Core Web Vitals Experts: Hiring Signals and KPIs to Demand

Published On - September 12, 2025

ivan Blogging

Imagine this: your website is loaded with great content, offers stellar service, and… no one sticks around. What’s missing? Speed. Stability. Visual delight. That’s where Core Web Vitals come in. These performance metrics are Google’s way of saying, “Make your users happy by making your site snappy.”

If you’re thinking of hiring a Core Web Vitals expert, you’re on the right track. But how do you know who’s the real deal? What signals should you look for when hiring? And once they’re on board, how do you measure their success?

🎯 What Are Core Web Vitals, Really?

Before hiring someone, let’s do a speed round on the basics. Core Web Vitals are three main things:

  • LCP (Largest Contentful Paint): How quickly the biggest thing on your page loads.
  • FID (First Input Delay): How fast your site reacts when someone clicks something.
  • CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift): How much stuff moves around unexpectedly as the page loads.

Google uses these to decide how happy people are with your site. And yes, they affect your rankings.

🏄 Why You Need a Core Web Vitals Expert

Fixing Core Web Vitals isn’t just about shaving milliseconds off your page speed. It’s about understanding what makes users bounce and how to create a better experience.

You need an expert who does more than tweak code. They should know how to:

  • Work with dev teams
  • Analyze performance data
  • Understand SEO and UX
  • Balance aesthetics with speed
  • Communicate changes in simple terms

🕵️‍♂️ Hiring Signals: What to Look For

Let’s get into the good stuff. What clues indicate someone is a real Core Web Vitals expert?

1. Portfolio of Real Projects

They should be able to show before-and-after results. Loads of green on PageSpeed Insights. Screenshots. Timelines. Details. Ask for real data from past projects.

2. Familiarity With Tools

A true pro knows their way around:

  • Lighthouse
  • WebPageTest
  • Chrome DevTools
  • CrUX (Chrome User Experience Report)
  • Search Console (Core Web Vitals tab!)

3. Comfort With Front-End Technologies

Performance tuning usually means dealing with:

  • JavaScript optimization
  • Lazy loading
  • Image compression
  • Critical CSS
  • Font loading

If they look lost when you say “render-blocking resources,” move on.

4. UX Focus

It’s not just tech. A good Core Web Vitals expert thinks about how users move through a site. They might ask you about user journeys, conversion rates, scroll depth, or visual hierarchy.

5. Strong Communicator

Because explaining CLS to your CMO is tricky. Your expert should speak both nerd and business — and translate between the two.

📏 KPIs That Show They’re Crushing It

Now that you’ve hired someone promising, what does success look like?

Let’s talk about the key performance indicators (KPIs) worth tracking.

1. A Jump in Lighthouse Scores

This one’s fun. Run a Lighthouse report before and after. You want to see improvements in:

  • Performance (especially for mobile)
  • Best Practices

Anything over 90 is excellent. But look at the breakdown—not just the overall score.

2. Improvement in Field Data

Field data = real users. From Search Console or CrUX, monitor things like:

  • Percentage of URLs with ‘Good’ LCP
  • Average FID across devices
  • CLS trends

Field data might take a few weeks to update, so be patient — it’s the real MVP.

3. Faster Load Times

You can use WebPageTest, GTmetrix, or your CDN dashboard. Load time is a big signal that everything else is working.

4. Lower Bounce Rates

If your site’s faster and smoother, fewer people will leave right away. You can check this in Google Analytics by comparing bounce rates over 30, 60, or 90 days.

5. Higher Conversions or Engagement

This is the best KPI. If users are clicking more, buying more, or signing up faster, that’s gold.

🚨 Red Flags to Watch Out For

Now let’s switch gears. Watch for these warning signs when hiring or tracking performance:

  • Obsession with 100/100 Scores: Perfect scores can mean over-optimization. That can hurt UX.
  • Blaming Hosting for Everything: Yes, servers matter. But not every problem is a server issue.
  • No Talk of User Behavior: Performance without context is just numbers.
  • Ignoring Mobile: Most users are on phones. That’s where performance matters most.

If your expert seems blinded by the “tech” and ignores the “experience,” give them a nudge. Or the boot.

🤝 Working With Your Expert

It isn’t a “fix it once and forget it” job. You’ll get the most from a Core Web Vitals expert if you stay involved. Here’s how:

  • Set benchmarks: Define starting metrics.
  • Use a staging environment: Test before you go live.
  • Connect them with your dev team: Collaboration speeds things up.
  • Review changes and explain them broadly: Educate and evangelize internally.

💡 Pro Tip: Ask for Experimentation

Your expert should love running A/B tests. Things like image formats (WebP vs. JPEG), font loads (FOIT vs. FOUT), or JavaScript bundles can all be tested live. That keeps things data-driven, not just gut-driven.

🎉 Wrapping Up: The Win-Win

A great Core Web Vitals expert does more than push pixels or squash milliseconds. They improve your user’s entire journey. That means higher rankings, more satisfied users, and better business outcomes.

With the right hiring signals and a solid grip on the KPIs, you’ll know you’ve got a rockstar on your hands. Trust the data. Track the trends. And always remember: speed thrills!

Now go make that website shine!