How to Explain Core Web Vitals to Non-Technical Clients
Short answer
Explain Core Web Vitals to a client as 3 measures of the visitor's experience: how fast the main content appears, how fast the page responds, and how stable the layout is. Use real-user data, not test scores.
In this article
To explain Core Web Vitals to non-technical clients, describe the 3 metrics as measures of the visitor's experience: how fast the main content appears, how fast the page responds, and how stable the layout is. Core Web Vitals are Google's 3 page experience metrics: LCP, INP, and CLS.
Clients usually ask about Core Web Vitals after seeing a red score in PageSpeed Insights or a Poor status in Search Console. This guide covers how to explain core web vitals to clients in plain words, lab data versus real-user data, and how to write them up in the report.
How do you explain LCP, INP, and CLS in plain words?
Explain LCP, INP, and CLS by naming what the visitor experiences, then Google's Good threshold. A page passes Core Web Vitals when all 3 are Good.
| Metric | Sentence for the client | Good threshold |
|---|---|---|
| LCP | The time until the page's main content, such as a large image or the headline, finishes appearing | 2.5 seconds or less |
| INP | The time the page takes to respond when a visitor clicks, taps, or types | 200 milliseconds or less |
| CLS | How much the layout moves by itself while the page opens | 0.1 or less |
The thresholds apply at the 75th percentile of visits, separately for mobile and desktop. At least 75% of visits need to be within the Good threshold. The Needs improvement and Poor thresholds are covered in the Core Web Vitals guide.
How does a PageSpeed score differ from Search Console data?
A PageSpeed score comes from a lab test on one device and one network. Field data comes from real Chrome visitors over 28 days. The Search Console Core Web Vitals report uses field data.
| Lab data | Field data | |
|---|---|---|
| Source | A Lighthouse test on one device and network | Real Chrome users (CrUX) |
| Period | One test run | The last 28 days |
| Used for | Finding causes and testing fixes | Judging the visitor's experience |
The web.dev documentation says field data is the better guide for prioritizing work. Lab scores stay useful for testing a fix before it shows in field data.
Why the score changes between tests
A lab score can change between runs because of server and network conditions during the test. Field data is steadier because it sums up 28 days of visits.
How do you write Core Web Vitals in a client report?
Core Web Vitals go in a client report as a Good, Needs improvement, or Poor status per device, with the number of URLs and the change from last month. One sentence per failing metric is enough.
The numbers in the example are illustrations. Avoid setting the 0–100 PageSpeed score as a target, because that score is not used in the Search Console Core Web Vitals report.
Do Core Web Vitals affect rankings?
Core Web Vitals are part of the page experience signals Google's ranking systems use, but Google says relevant content matters more. A page with the most relevant content can still rank well even when its page experience isn't Good.
Write Core Web Vitals fixes in the report as improvements to the visitor's experience, not as a promise of higher rankings. A change in clicks after a fix is written as coinciding with it, not caused by it.
The rest of the monthly report is covered in the monthly SEO report guide. Recalytics prepares a Core Web Vitals slide from CrUX data for each client's monthly report.
Frequently asked questions
Why does Search Console say there is not enough data?
Field data needs enough visits from Chrome users. A site with few visits has no data in the report yet.
How long until a fix shows in Search Console?
Field data covers 28 days, so a fix shows fully about 28 days after it is done.
Is a PageSpeed score of 100 required?
No. The Search Console report judges Good status from field data, not lab scores.
Sources
The Recalytics Team writes guides on SEO and analytics reporting for digital agencies and website owners, based on Google's official documentation and Search Console and GA4 data.