Posted On : 24 June 2020
If we say that Google is constantly trying to improve the experience its users get on the websites they are visiting, then it is not an exaggeration at all. Even as everyone is grappling with the virus and circuit breaker, Google has announced an update to the algorithm aimed at improving page experience. The new updated will contain new metrics for ranking called the Core Web Vitals and also other factors that are likely to affect the way your website ranking is done. There is no need to scramble to optimize your websites to rank for these algorithms yet because the search engine has assured to give a six-month notice before the changes are incorporated.
But for an SEO company, it is good to know what the changes are and how it is going to affect the ranking of websites in the future. Google is making available the necessary tools and documentation that will help you optimized the new requirements. Six months is a good enough period for you to get prepared and make your website ready to rank for the new search algorithm. The search giant has also provided tips about how you can optimize the site to meet the new standards of page experience. It makes sense to know how your site will be affected by the change and what you can do to improve your ranking once the changes are in place.
Determining Site UX Using Core Web Vitals
The Core Web Vitals in the upcoming upgrade is going to make UX design very important and this is going to impact SEO marketinglike never before. Improving page experience will directly improve the experience a user has when interacting with a page. The new metrics will help you to improve the pages in such a way that the user will have a much better experience and stay longer on the page and engage with it and interact with much lesser obstacles. According to Google Core Web Vitals are a set of metrics that will determine factors of user experience like page loading time, how the user can interact with the site, and the stability of the content that the site loads.
For the SEO agency, this means tweaking three key performance indicators namely Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) for loading, First Input Delay (FID) for interactivity, and Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) for visual stability.
Understanding The KPIs Affecting Page Experience
The first factor Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) is determined by checking how long it takes for loading the largest file in your above-the-fold content. When Google checks your LCP, it will only look at the portion of your content that is above the fold even if the content extends below. The longest duration set by Google for LCP is 2.5 seconds and you must strive to achieve this. This can be done by compressing images, ensuring plug-ins don't delay loading, and backgrounds scripts run efficiently.
The second KPI is First Input Delay (FID). Everyone knows that the first impression is very important and this is true for your website too. You must ensure that the first impression that a user gets from your website is good and for this, it must be ensured that the first interaction he or she has gets a quick response from the site. What this means is that the browser must be able to respond to the first interaction without any delay that can be caused by its latency due to large JavaScript files. Any delay in response can frustrate the users and make them leave the site without navigating fully. The company needs to offer SEO services to look into this and do the needful.
The last Core Web Vital is Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) which many users experience but may not recognize form the term used. All users must have experienced this annoying occurrence. When you are clicking on the option you want to use, the page shifts at the same moment, and your click lands on the other option. To put it simply, you may have wanted to click "no" or "cancel" but the click lands on "yes". This is not just annoying but can lead to serious problems.
Measuring Your Site’s Core Web Vitals
So how can the company offering SEO marketing services, measure your site's core web vitals? You can measure the factors using the Core Web Vitals' Report in the Google Search Console. The Speed Report has been replaced by this report. You can also use Google PageSpeed Insights to know about the speed of your site and other factors. Google also helps you by giving a list of factors that affect your site’s performance. It also provides you with various measures you can take to correct the situation.
The search engine has made it clear that the new factors of Core Web Vitals will be used along with the other existing signals to assess the performance of your web. This means that you must continue to optimize the site for mobile usage, improve the security of the site, and check if any pop-ups are affecting the user experience. In its announcement of the update, Google takes care to mention that extremely relevant and interesting content will score above all these factors.
