Core Web Vitals are a growth lever, not a checkbox

A slow site quietly taxes everything downstream — fewer pages seen, more bounces, lower rank, less trust. Treating performance as a launch checkbox leaves money on the table every day after.

What we budget for

• LCP under ~2s on mobile — the hero loads before patience runs out.
• INP under 200ms — taps and clicks feel instant.
• CLS under 0.1 — nothing jumps as the page settles.

How we hold the line

Budgets are enforced, not hoped for: we ship lean, lazy-load what’s below the fold, optimize images and gate regressions in CI. Fast stays fast after launch.

The payoff

Better vitals lift conversion and search rank at the same time — one of the rare investments that pays back on both acquisition and experience.