Is your business website not performing well?
Shifting your focus to improving the Core Web Vitals could be the answer!
Core Web Vitals represent essential metrics that essentially measure user experience on your site. The main factors that influence performance include:
- Load speed
- Responsiveness
- Visual stability
Data shows that fixing Core Web Vitals can boost mobile conversion rates by 80 to 100% while greatly improving your website’s search rankings.
This article focuses on what Core Web Vitals are, why they matter for SEO, and how you can improve them to boost your website’s performance.
What Are Core Web Vitals?
In the most basic terms, Core Web Vitals are a set of performance metrics that are designed to evaluate the essential aspects of user experience on your website. They focus on three main areas of your site.
Loading Performance
This describes how quickly your site’s content loads and is a very important part of the site performance assessment. A faster site means improved user experience, improving the overall impression of your site for both Google and its users.
PageSpeed Insights is a quick and easy way to assess page speed on mobile and desktop
Interactivity
This measures how responsive your site is to user actions. This includes buttons, links, and navigability of your site. An interactive site is important for ensuring your users have a progressive journey, ultimately leading to a conversion.
Image from web.dev visualising a webpage loading timeline, illustrating the amount of time until a page is interactive (TTI)
Visual stability
This is a metric of how much your sites layout shifts during loading. Often caused by improperly sized elements , usually images, this can cause a large amount of unnecessary loading (time) and risks your site layout appearing less than optimised once the page is displayed – this impacts user experience and can lead to ‘messy’ page loading.
Metrics are tracked over 28 days and provide a realistic view of how users interact with your site.
Why Are Core Web Vitals Important?
Google has always prioritised user experience, and Core Web Vitals are a big part of that equation.
Did you know? Good scores can lead to better search engine rankings. This means more visibility and traffic to your website, just by improving some basic elements of your site. Here’s why Google loves Core Web Vitals.
User satisfaction
If users encounter slow-loading pages or disruptive shifts in content, they are likely to leave, increasing your bounce rate.
According to a Google study, 53% of mobile site visitors will leave a page that takes longer than three seconds to load.
Search rankings
Although Core Web Vitals scores don’t directly impact search rankings, they influence the user experience.
And guess what?
This is a critical ranking factor. Google announced that page experience signals, including Core Web Vitals, would affect rankings in its algorithm.
Business goals
A better user experience often leads to higher conversion rates. Users are more likely to engage with a site that performs well. For example, studies suggest that improving page load speed can lead to a 7% increase in conversions for every second of improvement.
Do Core Web Vitals Directly Influence Rankings?
Core Web Vitals are a significant factor in SEO, but they don’t directly determine your rankings.
Instead, they work alongside other factors to enhance the overall page experience – all of which are part of Google’s algorithm. So, while improving metrics like Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), First Input Delay (FID), and Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) can boost your site’s usability, it’s just one aspect of Google’s broader ranking signals.
A good Core Web Vitals score improves user satisfaction which often results in better engagement and lower bounce rates. These are indirect signals that search engines may interpret as positive, potentially boosting your rankings.
However, other factors like content quality, relevance, and backlinks still play a major role in SEO performance.
In short, Core Web Vitals are essential for a smooth user experience and while they may not directly impact rankings, their influence on user behaviour can lead to better SEO results over time.
Key Metrics of Core Web Vitals
Let’s take a look at the important metrics included within Core Web Vitals.
Image from web.dev showing Largest Contentful Paint grading
Largest Contentful Paint (LCP)
It calculates loading performance. It tracks how long it takes for the biggest visible component (like a block of text or an image) to load on your webpage. Ideally, LCP should occur within 2.5 seconds. Here’s how to interpret the scores.
- Good – Less than 2.5 seconds
- Needs improvement – Between 2.5 and 4 seconds
- Poor – More than 4 seconds
Image from web.dev showing First Input Delay grading
First Input Delay (FID)
FID records the time it takes for the browser to respond after a user interacts with the page like clicking a button. A satisfactory FID score is mostly less than 100 milliseconds.
- Good – Less than 100 milliseconds
- Needs improvement – Between 100 and 300 milliseconds
- Poor – More than 300 milliseconds
Image from web.dev showing Cumulative Layout Shift grading
Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS)
CLS assesses visual stability. It tracks how considerably the layout transitions during loading – which can be frustrating for users. A good CLS score should be less than 0.1. Here’s how to evaluate it.
- Good – Less than 0.1
- Needs improvement – Between 0.1 and 0.25
- Poor – More than 0.25
Image from web.dev showing First Contentful Paint grading
First Contentful Paint (FCP)
It calculates loading performance by tracking the duration it takes for the first text or image to appear on the page. Generally, FCP should happen within 1.8 seconds.
- Good – Less than 1.8 seconds
- Needs improvement – Between 1.8 and 3 seconds
- Poor – More than 3 seconds
Image from web.dev showing Time to First Byte grading
Time to First Byte (TTFB)
TTFB estimates the responsiveness of a web server. It records the duration it takes for the browser to acquire the first byte of data from the server after a request is made. A good TTFB score should be less than 200 milliseconds.
- Good – Less than 200 milliseconds
- Needs improvement – Between 200 and 500 milliseconds
- Poor – More than 500 milliseconds
Image from web.dev showing Interaction to Next Paint grading
Interaction to Next Paint (INP)
Interaction to Next Paint (INP) is a newer metric. It measures the overall responsiveness of a webpage, particularly how it responds to every user interaction, not just the first one. Unlike FID, which measures the delay in the first input, INP covers the entire lifecycle of the user’s interactions.
- Good – Less than 200 milliseconds
- Needs improvement – Between 200 and 500 milliseconds
- Poor – More than 500 milliseconds
How to Analyse Your Core Web Vitals?
To analyse your Core Web Vitals you can use tools like Google Search Console and PageSpeed Insights.
Google Search Console
This tool offers a dedicated section for Core Web Vitals. It provides an overview of – how your pages perform based on real-world user data.
PageSpeed Insights
This tool gives detailed insights into your site’s performance and provides recommendations for improvement.
Lighthouse
Lighthouse is integrated into Chrome DevTools. It runs a series of audits on your site, including performance and accessibility audits. This helps you identify areas for improvement.
Web Vitals Chrome Extension
Web Vitals Chrome Extension provides real-time feedback on your Core Web Vitals scores as you navigate your website.
By regularly monitoring these metrics you can identify areas that need attention and track your improvements over time.
How to Improve Your Core Web Vitals?
Improving your Core Web Vitals may seem technical but breaking it down into manageable steps can simplify the process. Here are some ways to fix them.
How to Improve LCP?
To improve your LCP, focus on optimising the loading time of the largest visible content. Just follow these tips.
Optimise images
Use modern image formats like .WebP and compress images to reduce their size without losing quality. This can speed up loading times.
Consider using responsive images (with the srcset attribute) to serve appropriately sized images based on user devices.
Reduce server response time
A slow server response can increase LCP. Consider using a reliable hosting provider and optimise your server settings.
Did you know? Implementing server-side caching can also help reduce response times.
Implement lazy loading
Lazy loading defers the loading of images and videos until they are needed which helps improve initial load times. You can use the loading=”lazy” attribute in your image tags to enable this feature.
Minimise Critical CSS
Prioritise loading the CSS necessary for above-the-fold content. This helps the browser render content faster. Tools like Critical can help extract and inline critical CSS for faster rendering.
Use a Content Delivery Network (CDN)
A CDN stores copies of your content on servers located closer to users. This helps in reducing latency and improving loading times.
How to Reduce FID?
To fix FID you need to make sure your site is interactive as quickly as possible. Following these strategies can help.
Minimise JavaScript execution time
Break up long-running scripts into smaller tasks. This prevents the browser from being blocked when a user interacts with the page. You can use the “async” and defer attributes for script tags to improve loading behaviour.
Use Web Workers
Web Workers run JavaScript in the background, freeing the main thread to respond to user interactions more quickly. This can improve FID by handling heavy computations without blocking the user interface.
Optimise event handlers
Make sure your event handlers are efficient by avoid long calculations or operations in response to user actions. Use “requestAnimationFrame” to schedule updates that won’t block user interactions.
Reduce third-party scripts
Limit the number of third-party scripts on your site as these can significantly impact interactivity. Load non-essential scripts asynchronously to reduce their impact on FID.
How to Minimise CLS?
To boost visual stability and reduce CLS focus on preventing layout shifts. Here are practical ways to do this.
Specify the size for images & videos
Always include width and height attributes for images and videos in your HTML. This helps the browser allocate space before the content loads, preventing shifts after loading.
Avoid inserting content above existing content
If you need to add new content do it below existing content rather than pushing it down. This includes ads, comments, and other dynamic content.
Use a Content Delivery Network (CDN)
A CDN can serve your static assets quickly improving loading times and stability. So, make sure that assets are cached correctly to prevent layout shifts when they load.
Implement font-loading strategies
Use font-display swap to avoid delays in rendering text when custom fonts are loading.
Do you know? This prevents invisible text during font loading and maintains layout stability.
Preload key resources
Preloading important resources – such as fonts or critical CSS – can improve loading speed and reduce layout shifts. Use the “” tag for this purpose.
Reserve space for ads
For sites with ads, make sure there is space reserved in the layout for ad placements so they don’t shift content around when loading or refreshing.
How to Optimise FCP?
To improve FCP you need to guarantee that your site’s initial rendering is as fast as possible. Follow these techniques.
Minimise render-blocking resources
Make sure that CSS and JavaScript files that block rendering are minimised. Use asynchronous loading for JavaScript whenever possible.
Preload important resources
Use <link rel=”preload”> for key resources that will be needed for initial rendering.
Optimise server response
A fast server response time can boost FCP. So, optimise server settings and consider a faster hosting provider if necessary.
Use efficient caching
Implement browser caching to store previously loaded resources locally. This allows for faster retrieval and rendering of content on subsequent visits.
Addressing Additional Metrics
In addition to LCP, FID, and CLS, consider improving TBT, TTFB, INP, and Speed Index. Here are some techniques that can help with site performance.
Optimise server performance
Upgrading to a faster hosting solution can improve TTFB and reduce overall loading times. So, consider using managed hosting services that specialise in performance.
Reduce redirects
Each redirect adds latency so it is important minimise them wherever possible. Make sure URLs are direct and eliminate unnecessary hops.
Monitor and optimise third-party scripts
Regularly review the performance of third-party scripts. Remove any that are unnecessary or replace them with more efficient alternatives.
Optimise JavaScript handling
As with FID, JavaScript is often the cause of poor interaction times. So, focus on reducing script sizes, splitting code – and prioritising essential JavaScript during the initial page load.
Utilise idle time
Take advantage of idle time to load non-critical resources or process data. Using “requestIdleCallback” helps guarantee background tasks run when they don’t interfere with user interactions.
Reduce long tasks
Break long tasks into smaller, manageable chunks. This reduces blocking time and – keeps the page responsive throughout the user session, improving INP.
Final Thoughts
And that’s how you improve Core Web Vitals.
By focusing on the key metrics you can create a faster, more responsive, and visually stable site. And, remember to regularly monitor the metrics and make adjustments as needed.
This ongoing process will lead to better engagement and conversion rates, helping your website to thrive online.
If you are interested in discussing more about Core Web Vitals, SEO, or site optimisation, get in touch with one of the Sandbox Media team.
