Core Web Vitals have evolved from a Google checkbox into something much bigger — a visibility signal for AI engines and a proven driver of conversions. Sites that load fast, render cleanly, and pass the required metrics are statistically more likely to be included in AI answers.
The Triple Impact: Conversions + SEO + AI Visibility
Core Web Vitals aren't just a technical metric, they're a business multiplier that impacts three critical areas of digital performance. Here's what the data tells us:
1. Direct Revenue Impact: Faster Sites Make More Money
We all know that time is money, and here’s the proof. Walmart has seen that every second their site loads faster, they see a 2% increase in conversions. Couple that with a 1% revenue increase per 100 ms improvement and you’ve got rock-solid monetary reasons to speed up your site.
According to a Portent study, sites that load in one second convert 200% better than sites that load in five seconds, and 400% better than sites with a 10-second load time. The numbers are clear — load the site faster, and make more conversions.
In an even more clear example of just how much even the smallest sliver of time can change behaviors, Google/Deloittes’s “Milliseconds Make Millions” study showed that an almost imperceptible 0.8-second improvement drives 8.4% higher retail conversions and 9.2% higher average order value. The title is correct, milliseconds absolutely make millions.
Proof From Real Companies
- Ray-Ban improved their largest contentful paint (LCP), a critical component of Core Web Vitals, and saw their conversion rate double, coupled with a 13% lower exit rate.
- redBus improved their interaction to next paint (INP) by an average of 250 ms, leading to a 7% increase in sales.
- A three-second improvement in first contentful paint (FCP) resulted in 30% higher conversions and a 25% lower bounce rate for Snapdeal.
The results are clear: Make your site faster, and make more money.
2. User Abandonment: The Hidden Cost
Waiting around for a cart to load, or a product to successfully be removed or added, isn’t a pleasure for people visiting your site. In fact, Raygun has shown that when sites meet Core Web Vitals thresholds, there is a 24% decrease in abandonment for shopping sites, and a 22% decrease for news sites.
According to research from CommerceShop, for sites loading in two seconds or less, there is a 91% user retention rate. Additionally, when load time goes from one second to six, there’s a sharp 106% increase in bounce rate. Critically, when simply judging by “fast” or “slow,” the fast mobile sites generate 327% more revenue than the slow sites.
You can’t make a sale or book a meeting if someone leaves before they have the opportunity to interact with your site.
3. AI Search Visibility: The New Frontier
Dan Taylor (no relation) at SALT.agency has done an incredible analysis on this topic, and has provided some of the most compelling research to date into the value of Core Web Vitals on being mentioned in AI answers.
Performance improvements do more than enhance user experience. They directly increase the probability of being cited or surfaced by AI systems.
Having analyzed 2,138 websites, they make a compelling argument that large language models (LLMs), such as Gemini, ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity, are actively using Core Web Vitals signals as a ranking factor of sorts:
- Sites with a cumulative layout shift (CLS) ≤ 0.1 are included 29.8% more often in AI summaries than sites with poor CLS.
- Sites with an LCP ≤ 2.5s are almost 50% more likely to appear in AI results.
- When time to first byte (TTFB) < 200 ms, there was a 22% increase in citation density.
- 18% of pages larger than one megabyte were abandoned by AI crawlers.
The conclusion here is simple: Pages passing Core Web Vitals are more likely to be crawled, cited, and included in AI-powered answers, regardless of the platform.
Why Green Core Web Vitals Are Not Negotiable
While not all sites will see exactly the same results, the data from the examples cited here certainly indicate that Core Web Vitals are a factor in success. Based on the data, here’s a sampling of what fixing the fundamentals of your site can provide:
What Good Core Web Vitals Give You | What Poor Core Web Vitals Cost You |
Higher Conversion Rates: 3–5x better than slow sites | Lost conversions every single day |
More Revenue per Visitor: Up to 9.2% higher average order value | Higher bounce rates |
Lower Abandonment: 24% less page abandonment | Invisible to AI search engines |
AI Visibility: 30–47% higher inclusion in AI search results | Frustrated customers who go to competitors |
Customer Retention: 91% retention vs. massive bounce rates | Wasted ad spend (e.g., poor landing page experience) |
As the leading web performance company, we’ve been saying it for years — Core Web Vitals are extremely important.
If you take only one thing away from this article, let it be this: Core Web Vitals impact your search engine rankings, your visibility in AI-generated answers, and your bottom line. Ignore them at your own peril.
