Core Web Vitals targets
Every page should hit these thresholds:
- LCP (Largest Contentful Paint): Under 2.5 seconds
- INP (Interaction to Next Paint): Under 200 milliseconds
- CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift): Under 0.1
Image optimization
- Serve WebP or AVIF format with fallbacks
- Use responsive images with srcset and sizes attributes
- Lazy-load images below the fold
- Set explicit width and height to prevent layout shift
- Use CDN delivery for global reach
Schema markup requirements
Every business website needs:
- Organization schema on the homepage
- LocalBusiness schema with address, phone, and hours
- Service schema on each service page
- FAQPage schema on FAQ sections
- Article or BlogPosting schema on blog posts
- BreadcrumbList for navigation paths
Crawl optimization
- XML sitemap with lastmod dates, submitted to Google Search Console
- Robots.txt that allows crawling of important pages
- Canonical tags on every page to prevent duplicate content
- Internal linking structure that distributes authority to key pages
- 301 redirects for all changed URLs
Page speed essentials
- Minify and bundle JavaScript and CSS
- Enable gzip or Brotli compression
- Use HTTP/2 or HTTP/3 for multiplexed connections
- Preload critical fonts and above-the-fold images
- Defer non-critical JavaScript with async or defer attributes
Mobile optimization
- Viewport meta tag on every page
- Touch targets at least 48px by 48px
- No horizontal scrolling on any screen size
- Font sizes minimum 16px for body text
- Click-to-call links for phone numbers
Security headers
- Strict-Transport-Security (HSTS)
- Content-Security-Policy
- X-Frame-Options
- X-Content-Type-Options
- Referrer-Policy
These improve both security and search rankings. Google rewards sites that implement proper security headers.
AEO optimization
For AI-powered search (ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity):
- Write concise, factual answer paragraphs at the top of key pages
- Use question-and-answer format in FAQ sections
- Include specific numbers, statistics, and credentials
- Maintain consistent entity information across all pages