Google Core Web Vitals and Why It Should Matter to You

Do you want potential online customers to find you first?

Do you aim for customers to enjoy interacting, engaging, and transacting on your page?

Do you strive to better your SEO implementations?

If ‘YES’ is your answer to any of the questions above, read on and learn about Google’s latest Core Web Vitals update.

What is Google Core Web Vitals?

Improving user page experience has been one of the main focuses for SEOs. From optimising page speed, using relevant keywords, to adjusting layouts and upload sizes across different devices — the main goal for SEOs is to boost online presence organically and reach awareness, engagement, sales, and conversion goals.

With 51% of all website traffic and 40% of revenue coming from organic search, who would not want to implement SEOs better?

Google has just updated its page experience ranking signals for Google Search. There will be a new set of metrics, Google Core Web Vitals, on top of the previous four ranking signals. The addition of Google Core Web Vitals will roll out in May 2021. So far, the existing page experience metrics are mobile-friendliness, safe browsing, HTTPS, and guidelines on intrusive interstitials.

In addition to the existing four-page experience metrics, we have listed the three Core Web Vitals below:

1. Largest Contentful Paint (LCP)

LCP is defined by the amount of time it takes for a page’s primary content to load. In other words, it is how long users have to wait before seeing your page. LCP is largely impacted by the size and quantity of images, videos, and text. The bigger the file size and quantity, the longer the LCP tends to be.

To improve LCP, you may decrease the size or quantity of file uploads and remove unnecessary content or scripts. Try to aim for an LCP of 2.5 seconds or less.

2. First Input Delay (FID)

FID is defined by the amount of time it takes for a page to be ready for user interaction, such as scrolls, clicks, or keyboard input. FID is heavily influenced by Javascripts and third-party scripts at the frontend and/or backend of a website or page.

To better your FID, you may simplify Javascript and other third-party scripts. Another tip is to keep request counts low and transfer sizes small. Lastly, you may improve the server response time. The ideal FID is 100ms or less.

3. Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS)

CLS is the total layout shifts that are not due to user interaction. CLS may be caused by sudden element additions or resizing. To improve CLS, you may set width and height set attributes to images and video elements. Another tip is to reserve space statically for ad slots. Strive to aim for a CLS of 0.1 or less.

Why is it important to meet Google’s performance metric standards?

At the heart of the Google Core Web Vitals update, the underlying goal is to improve user experience. This is so that users find web pages online to be relevant to their search queries and enjoyable to engage in and interact with.

Although just having a good user page experience is not enough, Google still favours pages with better user page experience performance when the content and page relevance are similar between the two pages. For instance, a user types in “How to Fly a Drone” as a search query.

There may be several web pages with relevant content, however, Google will most likely reward pages with better user page experience to climb to the top of rankings. Therefore, it is crucial to pay equal attention to both content relevance and page experience performance as both impact Google Search ranking.

Final Words

To ensure that your pages are in line with the Google Core Web Vitals update, reach out to the SEO specialists and B2B Marketing Agency. As an award-winning digital marketing agency, XXXX delivers results on all aspects of SEO, Facebook Marketing, and Google Search Ads. Reach out to XXXX today to discuss how we can help you optimise for the Google Core Web Vitals update.