Boosting Web Core Vitals: A Use Case Checklist

A real‑world, step‑by‑step checklist to improve LCP, CLS, and TBT.

Website performance and optimization illustration

Boosting Web Core Vitals: A Use Case Checklist

With the present-day competitive online environment, site performance is crucial in pulling in and maintaining site visitors. Google's Core Web Vitals are the metrics used to gauge the actual-world user experience while interacting with your site. Improving these metrics enhances user satisfaction in addition to enhancing your site's performance in search results.

This blog will take you through a real-world, step-by-step checklist to improve the three prime Core Web Vitals:

LCP (Largest Contentful Paint) – how fast the key content is painted
CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift) – how stable the visual page is
TBT (Total Blocking Time) – how responsive is your site?

Let’s explore practical steps to improve the performance of your website considerably.

Step 1 – LCP (Largest Contentful Paint) Improvement

As mentioned, LCP is how much time it will take to bring the largest content on the screen. The ideal LCP is less than 2.5 seconds.

Actions to minimize LCP:

✔ Compress photos

  • Compress photos without compromising their quality (use WebP formats).
  • Resize images proportionate to screen size to avoid files bigger than necessary.
  • Apply lazy loading to the below-the-fold images.

✔ Employ a quick hosting server

  • Choose a hosting service provider with SSD storage and CDN (Content Delivery Network) services.

✔ Compress JavaScripts, CSS, and HTMLs

  • Eliminate unnecessary spaces, comments, and unused code.
  • Libraries such as Terser, CSSNano, or online compressors are good options.

✔ Optimize key content

  • Inline all above-the-fold content.
  • Preload fonts, CSS files, and other critical assets using the preload attribute.

✔ Implement caching

  • Browser caching stores frequently accessed files locally, reducing load time.
  • Server caching boosts dynamic content delivery.

Step 2 – Minimize CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift)

CLS detects sudden positioning movements during the loading phase. The ideal value in CLS is less than 0.1.

Efforts to contain CLS:

✔ Establish setup and input dimensions

  • Always define width and height attributes.
  • Leave space for active elements like ads or popups.

✔ Do NOT inject content over other elements

  • Add in products at the end or in pre-established slots.

✔ Use font-display: swap

  • Avoid invisible text while font is loading by using font fallbacks.

✔ Check third-party scripts

  • Ads, widgets, or social share buttons often cause layout shifts.
  • Load these scripts asynchronously if possible.

✔ Make animations silky smooth

  • Apply CSS transform properties and not layout changes to transform elements.

Step 3 – Lower TBT (Total Blocking Time)

TBT is the amount of time the browser is prevented from interacting with user input. The ideal TBT is less than 300 ms.

Reduction steps for TBT:

✔ Break down large assignments

  • Do not run massive JavaScript processes simultaneously.
  • Make use of Web Workers or divide tasks into finer steps.

✔ Defer non-critical JavaScript

  • Call and load scripts after initial content with the async or defer attributes.

✔ Eliminate unused JavaScript

  • Audit your scripts and eliminate or replace bulky libraries.
  • Tools like Chrome DevTools help identify unused code.

✔ Third-Party Script Optimization

  • Restrict the usage of external scripts or load them on demand.
  • Check their performance influence periodically.

✔ Utilize server-side rendering (SSR)

  • Pre-render pages on the server to get faster first-content painting and less blocking time.

Additional Recommendations to Spike All Three Metrics

✔ Monitor performance regularly

  • Use tools like Google PageSpeed Insights, Lighthouse, or Web Vitals Extension.

✔ Install a CDN

  • Split content across several servers to minimize load times worldwide.

✔ Use HTTPS

  • Protected connections boost security and faster resource loading.

✔ Keep plugins and themes updated

  • Old code will usually lead to performance problems.

Final Reflections

Optimizing Core Web Vitals is now a hard and fast necessity—it’s non-negotiable if you’re to provide great user experiences and reap SEO success. Through this hands-on checklist, you'll be able to systematically optimize the loading time, stability, and responsiveness of your site.

With an online store or professional site, prioritizing these metrics will get visitors to spend more time and interact more.

At NGMARS Solutions, our aim is to assist companies in enhancing website performance with evidence-based methods and tools. Contact us today if you require professional services or an in-depth website analysis.