We explain what Core Web Vitals are and show how you can improve your CWV score on your Shopify store. ,
There’s plenty of information online about how to measure Core Web Vitals and whether your site is scoring well or poorly. But there’s very little actionable advice about what you need to do to make improvements, specifically on Shopify.
In this article, we’ll look at how exactly you can improve your Core Web Vitals score on your Shopify store. We’ve tried to make as many of these recommendations actionable without a developer, but some require expert technical implementation.
We’ll break down each core web vital metric in turn, explain what factors affect their performance, then show you how to improve each CWV metric on any Shopify store.
Core Web Vitals (CWV) refer to a set of key performance metrics created by Google to measure how a webpage actually feels for users. Core Web Vitals don’t just measure speed, they evaluate how quickly important content loads, how visually stable the page is while loading, and how responsive it feels when a user interacts with it. In other words, Core Web Vitals help determine whether your site delivers a smooth, user-friendly experience from the moment someone lands on your pages.
There are three primary Core Web Vitals metrics that every Shopify store owner should understand:
LCP measures how long it takes for the largest visible element on a page, usually a hero image, product image, or a large block of text to appear. A fast LCP ensures that users see meaningful content quickly, which helps reduce bounce rates and improves the overall user experience. On Shopify, optimising images, preloading key elements, and minimising render-blocking resources are common ways to improve LCP.
CLS measures how much the layout shifts as a page loads. Unexpected movement, such as text jumping down the page or buttons moving as images load, can frustrate users and lead to accidental misclicks. Minimising layout shifts requires using explicit sizing for images and embeds, keeping layouts stable, and limiting the use of animations that could move content around.
INP evaluates how responsive a page feels when a user interacts with it, such as clicking a button or opening a menu. This metric has become increasingly important on Shopify and now replaces the older First Input Delay (FID). Improving INP usually involves reducing JavaScript weight, deferring non-essential scripts, and keeping themes and apps lean, ensuring that the site reacts quickly to user actions.
Each page load is evaluated for each Core Web Vital metric and ranked as “Good”, “Needs Improvement”, or “Poor.” For a Shopify store to be considered to be performing well, the majority of its URL loads should meet the standard of “Good”. Consistently achieving this ensures a faster, more stable, and user-friendly experience across your site.
It’s important to understand how Google calculates Core Web Vitals scores because this affects how to make meaningful improvements. The data for Core Web Vitals comes from CrUX data which measures the performance for real website visitors using the Chrome web browser. This is called ‘field data’.
For each CWV metric, there’s a minimum average score you need to hit to not be marked as ‘Poor’. This is based upon the average scores recorded against groups of pages. It’s important to understand that your Shopify website isn’t scored against a core web vitals metric; the URLs on your website are.
When your Shopify store fails on a Core Web Vitals metric, Search Console will show you a sample of URLs that were affected by the problem. This helps you narrow down where the issue is and apply target improvement. Before beginning any Core Web Vitals optimisation work on your Shopify store, first identify which areas of improvement will be most impactful. Don’t waste your time on work that won’t produce a positive result.
Core Web Vitals are no longer optional, as they directly influence both your store’s user experience and its search performance. Poor scores can lead to slower page loads, layout shifts, and delayed interactivity, which frustrates users and can lead to reduced conversions. On the other hand, optimising these metrics helps your store rank higher on Google, keeps users engaged, and supports long-term growth by providing a smooth, reliable shopping experience.
In short, improving your Core Web Vitals is a foundational business requirement for UX, SEO and overall business performance.
Before you fix anything, you need to know where your Core Web Vitals performance currently stands. Here are the main tools and methods to measure CWV on your Shopify store.
If your Shopify store is connected to Google Search Console (GSC), you can access the Core Web Vitals report, which shows which URLs are rated as “Poor,” “Needs Improvement,” or “Good.” This report provides a broad overview of your store’s performance and helps you quickly identify problem areas, whether that’s specific pages, page types, or templates. Beyond just identifying issues, the GSC report allows you to prioritise optimisations, so you can focus first on pages with the highest traffic or the greatest potential for conversions. By tackling the most impactful pages first, you can make measurable improvements to user experience and search performance without needing to optimise your entire site at once.
PageSpeed Insights (PSI) is a free tool from Google that lets you test any page URL. It provides lab data, which simulates page speed and structure, as well as real-user metrics based on actual visitor experiences. PSI also highlights the Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) element, identifies any layout-shift issues, and shows which JavaScript or CSS resources are blocking rendering. With this detailed information, you can pinpoint exactly what needs fixing and start making targeted improvements to your store’s performance.
Lighthouse is a performance auditing tool built into modern browsers like Chrome, making it a quick and convenient way to evaluate your site’s pages. It highlights issues such as render-blocking resources, inefficient scripts, unused CSS, heavy images, and other factors that can negatively affect LCP, CLS, and INP. Lighthouse is particularly useful when assessing new themes or before making significant changes to your store, as it gives you a clear snapshot of where performance improvements are needed. By using Lighthouse regularly, you can pinpoint bottlenecks, optimise your site more effectively, and ensure that your Shopify store provides a fast, smooth experience for users.
The Chrome User Experience Report (CRux) can give you insight into how your store performs over time and across different devices. For Shopify stores, native web performance dashboards or third-party dashboards can surface CRuX data aggregated across your store, giving you insight into your performance over time and across different devices.
Using these various tools periodically, but especially after any theme updates, app installs or major changes to your site, will help prevent performance regression and improve your site health over time.
Improving Core Web Vitals on Shopify essentially means improving your overall web performance. Here’s how to do that on Shopify, depending on the kind of optimisation you need.
No, while Core Web Vitals are key to website performance and user experience, other factors also matter. Some of these are:
You don’t have to prioritise improving all your Core Web Vitals at once, as priorities may vary depending on what issues your store is currently facing. For example:
In many cases, improving LCP and CLS delivery is the most immediate win. Once these are under control, working on INP is a logical next step for your Shopify store.
Yes, many Shopify store owners see significant improvements using a combination of careful theme configuration, code tweaks and app selection. For example:
If you’re not comfortable editing theme code yourself, or if you want a thorough audit of both visible and behind-the-scenes issues, a professional optimisation service can help. Experts can safely implement fixes, ensure your store remains stable, and optimise performance without risking downtime or errors. This allows you to focus on running your business while your store runs smoothly and efficiently.
Improving Core Web Vitals isn’t a one-time task, as new products, store updates, app installments and theme changes can often introduce regressions. To maintain consistent performance, consider the following:
Core Web Vitals play a major role in your Shopify store’s user experience, SEO, conversion rates, and long-term success. By measuring performance regularly, you can see exactly where you stand and identify which improvements to prioritise.
Optimising LCP typically involves serving efficient, preloaded images and minimising render-blocking resources. CLS improvements come from using explicit sizing, maintaining stable layouts, and keeping animations under control. Meanwhile, INP can be enhanced by reducing JavaScript weight, deferring non-essential scripts, and keeping your theme and apps as lean as possible.
Performance isn’t a one-time fix for any Shopify store, think of it as an ongoing part of your site maintenance. Every update you make, whether it’s adding an app, changing a theme setting, or launching new content, is an opportunity to optimise and keep your store running smoothly.
While many improvements can be handled in-house, professional support can help speed up the process, especially when code-level adjustments, theme refinements, or deeper app audits are required. If you’re looking to improve your user experience, book a call with our expert team today.
If you need any advice or support with your ecommerce business, drop our team a line and we’d be happy to help.
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We are one of the world’s most trusted and experienced Shopify Plus Partners. A full-service, fully in-house digital agency of over 50 talented people, we’ve helped hundreds of ambitious brands exceed their goals.
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Eastside Co leads the way in UX-focused Shopify web design, results-driven marketing strategies, and best-in-class Shopify applications and software. We help online businesses escape the ordinary and achieve ecommerce success.
