Core Web Vitals are three specific performance metrics Google uses to measure user experience on web pages: Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), Interaction to Next Paint (INP), and Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS). They're part of Google's Page Experience signals and directly impact search rankings, though the effect is modest compared to relevance and authority. LCP measures loading performance—specifically, how long it takes for the largest visible content element to render. Good is under 2.5 seconds, needs improvement is 2.5–4 seconds, and poor is above 4 seconds. This is typically your hero image, headline block, or main content area. INP replaced First Input Delay in March 2024 and measures responsiveness throughout the entire page visit, not just the first click. It tracks the delay between user interactions (clicks, taps, keyboard input) and the browser's visual response. Good is under 200ms, needs improvement is 200–500ms, poor is above 500ms. INP is harder to optimize than the old FID because it captures all interactions, not just one. CLS measures visual stability—how much page elements shift around during loading. Good is under 0.1, needs improvement is 0.1–0.25, poor is above 0.25. Common culprits are images without dimensions, ads that push content down, or web fonts that cause layout reflow. At Ottawa SEO, we see Core Web Vitals matter most for competitive commercial queries where multiple sites have similar content quality. A site scoring green across all three vitals may edge out an otherwise-equal competitor scoring orange or red. For informational queries or queries where you dominate on authority, the ranking impact is minimal—we've seen red-CWV pages hold position one for years on strong backlink profiles. The real value isn't the ranking boost—it's the conversion impact. Faster, more stable pages convert better, especially on mobile where Canadian users on Rogers or Telus networks face variable speeds. Fixing CLS alone can improve form completion rates by 15–25% because users aren't accidentally clicking the wrong button when elements shift.