Core Web Vitals: Optimizing LCP, FID, and CLS If your website feels sluggish or awkward to use, there’s a good chance Google notices too. That’s where Core Web Vitals come in. They measure how fast your site loads, how quickly it reacts when someone tries to use it, and how stable everything feels as it comes together on screen. There are three metrics you need to pay attention to: LCP (Largest Contentful Paint), FID (First Input Delay), and CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift). They’re part of Google’s ranking system, and if your site struggles with them, it could be slipping behind in search results. Let’s break each one down — and talk about what to do when things go wrong. LCP: When Your Content Actually Loads LCP is about loading time. Not when the page starts loading, but when the biggest visible element — usually a main image, a banner, or a headline — finishes loading. Google expects that to happen in under 2.5 seconds. When it takes longer, people get impatient. They bounce. And that hurts both your user experience and your search visibility. Slow LCP usually comes down to big images, bloated code, or a sluggish server. You can fix it by shrinking image sizes, compressing code, and making sure your hosting isn’t holding you back. Even small changes — like serving images in newer formats like WebP — can make a difference. If you’re not sure where to start, this is where a web designer who understands performance can step in and help streamline things. FID: When the Page Feels Unresponsive Ever click a button and nothing happens right away? That delay is exactly what FID measures. It tracks the time between a user’s first interaction and the moment the site responds. Google says it should happen in under 100 milliseconds. If your site feels frozen for even half a second after someone tries to interact, that’s a problem. It usually means the browser is busy processing scripts and can’t react in time. To fix it, you may need to split up heavy JavaScript into smaller chunks, delay loading parts of the site that aren’t immediately needed, or remove unnecessary third - party scripts. This isn’t always easy without a development background — but it’s fixable, a nd it’s worth it. CLS: When the Page Jumps Around CLS is about visual stability. If your layout moves around while it’s loading — like when a banner suddenly appears and pushes everything down — that’s a poor experience. Users might click the wrong thing. Or just leave. The most common causes are unstyled images or videos, fonts that load too late, and ads or dynamic elements loading without reserved space. Google wants your CLS score under 0.1. That means the page should stay mostly in place from the start. The fix? Plan your layout better. Always define image dimensions. Preload fonts. Don’t let content pop in from nowhere. These are design problems as much as technical ones, and a thoughtful web design service will take this into account from day one. Why This Matters for SEO These metrics aren’t optional anymore. Google rolled them into its ranking system as part of the Page Experience update. If your site loads slowly, reacts poorly, or jumps around too much, you’re going to feel it in your search rankings. It’s not just about SEO, though. It’s about trust. People expect things to load fast, work right away, and stay put. If your site doesn’t, they move on. That’s why performance is now part of good web design — not an extra step after the fact. Can You Fix This Yourself? Some things, yes. You can run your site through PageSpeed Insights and get a full Core Web Vitals report. Google will even give you suggestions to improve. But knowing what’s wrong isn’t the same as fixing it. Performance issues usually trace back to the design and code structure of your site. That’s where a professional web designer — ideally one offering full web design services — can make a real difference. They don’t just make your site look good. They help it work better, load faster, and rank higher. Final Thoughts Core Web Vitals aren’t just technical metrics. They reflect the real - world experience of your users. If your site is slow, clunky, or unstable, you’ll lose people — and Google will notice. Whether you’re building something new or trying to fix what you’ve got, it’s worth paying attention to how your site feels in motion. A fast, responsive, and stable site builds trust. And trust builds traffic. If you’re unsure where to start, talk to a Singapore web designer who understands performance. Good design goes beyond appearance — it includes speed, responsiveness, and usability. That’s what keeps visitors around. And that’s what Google rewards.