A Simple Guide to Google Core Web Vitals

Have you ever wondered how Google decides what to prioritize when it comes to websites? When you consider it undergoes 600 algorithm changes a year, it’s impossible to comprehend the intricacies.

The team at Google breaks down one of their many ranking signals into what they call Core Web Vitals. We’re going to keep things simple and focus on the three important web vitals, strap in and let’s begin with our guide to Google Core Web Vitals.

What Are Google Core Web Vitals?

Google is inclined to make it easy to understand your website’s performance. This is so websites world over have incentive to utilize their search engine.

Core Web Vitals is a free tool developed by Google that comes as part of their Pagespeed Insights toolset. It allows you to analyze your website’s code, hunt for issues, and optimize your site.

The data provided in the Core Web Vitals is considered the most important criteria for showing Google that your webpage is user-friendly, well-optimized, and thus worthy of showing up in search engine results.

There are three core web vitals as of July 2021. These are Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), First Input Delay (FID), and Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS). Each has three levels of quality, “Good”, “Needs Improvement” and “Poor”. Let’s take a look at what each of these means and how you can improve your website to make sure your website runs like a dream.

Largest Contentful Paint (LCP)

The first core web vitals is LCP or largest Contentful Paint. This measures how long it takes to load your content and the performance of that loading process. Google classifies an LCP of 2.5 seconds or less is “Good”, whereas sites that have an LCP over 4 seconds are classified as “Poor”.

First Input Delay (FID)

The First Input Delay is self-explanatory. It measures the amount of time between when the page is loaded and when a user can start interacting with that page. One of the reasons for this metric is that the longer it takes for users to be able to interact with a page, the less likely they are to stay on the page.

Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS)

CLS measures the shifting of a page layout while the page is rendering. The more time it takes to render the page and the more movement, the higher the CLS. A lower score is better for CLS, as it shows considerations have been made to provide a good user experience while the page is loading, meaning a more visually stable page.

The Importance of Core Web Vitals in Ranking

The common theme amongst all three of these is speed. Notice how with all three Core Web Vitals, a faster load time equates to a better score. Research shows that for every second extra load time, the average page loses 5% of its visitors. It’s easy to see why Google prioritizes these three vitals so much!

Of course, it does not necessarily mean that your page layout is wrong if you’re not hitting these. You might have a website where 90% of your users are on a desktop, and there’s a little sacrifice involved for optimal engagement when visitors are on your website.

But if you’re trying to rank in Google search, you may need to re-evaluate your experience in the interest of driving traffic to your site. Consider hiring professionals who can look at getting the most out of your website’s performance and save you a ton of time and money.

Don’t Ignore Google Core Web Vitals

Your page speed is an important ranking factor. It’s important to consider how the page will present itself in different situations. If it doesn’t load quickly, the users will likely leave your site before they get a chance to engage.

That means fewer clicks on your products and lost opportunities where you’ll lose out on revenue just because of slow loading times.

Do you need help with your Google Core Web Vitals? Schedule a consultation with us today and see how we can help you improve them!