With the introduction of Core Web Vitals, Google wants to further emphasize what Search is all about: user experience. It has therefore been announced several times that Core Web Vitals will become an official ranking factor. This means that it will count for the findability of websites (SEO).
If your website is an important channel for your company, then you can no longer ignore Core Web Vitals. Then why is it so important? And what is it actually?
In this blog article you can read more about this and show you how you can quickly improve your Core Web Vitals elements. We'll try not to throw around too many technical terms ;)
What are the Core Web Vitals?
So the Core Web Vitals are all about user experience. This is measured based on three factors of a web page:
- Page speed; how fast does the web page load?
- Interactivity; how quickly is interaction possible on the web page?
- Visual stability; how stable is the web page while loading?
The three parts above have been given technical names by Google, namely:
- Largest Contentful Paint (LCP)
- First Input Delay (FID)
- Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS)
The above-mentioned components fall under Google's well-known Pagespeed Insights. This also includes things such as using HTTPS, mobile friendliness of the web page, etc.
If your website scores well on Pagespeed Insights, Google says visitors to your website will have a good user experience.
Largest Contentful Paint; maximum 2.5 seconds
Largest Contentful Paint measures the largest content visible above the fold. This can differ per web page and on one web page it may be an image and on another it may be a video or a title heading.
The longer it takes for the Largest Contentful Paint to load, the lower your score. Currently, a measurement of max 2.5 seconds would give you a good score for your Largest Contentful Paint.
A poor score for Largest Contentful Paint could be due to a slow server, render-blocking JavaScript and CSS, external resources that load slowly, or client-side rendering. Fortunately, Google also has an extensive manual Largest Contentful Paint to improve.
First Input Delay; within 100 milliseconds
First Input Delay measures the time between a visitor's interaction and the moment the browser starts to load. This could, for example, be a click by the visitor on a button or link.
It often happens that when you click on a button, not much actually happens in the foreground. JavaScript files may be loading in the background, but because nothing happens, you click again, and click again, until you get frustrated. And then you discover that you have added a product to the shopping cart six times. To prevent this, First Input Delay is Google's lifesaver.
According to Google, to ensure a good user experience, the First Input Delay should not last longer than 100 milliseconds. A low score on First Input Delay is caused by too much JavaScript. Fortunately, Google also has an extensive manual Improve First Input Delay.
Cumulative Layout Shift; maximum 0.1 seconds
Cumulative Layout Shirt more the visual stability of the web page. Simply put, it refers to the unexpected shifts on the web page. A shift on a web page is often an element on the web page that changes position. This can of course also cause great frustration for visitors to your website.
A good score for Cumulative Layout Shift is less than 0.1 second. The greater the shift/jump on the web page, the more impact it has on the CLS score. Once again, fortunately, Google has provided an extensive manual Improve Cumulative Layout Shift.
Core Web Vitals & your Google positions
It has been known for some time that Core Web Vitals will become an official ranking factor. The Core Web Vitals update is being rolled out 'as we speak' and more and more SEO specialists are noticing shifts in the Google search results. Among SEO specialists, the Core Web Vitals are the most important trend in 2021 when it comes to SEO. This is mainly because Google has also announced well in advance for the first time that entrepreneurs must prepare for the major ranking factor of 2021.
How do you get a visual indicator in Google? Now that the first visual indicators have been spotted, we know that you can obtain a Core Web Vitals indicator by:
- get regular visitors to your website.
- all Core Web Vitals metrics (LCP, FID, CLS) must score green for 28 days.
Quick tips for a green score
- Get rid of your slider
- Reduce JavaScript activities
- Implement lazy loading
- Optimize and compress images
- Speed up your server response time
Core Web Vitals tools
Here you will find useful tools to take a closer look at your website and work on improvements. On to a green score!
- Core Web Vitals Chrome extension
- Google Search Console
- Pagespeed Insights
- Lighthouse Chrome extension
- Web.dev
Are you ready for Google's Core Web Vitals?
Do you want to prepare an existing or new website for Google's new ranking factor? We are happy to help you achieve a green score (also check our score!). Do you want to know how or do you have other questions? Please contact us without obligation and we will look at the options with you.
