Google’s Core Web Vitals (CWV) are key metrics that measure how real users experience your website. These metrics directly influence SEO, site rankings, and overall user experience.
As of 2024, the three Core Web Vitals are:
- Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) — loading performance
- Interaction to Next Paint (INP) — responsiveness
- Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) — visual stability
All Raptive creators should aim to pass these metrics for the best balance between user experience and ad revenue.
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Read more -> Google's documentation on Core Web Vitals
How Core Web Vitals affect search rankings
Core Web Vitals are part of Google’s broader page experience signals, which also include factors like mobile-friendliness, HTTPS security, and safe browsing.
While strong CWV scores can help your site stand out and keep visitors engaged, they’re not the only factor Google uses to determine rankings. High-quality content, keyword relevance, and backlinks remain the most influential parts of SEO.
Think of Core Web Vitals as a tie-breaker — when multiple pages have similar content quality and relevance, the page that provides a smoother, faster experience often ranks higher. So improving CWV can strengthen your SEO performance overall, even though it’s not the sole determinant.
Largest Contentful Paint (LCP)
What it measures
LCP gauges how quickly the main content of your webpage loads — specifically, how long it takes for the largest visible image or text block to appear after a page starts loading.
A good LCP score is 2.5 seconds or faster.
How Raptive ads affect LCP
Raptive’s ad code is already optimized for quick loading, so ads typically have minimal impact on LCP.
Most LCP issues come from non-ad elements such as large images, slow server responses, or lazy-loaded featured images above the fold.
Tips to improve LCP
- Make sure important images above the fold aren’t lazy-loaded
- Ask your host to help reduce server response time (TTFB)
- Compress large images
- Use a content delivery network (CDN) to serve assets faster
Interaction to Next Paint (INP)
What it measures
INP tracks how quickly your site responds to user interactions such as clicks, taps, and typing. It became an official Core Web Vital in March 2024, replacing First Input Delay (FID).
A good INP score is 200 milliseconds or less.
How Raptive ads affect INP
While ads can contribute to INP, Raptive continuously optimizes ad code to minimize this impact.
In fact, most Raptive sites (over 85%) maintain passing INP scores even while running full ad layouts.
High INP scores are often caused by long JavaScript tasks, heavy third-party scripts, or too many interactive features on a single page — not necessarily by ads.
Tips to improve INP
- Audit your site using PageSpeed Insights to identify what’s slowing down interactivity.
- Use Chrome DevTools → Performance tab to locate long-running JavaScript tasks.
- Reduce the number of active plugins, pop-ups, or tracking scripts.
- Optimize mobile pages first — mobile devices have fewer processing resources.
Reach out to Raptive support if you suspect ads are contributing to INP; our team can provide tailored optimization guidance.
Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS)
What it measures
CLS measures how visually stable your page is as it loads. A low CLS score means that text, buttons, and images don’t unexpectedly move around, helping users interact confidently with your site.
A good CLS score is 0.1 or lower.
How Raptive ads affect CLS
Because ads are dynamic, they can sometimes contribute to layout shifts if space isn’t properly reserved. Raptive has developed robust CLS prevention tools to eliminate ad-related shifting — both for plugin users and non-plugin setups.
For plugin users:
- In your WordPress dashboard, go to Raptive Ads → Settings and check “Reduce ad-related CLS.”
- Save changes and clear your cache.
For non-plugin users:
- Go to your Raptive Dashboard → Ad Preferences → User Experience.
- Toggle on “Reduce CLS from ads.”
- Save your changes.
These settings reserve ad space during rendering and apply minimum heights to prevent movement when ads refresh.
Tips to improve CLS
- Always enable Raptive’s CLS solution for your setup (plugin or dashboard).
- Test pages in PageSpeed Insights and Google Search Console after updates — scores update over time.
- Avoid inserting new elements (like popups) above existing content while the page is loading.
- Don’t aim for a perfect zero — once your CLS is under 0.1, you’re already in the “good” range.
How to track your Core Web Vitals performance
Many online tools can help you see your site's CWV performance and diagnose specific issues. Learn more about the differences between lab data and field data and how they can impact your scores.
- PageSpeed Insights: test individual URLs for detailed diagnostics.
- Google Search Console: view CWV trends across your site.
- Cloudflare Browser Insights: see near real-time data if you use Cloudflare.