Understanding Google’s Core Web Vitals: A Guide To Enhancing UX

Core Web Vitals are a set of specific factors that Google considers crucial in a web page’s overall user experience. These metrics focus on different aspects of loading, interactivity, and visual stability. Understanding and optimizing these vitals is essential for enhancing user experience (UX) and improving search engine optimization (SEO).

What Are Core Web Vitals?

Core Web Vitals consist of three primary metrics.

1. Largest Contentful Paint (LCP)

LCP measures loading performance. Specifically, it tracks the time it takes for the largest content element (such as an image or a block of text) to become visible within the viewport.

💡For a good user experience, LCP should occur within 2.5 seconds of when the page first starts loading.

2. Interaction to Next Paint (INP)

INP assesses interactivity. It measures the time between a user’s interaction (like clicking a button) and the next paint after that interaction.

💡To ensure a responsive user experience, aim for an INP of less than 100 milliseconds.

3. Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS)

CLS quantifies visual stability. It measures the sum total of all individual layout shift scores for every unexpected layout shift that occurs during the entire lifespan of the page.

💡To provide a stable visual experience, pages should maintain a CLS of less than 0.1.

Understanding these metrics helps you diagnose performance issues and provide a smooth and engaging user experience. Optimizing Core Web Vitals is not just about meeting Google’s standards but also about providing a seamless experience that keeps users engaged and satisfied.

By focusing on LCP, INP, and CLS, web developers and SEO specialists can significantly enhance the usability and performance of their websites, leading to better user retention and higher search engine rankings.

Why Core Web Vitals Matter for SEO

Google uses Core Web Vitals as part of its ranking algorithm to assess the quality of user experience on a web page. These metrics provide a standardized way to measure key aspects of UX making it easier for the search engine to compare sites.

Pages that perform well on CWV metrics are more likely to rank higher in search results (when all other factors are even) because they offer a better user experience. Conversely, pages that perform poorly on Core Web Vitals may experience a decline in rankings, which could lead to less traffic and sales. However, this isn’t always a one-to-one occurrence. A slight dip in one CWV metric probably won’t lead to a drop in rankings.

Core Web Vitals Strategy

Improving your Core Web Vitals requires a strategic approach. Here’s how you can optimize each of the three key metrics: Largest Contentful Paint, Interaction to Next Paint, and Cumulative Layout Shift.

1. Improving Largest Contentful Paint

To optimize LCP, focus on:

• Image optimization. Compress and properly size images to reduce load times. Use modern formats like WebP.
• Server response times. Enhance server performance by using faster hosting solutions, using content delivery networks (CDNs), and optimizing server-side code.
• Resource loading. Minimize render-blocking resources such as JavaScript and CSS. Utilize lazy loading for images and videos to speed up the initial load.

2. Reducing Interaction to Next Paint

Optimizing INP involves:

• JavaScript optimization. Minimize and defer unused JavaScript. Break up long tasks to ensure the main thread is free to respond to user interactions quickly.
• Browser readiness. Use techniques like preloading and prefetching resources to ensure the browser is ready to interact immediately.

3. Minimizing Cumulative Layout Shift

To reduce CLS, make sure to address:

• Size attributes. Always include width and height size attributes on images and video elements to prevent layout shifts.
• Ads and embeds. Reserve space for ads and embeds to avoid unexpected layout changes. Use CSS aspect ratio boxes to maintain space.
• Font loading. Optimize font loading by using font-display:swap to ensure text remains visible during font loading.

Other Factors To Check

While Core Web Vitals are crucial, they’re not the only UX factors that matter. Make sure your website is responsive, secure, and accessible.

• Mobile Friendliness: Ensure your site is responsive and provides a good experience on mobile devices.
• Security: Use HTTPS to secure user data and improve site trustworthiness.
• Accessibility: Make your site accessible to all users, including those with disabilities, by following accessibility guidelines.

Tools To Measure and Monitor Core Web Vitals

Monitoring your Core Web Vitals is crucial to ensure your optimization efforts are effective. Here’s an overview of tools you can use to measure and track these important metrics.

Google PageSpeed Insights 

Google PageSpeed Insights analyzes your web page’s performance on both mobile and desktop devices. It provides scores for each of the Core Web Vitals and offers detailed recommendations for improvements. The tool is accessible here.

To check your Core Web Vitals in PageSpeed Insights:

1. Enter your URL and click “Analyze.”
2. Review the scores for LCP, INP, and CLS.
3. Implement the suggested optimizations.

Lighthouse 

Lighthouse is an open-source, automated tool for improving the quality of web pages. It audits performance, accessibility, SEO, and more. You can run it in Chrome DevTools or use it as a Node module. Find more information here.

To check your Core Web Vitals in Lighthouse:

1. Open Chrome DevTools (right-click on the page and select “Inspect”).
2. Navigate to the “Lighthouse” tab.
3. Click “Generate report” and review the audit results.

Google Search Console

Google Search Console offers a Core Web Vitals report that shows how your pages perform based on real-world usage data (field data). This tool helps you understand how your site is doing and track improvements over time. Access Google Search Console here.

To check your Core Web Vitals in Google Search Console:

1. Sign in to your Google Search Console account.
2. Navigate to the “Core Web Vitals” report under the “Enhancements” section.
3. Review the performance of your URLs and follow the recommended fixes.

Implementing a Core Web Vitals Optimization Plan

Ready to improve your Core Web Vitals? Follow these steps:

1. Initial Analysis:
   • Use tools like Google PageSpeed Insights, Lighthouse, and Google Search Console to gather data on your Core Web Vitals metrics.
   • Identify which pages are under-performing and need the most attention.
2. Identify Key Issues:
   • Look for common problems affecting LCP, INP, and CLS. This could include large images, slow server response times, excessive JavaScript, and unexpected layout shifts. Lighthouse and PageSpeed insights will call out specific issues, so be sure to check those first!
   • Start with optimizations that will have the most significant impact on your Core Web Vitals scores and are relatively easy to implement. Examples include image compression and leveraging browser caching.
   • Next, address issues that require a moderate amount of effort but will still provide substantial benefits. This could involve optimizing CSS delivery and improving server response times.
   • Finally, tackle more complex issues that might not yield immediate, dramatic improvements but are essential for long-term performance. These could include extensive code splitting or redesigning certain page elements.
3. Create a Plan:
   • Develop a detailed plan to address each issue. This should include specific tasks such as optimizing images, deferring non-essential JavaScript, and setting explicit size attributes for all media. 
   • Monitor the effectiveness of your fixes over time. Did minimizing images lead to faster load times? If not, check the other recommendations from Lighthouse or PageSpeed Insights and see if those help.

Ongoing Monitoring and Maintenance Tips

1. Regular Audits:
   • Perform regular audits using the same tools to ensure that your optimizations are still effective and to catch any new issues that arise.
2. Stay Updated:
   • Keep abreast of the latest best practices and updates from Google regarding Core Web Vitals. This will help you continuously maintain and improve your website’s performance.
3. Continuous Improvement:
   • Treat Core Web Vitals optimization as an ongoing process. Regularly revisit your optimization plan, make necessary adjustments, and ensure your site continues to deliver a top-notch user experience.

By following these steps, you can create a robust optimization plan that enhances your Core Web Vitals, leading to better user experiences and improved SEO performance.

Worry-Free Web Maintenance Services

As part of our web maintenance services, Victorious offers a UX audit to help you monitor your site’s core web vitals — and we’ll help you troubleshoot drops that could impact your site’s UX and SEO performance. From security monitoring to page speed optimization, we make sure your website performs at its best so you can focus on your customers. Schedule a free consultation to learn more.