Fast sites that rank: our checklist for Core Web Vitals & SEO

Speed and search stopped being separate jobs a long time ago. Google's Core Web Vitals — Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), Interaction to Next Paint (INP) and Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) — are ranking inputs, and they map almost exactly to how fast and stable a page feels to a human. Here's the checklist we actually run on every marketing site, in the order we run it.

Render the important HTML on the server A page that ships its content as server-rendered HTML is readable by crawlers instantly and paints fast for people. We reserve client-side JavaScript for genuine interactivity — a contact form, an animation — never for drawing the page itself. If your content only exists after a 300KB bundle downloads and executes, both Googlebot and a mid-range phone pay for it.

Protect the Largest Contentful Paint LCP is usually the hero image or headline. We make it win the race:

• Preload the LCP image and the fonts it uses
• Add `fetchpriority="high"` to the hero image; lazy-load everything below the fold
• Self-host fonts with `font-display: swap` so text never blocks on a third-party request
• Give every image explicit width and height so nothing reflows (that's your CLS)

Structured data on every page Schema doesn't speed the page up, but it's how you earn rich results and how AI answer engines understand what a page is:

• Organization and WebSite (with SearchAction) sitewide
• BreadcrumbList on every nested page
• SoftwareApplication, VideoGame, Service, FAQPage and Article where they fit

The unglamorous wins Compress and correctly size images (WebP, at display dimensions), keep the main thread free of long tasks, defer non-critical scripts, and cache aggressively. None of it is clever. All of it compounds — and unlike a one-off redesign, it keeps paying every month.

Measure the right thing Lab tools like Lighthouse are useful, but rankings use field data (CrUX) from real visitors. Watch your 75th-percentile LCP and INP in Search Console, not just a green lab score. Do these consistently and a 90+ Lighthouse number stops being a celebration and starts being the baseline you build on.