LCP, INP, CLS: What Each Core Web Vital Means and How to Fix It

The Three Numbers That Control Your Search Rankings Google's Core Web Vitals boil down to three metrics: LCP , INP , and CLS . Each measures a different dimension of user experience, and each has specific thresholds that determine whether your page passes or fails. This guide goes deeper than the overview. For each metric, we cover what it measures, why it matters, how to diagnose problems, and the exact steps to fix them. If you need the basics first, start with What Are Core Web Vitals? . For setting thresholds and budgets, see our performance budget resources . LCP — Largest Contentful Paint What It Actually Measures LCP measures the render time of the largest content element visible in the viewport. "Largest" means the element with the biggest visual footprint, which is usually one of: A <img> element (hero image, banner) A <video> element's poster frame A block-level element containing text (headline, paragraph) A background image loaded via url() in CSS The browser identifies the