What is Core Web Vitals Assessment Failed on Pagespeed

Pagespeed marks your site with “Core web vitals assessment failed” when you fail to hit the “Good” threshold for any current metrics, LCP, CLS, or FID(INP in the future).

The metrics data come from Chrome browser users and are based on a 28-day collection period window.

There’s confusion around this information, as many websites have a good Lighthouse speed performance but still get the assessment failed label. The simple answer to this is that one is field data, which is data from real users. Pagespeed runs on test devices, known as lab data.

Google may be working on clearer guidance on this matter, to diminish confusion.

cwv confusing — User confusion around Core Web Vitals assessment

To get passing metrics you need to solve the underlying issues marked in the report. Only fixing Lighthouse issues and attempting a 100 score won’t make the Core Web Vitals pass, you should focus on the field data to solve it.

Table of Contents

What happens if you fail Core Web Vitals?

How to pass the Core Web Vitals Assessment

What happens if you fail Core Web Vitals?

There’s no mention of penalizing failing metrics on Google websites. Google says regarding the Page Experience(Core Web Vitals plus 4 other signals) algorithm:

“Good status will be used as a ranking signal for a URL in Google Search results on desktop or mobile devices.”

and:

“Google Search always seeks to show the most relevant content, even if the page experience is sub-par. But for many queries, there is lots of helpful content available. Having a great page experience can contribute to success in Search, in such cases.”