LCP
Loading — slow LCP (loading)
LCP — Largest Contentful Paint — is how long the biggest thing on your page, usually a photo or headline, takes to show up. Google wants it under 2.5 seconds. When it fails, the usual culprits are oversized images, a slow host, or a theme loading too much before showing anything. Visitors give up on slow pages, and Google ranks them lower.
The usual causes
- Hero or product images uploaded straight from a camera (several MB each)
- Cheap or overloaded hosting that takes seconds to respond
- Themes and page builders loading everything before showing anything
What fixing it involves
Usually image compression, better caching or hosting, and loading the important part of the page first. Often a one-day job with a measurable before/after.
CLS
Stability — poor CLS (stability)
CLS — Cumulative Layout Shift — measures whether things on the page jump around while it loads. Google wants a score under 0.1. High scores usually come from images without set sizes, banners or cookie bars pushing content down, and ads loading late. It makes people tap the wrong thing, which on a shop means lost baskets.
The usual causes
- Images and embeds without reserved space, so text jumps when they arrive
- Cookie banners or promo bars that shove the page down after load
- Fonts swapping in late and reflowing whole paragraphs
What fixing it involves
Reserving space for images and banners, fixing font loading, and taming late-loading elements. Typically quick to fix once identified.
INP
Responsiveness — slow INP (responsiveness)
INP — Interaction to Next Paint — is how quickly your page reacts when someone clicks, taps or types. Google wants under 200 milliseconds. When it fails, the page feels frozen even though it looks fine — usually because too many scripts (trackers, chat widgets, page builders) are doing heavy work at the wrong moment.
The usual causes
- Too many third-party scripts: chat, analytics, popups, heatmaps
- Page builders running heavy code on every click
- Old plugins doing work in the browser that belongs on the server
What fixing it involves
An audit of what scripts actually run, removing or deferring the freeloaders, and breaking up the heavy work. The diagnosis matters more than the surgery here.
