They quantify the most important parts of real-world usability: how quickly meaningful content appears, how responsive the page feels during interaction, and whether elements remain stable while loading. These signals translate directly into user satisfaction because they capture the moments that matter most during browsing.

Page experience also draws on existing signals such as mobile friendliness, HTTPS security, and guidelines for avoiding intrusive interstitials. By combining these with Core Web Vitals, Google builds a more complete picture of how well a page meets user expectations across devices and contexts. As user behavior and technology evolve, the set of signals included in page experience will continue to expand, giving site owners clearer benchmarks and encouraging continual improvement in how the web feels to use.

What are Core Web Vitals?

Core Web Vitals are built around three essential measurements that define how users experience a page as it loads in a browser and responds to their actions. Each metric focuses on a different dimension of usability: how quickly meaningful content becomes visible, how smoothly the page reacts during interaction, and how stable the layout remains while elements render.

Together, Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), Interaction to Next Paint (INP), and Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) form the foundation of page experience, offering a clear, user-centered way to evaluate—and improve—the quality of a site.

Largest Contentful Paint measures how long it takes for the primary, meaningful content of a page—often the hero image or a key text block—to fully render. When Google says LCP should occur within 2.5 seconds, it means the most important visual element must be fully visible by then for the page to feel fast and usable.

At around 2.5 seconds, human perception shifts from “this is loading quickly” to “this is taking a while.” Staying below that threshold keeps engagement high and reduces abandonment.

Interaction to Next Paint measures how quickly a page responds to user interactions throughout the entire visit. Google recommends an INP of 200 milliseconds or less, meaning the user should see a visual response—such as a button depress, a menu expand, or a filter update—within that time after they interact.

200 milliseconds is approximately the limit of what feels instantaneous to the human brain. Below that, interactions feel crisp and fluid; above it, users begin to perceive lag. The upper boundary of 500 milliseconds marks the point where delays become clearly disruptive, often resulting in frustration, abandoned actions, or bounced sessions.

Cumulative Layout Shift measures how much the page unexpectedly moves as it loads. A CLS score of 0.1 or lower indicates that the layout remains stable and users can read or tap without elements unexpectedly shifting.

CLS is not time-based. It is a composite score based on how far elements move and how much of the viewport they affect. Scores under 0.1 indicate minimal, almost unnoticeable movement. Higher scores signal disruptive jumps—like buttons sliding down as ads load—leading to lost context, accidental clicks, and a feeling that the page is unreliable.

You can get a report on these metrics utilizing Google’s Pagespeed Insights tool.

Google Pagespeed Insights Report

The Retirement of FID and the Move to INP

For several years, First Input Delay (FID) served as Google’s primary metric for measuring interactivity. FID captured the delay between a user’s first interaction—such as tapping a button or clicking a link—and the moment the browser was able to begin processing that event. While useful in the early phases of performance measurement, FID reflected only a narrow slice of the experience. A page could score perfectly on FID yet still feel sluggish once users started engaging with menus, filters, tabs, or dynamic elements.

As websites became more interactive and increasingly dependent on JavaScript-driven interfaces, Google recognized this gap. To better reflect real-world behavior, FID was officially replaced on March 12, 2024, when Interaction to Next Paint (INP) became the new Core Web Vital for responsiveness.

The shift happened because INP measures the entire interaction lifecycle—not just the first one. It evaluates how quickly users see a visual response after any significant interaction throughout their visit. This includes input delay, event-processing time, and the time it takes for the browser to paint the update. By capturing the slowest meaningful interaction, INP surfaces the actual moments where users experience lag or friction.

Why Core Web Vitals Go Far Beyond Speed and Rankings

Core Web Vitals are often discussed as performance metrics or search factors, but their influence is much broader. They shape the entire digital marketing ecosystem by sitting at the intersection of user behavior, conversion efficiency, advertising effectiveness, customer perception, and search visibility. In other words, Core Web Vitals aren’t just technical benchmarks—they are business outcomes expressed through performance signals.

When a site loads quickly, remains visually stable, and responds instantly, users are far more willing to engage. That engagement affects everything downstream. Conversion rates rise because visitors aren’t frustrated. Local visibility improves because Google’s map pack heavily weights behavior signals such as dwell time, bounce patterns, and task completion. Paid advertising becomes more cost-effective because platforms reward fast, frictionless landing pages with higher quality scores and lower cost per click. Email, social, and influencer campaigns perform better because future visitors encounter an experience that keeps them engaged rather than leaving.

Even brand perception is tied to these metrics. A site that feels smooth and reliable creates a sense of trust; a site that stutters or shifts leaves a negative impression long before a visitor ever reads a headline or fills out a form. Core Web Vitals directly influence whether a visitor has the patience to explore your content, compare products, or complete a transaction.

Search ranking is simply the last piece of the equation. Google prioritizes pages that users enjoy using, and Core Web Vitals are the clearest quantifiable indicators of that enjoyment. But ranking is ultimately the byproduct—not the purpose. Core Web Vitals guide a business toward an experience that aligns with human expectations, and when that experience improves, every channel in digital marketing performs better.