Search engines, such as Google and Bing, constantly modify their algorithm to rank websites in SERPs. Time and time again, Google has emphasised on the importance of user experience and why website owners should commit to the same. This is where Core Web Vitals come to play. This new ranking factor introduced by Google is all about optimising user experience on the web. The SEO Sydney experts explain everything you need to know:
Core Web Vitals – An Overview:
Core Web Vitals refer to the standards of user experience any website should try and achieve, so that they can rank better than the competition. According to Google, user experience of a website relies on three aspects: Loading, Visual Stability, and Interactivity. To ensure your website excels in these three areas, you should pay attention to Core Web Vitals.
Core Web Vitals – The 3 Metrics:
The three Core Web Vitals that Google uses as ranking signals are as follows:
- Largest Contentful Paint
- First Input Delay
- Cumulative Layout Shift
Each of these metrics are explained as follows.
1.Largest Contentful Paint:
Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) is simply the time taken for the content of a webpage to fully load and be ready for use. This includes all kinds of content including text, images, videos, paragraph text, background images and more in a webpage. Note that only those content visible to a user will be measured. Anything beyond the screen will not be considered for LCP.
According to a SEO company near me, measuring LCP helps you to determine how fast a website is. Here’s how you can score a webpage according to Google:
- A webpage loads 75% of its content in less than 2.5 seconds – Good
- A webpage loads its content between 2.5 and 4 seconds – Needs Improvement
- A webpage takes more than 4 seconds to load the content – Poor
Be sure to optimise your webpage and make sure your LCP stays ‘Good’ for better ranking.
2.First Input Delay:
First Input Delay (FID) pertains to page interactivity. FID is the amount of time taken by a website to be interactive for users. To be precise, the time taken between a user entering a website and making their first interaction with it determines the FID score. This interaction could be clicking a button or link on a webpage, using dropdowns, typing in text input boxes, and the like. Note than zooming or scrolling a webpage won’t be counted for FID. Google’s scoring guidelines for FID are as follows:
- Time taken for interactivity is less than 100 milliseconds – Good
- Time taken for interactivity is between 100 milliseconds and 300 milliseconds – Needs Improvement
- Time taken for interactivity is more than 300 milliseconds – Poor
Optimise your website with the help of the SEO experts near me and make sure your FID stays ‘Good’ for better ranking.
3.Cumulative Layout Shift:
Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) looks into the stability of your webpage. CLS score is determined after measuring the page layout shifts, if any, that occur while the page is loading. Images, videos, fonts, buttons, and contact forms are some of the visual elements that could unexpectedly shift. Minimising shifting of page elements is imperative to ensure a good user experience. Here’s how to do the CLS score as per Google:
CLS score will fall anywhere between 0 and 1, with 0 being ‘No Shifting’ and 1 being ‘Most Shifting’.
- If the measure is less than 0.1- Good
- If the measure is between 0.1 and 0.25 – Needs Improvement
- If the measure is over 0.25 – Poor
Rectify any coding errors and try to bring the score to 0.1 or less. Less shifting on your webpage will encourage visitors to stay a little longer and develop trust with your brand. Over time, you will also notice a good improvement in your rank.
How are Core Web Vitals Measured?
Now that you know the three Core Web Vitals, you might be wondering how each of them are measured. There are a number of tools that SEO experts utilise to analyse and determine the individual score. Here are some of such tools listed:
- Google PageSpeed Insights
- Web Vitals Extension
- Chrome UX Report
- Google Search Console
It does take time for you to learn and experiment with these tools, so that you could accurately measure the Core Web Vitals. Instead, you shall hire an expert digital marketing agency that already knows the ins and outs of the aforementioned tools. Additionally, they will also apply the right solutions to improve the page loading, visual stability, and interactivity of your website.
Is Core Web Vitals Just a Tie Breaker?
Several individuals speculated the effectiveness of Core Web Vitals as a ranking factor. Reddit users assumed that it isn’t relevant when it comes to ranking. A reddit post described that Core Web Vitals is just a ‘tie breaker’. Meaning, when two high quality content are compared, the one with better core web vitals will rank better.
However, Google’s John Mueller explained that core web vitals shouldn’t be underestimated and is more than a tie breaker. He mentioned that user experience and page speed should be prioritised for monetising a website. Additionally, Mueller pointed out that good page speed improves ad impressions, since more people are likely to stay when the user experience is great.
Discuss with the SEO Sydney experts to analyse your website’s core web vitals and gain better ranks in no time!
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