Speed + SEO fixes that move rankings: Core Web Vitals in the INP era
Google replaced FID with INP, and many sites still measure the wrong thing. Here’s what to fix first to improve real user experience and search performance.
Speed + SEO fixes that move rankings: Core Web Vitals in the INP era
Website speed advice on the internet is a mess. Half of it is outdated. The other half is “optimize everything” nonsense that doesn’t tell you what matters.
Here’s the clean truth:
Speed matters because user experience matters.
And Google’s Core Web Vitals are one of the ways that experience gets measured.
The big shift: Interaction to Next Paint (INP) replaced First Input Delay (FID) as a Core Web Vital in March 2024. :contentReference[oaicite:3]{index=3}
If your site still “feels laggy” on tap/click, INP is usually why.
The three fixes that give the biggest wins
1) Kill heavy scripts you don’t need
Every chat widget, tracking script, animation library, and popup tool adds weight.
Audit:
What loads on every page?
What actually drives revenue?
Remove or delay the rest.
2) Fix image delivery (this is the silent killer)
Use:
Modern formats (WebP/AVIF).
Correct sizing.
Lazy loading for below-the-fold media.
CDN delivery if possible.
3) Improve responsiveness (INP mindset)
INP is about how fast the page reacts when a user interacts.
Common causes of bad INP:
Too much JavaScript work on click.
Long tasks on the main thread.
Heavy third-party scripts.
Fixing INP often means simplifying what the browser is asked to do at interaction time.
What “Speed & SEO Fix” looks like in real life
A proper fix is not a random plugin.
It’s:
Measurement.
Prioritization.
Surgical changes.
Retesting.
Then you lock it.
If your page loads fast but still feels unresponsive, you’re leaving conversions on the table.
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