Core web vitals are a set of SEO metrics that are focused on user experience. Each Core Web Vital represents a specific aspect of the user experience, is measurable in real-world scenarios, and reflects the experience of a crucial user-centric outcome. Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), First Input Delay (FID) and Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) are three key metrics. These metrics are not just technical jargon but they also play a crucial role in shaping user experience.
As an SEO company in India or a business owner, understanding and optimizing these Core Web Vitals is key to enhancing your website’s performance. It also helps website owners to provide a seamless user experience. So, to help you understand these core web vitals, our blog post will walk you through all about these.
Essential Pillars of Page Experience
Google has given these three components as essential pillars for a seamless page experience:
Loading performance – It shows how fast a webpage loads on screen.
Responsiveness – It determines how fast a webpage responds
Visual Stability – It’s about whether the content on a pageFteF shifts or moves around while it’s loading on the screen.
In Correspondence to these pillars, Google selected three vital metrics, namely:
- LCP or Largest Contentful Paint
- FID or First Input Delay
- CLS or Cumulative Layout Shift
Let’s understand these thoroughly.
3 Main Components of Core Web Vitals – LCP, FID, and CLS
-
Largest Contentful Paint (LCP)
Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) measures how long it takes for a site to display the largest or main text or image block on the screen.
For a positive user experience, LCP should happen within the first 2.5 seconds of page loading.
Enhancing LCP involves:
- Using Critical CSS and Asynchronous Asset Loading
- Optimizing images
- Minimizing server response time
-
First Contentful Paint (FCP)
It displays the time the site takes to respond to the user’s interaction. The faster a website reacts, the more responsive a page will be. It evaluates the speed of your page loading and how swiftly a user can engage with it. For a positive user experience, aim for a First Input Delay (FID) of less than 100 milliseconds. Furthermore, consider First Contentful Paint (FCP), a related metric under FID, which examines the speed of your page loading.
To Improve the Performance of FID and FCP
- Remove render-blocking resources
- Make the most of browser caching
- Decrease server response times
- Optimized code coverage
- Use lazy loading
-
Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS)
Cumulative Layout Shift, or CLS, is the third essential component of the web. It is used to evaluate stability and examine how a page shifts during loading. CLS can lead users to unintentionally click on items, sometimes employed by publishers to boost ad clicks. For a positive user experience, aim for a CLS of less than 0.1 to prevent unintended interactions.
You can improve CLS by:
- Incorporate image size attributes
- Insert content carefully
- Use CSS transformation for animation
Tools To Measure Core Web Vitals
Top SEO companies in India use effective tools to measure these core web vitals. Below are some of these tools:
-
Google Search Console
The Core Web Vitals (CWV) report in Google Search Console (GSC) helps to understand the performance of most web pages. This free tool taps into real field data from Chrome UX Report (CrUX) to identify pages requiring more attention.
Within the GSC report, URL performance is categorized by status (good, needs improvement, or poor) and metric type (LCP, FID, and CLS).
-
PageSpeed Insights
The next tool is PageSpeed Insights, which is one of the most essential tools when it comes to measuring your website’s Core Web Vitals. This tool provides information about both mobile and desktop devices.
It operates on a page-by-page basis. Hence, provide practical suggestions to enhance the overall page experience for your audience.
-
Google Lighthouse
Initially, Google designed this tool for auditing Progressive Web Apps (PWAs). But now, Lighthouse has evolved into an excellent tool for monitoring overall page performance.
SEO professionals can use this tool to audit and assess websites in four key areas: performance, accessibility, best practices, and SEO. Lighthouse measures various lab UX metrics, including LCP, CLS, TTI, and TBT.
The tool is quite similar to PSI, in terms of providing detailed suggestions on improving the user experience. The report evaluates your Google website score and establishes the scores required for optimal page experience.
-
Chrome UX Report (CrUX)
CrUX is a public dataset including real user experience data from millions of websites. It assesses the field versions of the Core Web Vitals. It provides detailed performance data and a convenient way to access CWV information.
The Chrome UX Report is often called Real User Monitoring (RUM) as it enables SEO experts to analyze site performance solely based on how customers interact with it in real-world usage.
Key Takeaways
User experience has been an essential factor for Google always. So far, it is shaking up the SEO community with fresh algorithms and updates every day. However, these changes have empowered SEO professionals and website owners to create exceptional websites.
With these Core Web Vitals, Google’s emphasis on page experience takes center stage. These metrics are like building blocks and shape user satisfaction. Therefore, when crafting SEO reports, delve into these vital signs to enhance your website’s performance. Remember, it’s not just about data – it’s about understanding how users perceive and interact with your site.
