Improve Website Speed with Core Web Vitals

Core Web Vitals are Google's measures of real-world page experience: how quickly the main content loads (Largest Contentful Paint, LCP), how responsive the page feels to input (Interaction to Next Paint, INP) and how stable the layout is while loading (Cumulative Layout Shift, CLS). To improve website speed, measure these on your key pages, find the biggest bottleneck, and fix images, scripts, fonts and server response in order of impact.

What the three metrics mean

Google publishes recommended thresholds for each metric on web.dev, and those thresholds can be updated, so check the current documentation rather than relying on remembered numbers.

Measure with both lab and field data

Start with the Core Web Vitals report in Google Search Console, which groups URLs by real-user performance, and PageSpeed Insights, which shows field data where available alongside a lab test. Use browser developer tools or Lighthouse to investigate causes. Test on mid-range mobile devices and realistic networks, since many UAE visitors browse on phones, and compare key templates such as the home page, service pages and checkout.

Fix loading speed first

• Compress and resize images, and serve modern formats such as WebP or AVIF where supported.
• Preload the main hero image or font and avoid lazy-loading it above the fold.
• Use a CDN and reliable hosting with fast server response times.
• Enable caching and compression such as Brotli or gzip.
• Remove unused CSS and JavaScript, and defer non-critical scripts.
• Limit custom fonts and use font-display settings to avoid invisible text.

Improve responsiveness and layout stability

For INP, reduce the JavaScript the browser must run: remove unused libraries, split large bundles, delay heavy third-party tags such as chat widgets and tracking scripts, and break up long tasks. Test real interactions, such as opening menus and filling forms. For CLS, set width and height on images and embeds, reserve space for banners and ads, and avoid inserting content above existing content after load. Check that Arabic right-to-left pages and web fonts do not cause shifts.

Make performance a habit

1. Set a performance baseline for your top pages.
2. Fix the largest issue first and re-test.
3. Review new plugins, scripts and images before adding them.
4. Monitor Search Console monthly for regressions.
5. Include performance checks in every release or content update.

A pre-launch performance checklist

Consider an e-commerce retailer in the UAE preparing a seasonal sale. The home page uses a large hero video, a chat widget, three tracking scripts and unoptimised product photos. On a fast office connection it looks fine, but customers on mid-range phones and mobile networks wait for the main banner and find buttons unresponsive while scripts load. Replacing the video with an optimised image, delaying non-essential scripts and setting image dimensions would remove most of the problems without changing the design. The example is illustrative, but this pattern is common on campaign pages.

Run this list on key templates before every major launch or campaign:

1. Test on a mid-range Android phone and a recent iPhone using a mobile connection, not only office Wi-Fi.
2. Check the largest above-the-fold element and confirm it is not lazy-loaded.
3. Confirm every image and embed has width and height, or a reserved space.
4. List third-party scripts, remove any you cannot justify and delay the rest.
5. Measure interaction on menus, filters, cart and checkout, not just page load.
6. Test the Arabic version separately, including fonts and right-to-left layout.
7. Record results so you can compare after the next release.

Treat the results as a living record. A short table of before and after measurements for each release makes regressions easy to spot and helps non-technical colleagues see why performance work matters.

Share the checklist with designers, marketers and content editors as well as developers, since new banners, videos and tracking tags are often added outside the development team.

Conclusion: measure, fix the biggest bottleneck, repeat

Good Core Web Vitals come from steady, practical work: lighter images, leaner scripts, stable layouts and reliable hosting, all checked against real-user data. Focus on the pages that matter to your business and keep monitoring after each change. If you want a clear performance audit with prioritised fixes, Myrran can review your site and help implement the changes.