What are Core Web Vitals and why do they matter?
Core Web Vitals are Google's three user-experience metrics: Largest Contentful Paint (loading, target under 2.5s), Interaction to Next Paint (responsiveness, under 200ms) and Cumulative Layout Shift (visual stability, under 0.1). They affect both ranking and conversion.
The commercial argument is stronger than the SEO one. Slow pages lose visitors before the content renders, and layout shifts cause mis-taps on mobile that read as broken.
The usual fixes are unglamorous: correctly sized images in modern formats, a preloaded hero asset, reserved space for media, fewer blocking scripts, and less JavaScript on first render.