CWV Thresholds: Good, Needs Improvement, Poor
Core Web Vitals thresholds define whether a page provides a good user experience. Google sets specific numeric boundaries for each metric. Pages that pass...
Dilshad Akhtar
Published: 17 June 2026
4 min read
TL;DRAI summary
- Every CWV metric has three rating categories.
- Category Threshold Good 2.5 seconds or less Needs Improvement 2.5 to 4.0 seconds Poor Over 4.0 seconds LCP captures the time when the largest...
- Category Threshold Good 200 milliseconds or less Needs Improvement 200 to 500 milliseconds Poor Over 500 milliseconds INP replaced FID in March 2024.
- Category Threshold Good 0.1 or less Needs Improvement 0.1 to 0.25 Poor Over 0.25 CLS is a unitless score calculated from layout shift impact times...
- Google evaluates thresholds at the page level, not the site level.
- Passing all three Good thresholds unlocks the page experience ranking boost.
- Check your top 20 pages in PageSpeed Insights.
Core Web Vitals thresholds define whether a page provides a good user experience. Google sets specific numeric boundaries for each metric. Pages that pass all three thresholds qualify for the "Good page experience" signal in rankings. These thresholds have not changed since their introduction,...
The Three Threshold Categories
Every CWV metric has three rating categories. Good means the metric passes the threshold. Needs Improvement means the metric requires attention. Poor means the metric fails and likely harms user experience. The ranking benefit applies only to pages with all three metrics in the Good range.
Google calculates the rating using the 75th percentile of the metric distribution. If 75% of your page visits have an LCP of 2.5 seconds or faster, the page passes. The 75th percentile is the standard for all three metrics.
LCP Thresholds
| Category | Threshold |
|---|---|
| Good | 2.5 seconds or less |
| Needs Improvement | 2.5 to 4.0 seconds |
| Poor | Over 4.0 seconds |
LCP captures the time when the largest visible element renders. Images are the most common LCP element. Text blocks rendered with web fonts can also trigger LCP. The 2.5-second threshold has been stable since 2020.
CrUX data from mid-2026 shows that 72% of mobile origins pass LCP on the Good threshold. This has improved from 62% in 2023. Desktop passes at 84%. The improvement reflects industry-wide adoption of performance best practices.
INP Thresholds
| Category | Threshold |
|---|---|
| Good | 200 milliseconds or less |
| Needs Improvement | 200 to 500 milliseconds |
| Poor | Over 500 milliseconds |
INP replaced FID in March 2024. FID had a Good threshold of 100 milliseconds. INP is 200 milliseconds. This is not a relaxation. INP measures all interactions, not just the first one. The broader scope makes 200 milliseconds more difficult to achieve than 100 milliseconds for FID.
As of early 2026, 78% of desktop origins and 68% of mobile origins pass INP. JavaScript-heavy sites and single-page applications struggle most. The Web Almanac 2025 reported that pages using frameworks like React have median INP 30% higher than server-rendered pages.
CLS Thresholds
| Category | Threshold |
|---|---|
| Good | 0.1 or less |
| Needs Improvement | 0.1 to 0.25 |
| Poor | Over 0.25 |
CLS is a unitless score calculated from layout shift impact times distance fraction. A CLS of 0.1 means that 10% of the viewport shifted by the equivalent of one full viewport width across all unexpected shifts. CLS is the most commonly passed metric. Over 85% of mobile origins pass CLS as of 2026.
How Thresholds Are Applied
Google evaluates thresholds at the page level, not the site level. Each URL in CrUX gets its own rating. The page experience ranking signal applies per page. A site can have some pages passing and others failing.
The thresholds are evaluated monthly based on the most recent CrUX dataset. If your page improves above a threshold, the change reflects in rankings within one CrUX update cycle. This is typically 28 days.
What the Thresholds Mean for SEO
Passing all three Good thresholds unlocks the page experience ranking boost. Failing any single metric loses that boost. The impact is strongest for pages with similar content and backlink profiles. CWV scores differentiate pages where other ranking factors are equal.
Data from a 2025 study of 50,000 ecommerce pages showed that pages with all three metrics in the Good range had a 7% higher organic click-through rate on average compared to pages with at least one metric in Needs Improvement.
Audit Against Thresholds
Check your top 20 pages in PageSpeed Insights. Verify that LCP is under 2.5 seconds on mobile. Confirm INP is under 200 milliseconds. Ensure CLS is 0.1 or less. For any metric in Needs Improvement or Poor, create an optimization plan with specific targets.
Note the gap between passing individual metrics and passing all three together. Many sites pass two metrics but fail the third. INP is the most common failing metric for JavaScript-heavy sites. Audit quarterly.
References
- web.dev/vitals (https://web.dev/vitals)
- web.dev/inp (https://web.dev/inp)
- CrUX Thresholds Guide (https://developer.chrome.com/docs/crux/overview#metrics)
- HTTP Archive CWV Report (https://httparchive.org/reports/chrome-user-experience)
Related Articles
Discover more insights about web development and digital marketing
