Core Web Vitals: In Detail About Google’s Innovation

Google announced the launch of the Core Web Vitals update back in spring 2020. Core Web Vitals includes three sets of metrics that analyze and characterize a web resource’s loading speed, based on user interaction experience with the site. It was expected that these new metrics would be actively used starting from early 2021. While work on the algorithms has taken longer than anticipated, despite the rescheduling, webmasters should consider this criterion if they wish to bring the site to the top of search results.

What is Core Web Vitals and what do these metrics affect?

For the search engine, the quality of content published on the site plays a significant role in ranking ratings. This is unsurprising, as if the information provided consistently satisfies reader curiosity, the likelihood of the user continuing to use the same search tools remains very high. Moreover, one must understand that the primary source of Google’s revenue is adaptive advertising banners placed on sites and in search. The more people transition through offered links and eventually linger on a web portal, the more money the company earns.

Since the speed of site loading is directly linked to user engagement, conversion, and monetization, Web Vitals algorithms simplify life for specialists involved in SEO promotion. With the introduction of “core web metrics,” it became clear which web resources could potentially rise to the top of search results, and which have no chances. Quality in the eyes of Google’s search engine will be represented by sites where:

• Published information is displayed instantly, without even a couple of seconds of waiting for the user;
• Content of the page is reproduced in detail, both in desktop and mobile versions;
• All forms of navigation on the site are drawn without delay.

What factors does Google use to form conclusions about site loading speed?

Core Web Vitals is a complex of indicators consisting of three, let’s examine each:

1. LCP “Largest Contentful Paint” – this criterion measures the loading speed of the main information on the server (it can be a text block, graphics, or video content). A good LCP result is if the loading takes up to 2 seconds, poor is more than 4 seconds;
2. FID “First Input Delay” – measures the time interval from the moment a user starts interacting with the web page (clicks a link, activates keys, etc.). Ideally, FID should be less than or equal to 0.1 seconds;
3. CLS “Cumulative Layout Shift” – reflects the overall stability of content. Simply put, this metric shows how erratically web resource blocks behave during loading. If “floating” modules settle into place in 0.1 seconds, there’s no need to worry. The critical value is from 0.25 seconds.

To stabilize a page’s ranking status, each of the above criteria should be brought into the “green zone”. Otherwise, the internet resource can appear and disappear in search results, negatively impacting conversion.

Extracts from the Core Web Vitals report in Google Search

Core Web Vitals is a complex metric, hence Google analytics conducted its own research on the correlation of the mentioned signals and the site’s conversion level. Analysis results showed that with LCP up to 2.5 seconds, conversion can be increased by about 2%, and with FID up to 100 milliseconds, this factor can be raised by 70%. Statistics prove once again that webmasters need to focus on optimizing their web pages.

Currently, only 54% of sites meet the normal LCP value. For comparison, FID is around 54%, and CLS is approximately 65%. Many services do not comply with the new algorithm due to the following circumstances:

• Modules fluctuate significantly;
• Data “weighs” too much;
• Fonts take a long time to fully load;
• Caching algorithms are outdated, etc.

To ensure the strategy for web page optimization yields the desired results, always check the Core Web Vitals indicators before implementation. Remember that if one criterion meets the standard and the other two do not, you may face ranking issues. Therefore, it is extremely important to prepare the ground for site promotion in advance.

You can check the current Core Web Vitals values of a page in several ways:

• Open the Google Search report, particularly the section dedicated to “core web metrics”.
• Use special services or appropriate extensions like Dev Tools, Web Vitals, PageSpeed Insights, and others.

How to improve LCP, FID, and CLS comprehensively?

Optimizing a page according to Google’s standards will take some time. However, the suggested recommendations can simplify your task:

• Act methodically, identify the actual problems specific to your case, and apply maximum effort to neutralize them;
• Conduct a comparative analysis of the mobile and desktop versions of the site. Emphasize modernizing the layout for mobile devices, as mobile traffic is now significantly more intense than desktop;
• Compress images using specialized services to maximize their display speed. Use tools like Tinypng, Tinugpg, and others;
• Prioritize static ad blocks.

Core Web Vitals and Hostings

Hostings promptly reacted to changes in the ranking process. However, webmasters should know that the CWV value varies depending on the software installed on the server and its technical specifications:

1. PageSpeed Insights – a module that allows you to quickly reduce the image size and combine JS and CSS files (a useful option since browsers have a limit on the number of simultaneously loaded objects);
2. SSD accumulators – the information present on the disk is read faster;
3. The updated HTTP version HTTP/2 allows for the simultaneous exchange of several elements;
4. CDN Network Infrastructure – this data distribution network (from text and images to video and URLs) is geographically distributed, which greatly accelerates the delivery process of static materials to the user.

A separate factor to consider is the distance between the hosting server and the site visitor. The smaller this value, the faster the page will load. Therefore, when choosing a provider, remember to consider the geographical component as well.

Conclusion

The loading speed of your site is directly determined by Core Web Vitals metrics. To successfully implement an SEO promotion strategy for an internet site, you need to conduct a preliminary analysis of the “core web identifiers. Based on the data obtained, you will not only find out your site’s current position overall but also determine the further development vector of the resource.