Core Web Vitals Checklist for Small Business Sites | Cordanta

Google's Core Web Vitals directly impact your search rankings. More importantly, they measure real user experience. Here's a practical checklist to get your site performing well.

The Three Core Web Vitals

Before diving in, let's understand what we're measuring:

LCP (Largest Contentful Paint): How fast does the main content appear? Target: under 2.5 seconds
INP (Interaction to Next Paint): How responsive is the page to clicks? Target: under 200 milliseconds
CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift): Does the page jump around while loading? Target: under 0.1

Quick Wins (Do These First)

1. Optimize Images

This is almost always the biggest win.

Use modern formats (WebP or AVIF)
Serve appropriately sized images (don't serve 2000px images on mobile)
Use responsive images with srcset
Add explicit width and height attributes (prevents layout shift)
Lazy load images below the fold

2. Self-Host Fonts

Google Fonts are convenient but add blocking requests.

Download fonts and host them yourself
Use font-display: swap to prevent invisible text
Subset fonts to only include characters you need
Preload critical fonts in your

3. Minimize Third-Party Scripts

Every chat widget, analytics tool, and social embed adds weight.

Audit all third-party scripts
Remove anything you're not actively using
Load non-critical scripts with defer or async
Consider lazy loading chat widgets until user interaction

Performance Checklist

Loading Performance (LCP)

[ ] Hero images are optimized and properly sized
[ ] Fonts are self-hosted with font-display: swap
[ ] Critical CSS is inlined or loaded first
[ ] Server response time is under 600ms
[ ] CDN is configured for static assets
[ ] HTTP/2 or HTTP/3 is enabled

Interactivity (INP)

[ ] JavaScript bundle is under 200KB (gzipped)
[ ] Long tasks are broken up
[ ] Event handlers are efficient
[ ] No blocking JavaScript in document head
[ ] Third-party scripts don't block main thread

Visual Stability (CLS)

[ ] Images have explicit dimensions
[ ] Ads and embeds have reserved space
[ ] Web fonts don't cause text reflow
[ ] Dynamic content doesn't push layout
[ ] No content injected above existing content

Testing Your Site

Use these tools to measure and diagnose:

PageSpeed Insights: Google's official tool, shows both lab and field data
Lighthouse: Built into Chrome DevTools, detailed diagnostics
WebPageTest: Advanced testing with different devices and locations
Chrome DevTools Performance panel: Detailed timeline for debugging

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Over-optimizing

Don't spend days shaving milliseconds when you could be improving your product. Get to "good enough" (passing Core Web Vitals) and move on.

Ignoring Mobile

Google uses mobile-first indexing. Always test on mobile devices, not just desktop.

Too Many Fonts

Every font weight and style is a separate file. Stick to 2-3 font variations maximum.

Render-Blocking Resources

Scripts and stylesheets in the without async or defer block rendering. Audit what's actually critical.

Quick Diagnostic

If your site is slow, check these in order:

What's the largest image on the page? Optimize it.
How many HTTP requests does the page make? Reduce them.
How much JavaScript is loading? Minimize it.
Are fonts causing invisible text? Fix font loading.
Is the server slow? Consider caching or a CDN.

The Bottom Line

Performance optimization is about understanding what actually impacts users. Focus on the big wins first: images, fonts, and unnecessary scripts.

Don't chase perfect scores—chase good user experience. A site that loads in 2 seconds and works well is better than one that loads in 1.5 seconds but breaks on some browsers.

Test on real devices, fix the biggest issues, and iterate from there.