What are Core Web Vitals, and How Do They Affect SEO?

When it comes to SEO, many companies focus more on attracting people to their websites using SEO keywords over providing an excellent on-page experience when customers get there.

However, by doing so they're missing several pieces of the SEO puzzle. In recent years, Google has placed a much stronger emphasis on on-page user experience. Page speed and site security are part of that experience too. In 2021, Google began giving additional weight to page experience with the rollout of Core Web Vitals

Google has since confirmed that Core Web Vitals are used by its ranking systems, so they're a lasting part of how search works rather than a passing trend.

Google measures each of the three metrics at the 75th percentile of real page loads, so a page passes when each metric, on its own, is "good" for at least three out of four visits. That's how seriously it takes the experience your visitors actually get. Let's have a look at each of these elements to see why they should matter to you.

What are the Core Web Vitals? 

Core Web Vitals focus on the on-page user experience by focusing on page load speed, elements of interactivity, and visual stability. They also provide valuable information about your website's overall performance so you can identify areas of improvement. Google breaks these elements into three different scores, as follows:

• Largest Contentful Paint (LCP): LCP refers to how fast your website takes to load elements at the top of the page (also known as "above the fold") that are visible without the user having to scroll. Content consisting of large media, such as hero images or video, can impact the loading experience, potentially leaving your user staring at a blank spot for several seconds.
  Generally speaking, Google expects your website load time to be within 2.5 seconds. Your LCP is the moment the largest visible element finishes rendering. A slow LCP won't trigger a penalty, but it can cost you ground against competitors with similar content. A fast LCP puts your website in a much better position. 

• Interaction to Next Paint (INP): INP measures your website's responsiveness across all user interactions on a page, not just the first one. For example, when someone fills out a form on your website and clicks the submit button, how long does your website take to visually respond? 
  INP tracks the delay between the interaction and the next visual update on screen. This is a measurement of user frustration: how long did they have to wait for feedback after clicking, tapping, or typing. 
  
• Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS): This measures the frequency of unexpected layout shift changes and your web page's overall visual stability. An example of this is when a user intends to press a button, but then the layout jumps, and they wind up pressing something else. Now they have to go back and try again. A shifting page layout provides a less than optimal user experience, which Google will notice and give you a high CLS score (the goal is to be as close to zero as possible).

Each metric is rated Good, Needs Improvement or Poor. PageSpeed Insights also shows a separate performance score out of 100, but that's a lab score, not your Core Web Vitals result.

Why is Google adding Core Web Vitals to its search metrics?

You already have a lot to think about when optimizing your website for SEO, especially if you're running an e-store. So why would Google add three more elements to consider on top of everything else?

With so many more businesses launching e-commerce platforms, Google wants to ensure that online shoppers get the best user experience possible. The three metrics represent what frustrates users and negatively impacts their experience.

Google has long considered the user when ranking websites. Relevant, helpful content has always been at the centre of how Google ranks pages. Core Web Vitals are simply additional ways for businesses to ensure their shoppers are satisfied while using and interacting with their websites.

What are the impacts of poor Core Web Vitals?

In a nutshell, Core Web Vitals' most significant impact will be on search rankings for both mobile and desktop websites. 

Top Stories, the news carousel at the top of many results pages, no longer requires AMP. Any page that meets Google News content policies is eligible, but page experience can affect where you appear in it.

There could also be an indirect impact on your content marketing and e-commerce sales. As companies move to optimize their Core Web Vitals, fast loading pages, responsive interactivity, and stable pages will increasingly become the norm. This will raise customer expectations to the point where not looking after your vitals will result in higher bounce rates, abandoned shopping carts, and lost sales. 

That's why it's worth checking your scores now rather than waiting for a traffic drop.

Prepare your Core Web Vitals for success

By now, you must be curious about how your current site stands up under Core Web Vitals. You can analyze your mobile devices and desktop Core Web Vitals performance metrics by running a test with Google Pagespeed Insights. Once you have your PageSpeed Insights, visit this page to see each metric's threshold. If your scores fall within the orange or red categories, here's how you can make changes for improvement:

• LCP: Since LCP measures loading performance, improving LCP is mostly about loading your biggest top-of-page element faster. Compress and properly size hero images, never lazy-load that main image, cut render-blocking scripts and styles, and speed up your server response. 

• INP: Improving the interactivity of your website is as easy as following these four steps:
  1. Reduce the number of processes taking place simultaneously
  2. Remove unnecessary code that might be attached to the primary interactive process (e.g., a form being submitted)
  3. Simplify the complexity of your style and layouts and minimize field usage to cut processing time
  4. Ensure that large files aren't being transferred during the process.

• CLS: Getting a better CLS score requires taking note of the image size attributes and video elements of the media you're using. Be sure to allow for the right amount of space for a piece of content before it loads to prevent sudden layout changes during the loading experience. Also, animate with CSS transforms rather than properties like height, width or top, since transforms don't trigger layout shifts.

How CSP Marketing Solutions can help optimize your Core Web Vitals

Fixing your Core Web Vitals sounds easy in theory. However, it can pose challenges in practice if tech isn't your specialty. In this case, seek out help from a highly experienced web development team who will optimize your website quickly and efficiently for better SEO performance and to build faster, better-optimized sites. Our website design services cover Core Web Vitals optimization as part of every project.

Our web developers specialize in designing, creating, and optimizing sites and e-commerce stores for success. We'll take the mystery out of Core Web Vitals, explain what needs to be done, and present you with a detailed quote before we get to work. Contact us today. We're always happy to chat about how we can help.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a good Core Web Vitals score?

Google uses three threshold levels: Good, Needs Improvement, and Poor. For Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), a Good score is under 2.5 seconds. For Interaction to Next Paint (INP), Good is under 200ms. For Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS), Good is a score below 0.1. Aim to pass all three at the 75th percentile of your page loads.

How do I check my Core Web Vitals?

Google PageSpeed Insights shows your Core Web Vitals scores for both mobile and desktop. Google Search Console also has a dedicated Core Web Vitals report that shows which pages on your site are passing or failing. These tools are free and give you specific recommendations on what to fix.

Will fixing Core Web Vitals improve my search rankings?

Core Web Vitals are a confirmed ranking signal in Google's algorithm. Improving them can help your rankings, particularly if your scores are currently in the Poor range and your competitors score better. That said, Core Web Vitals are one of many factors. Strong content and backlinks still matter more overall, but poor vitals can hold an otherwise strong site back.

Curious how your Core Web Vitals look? Request a free audit and we'll check your site's performance scores and show you what's dragging things down.