Core Web Vitals for knowing exactly what to do

Webpages don’t always perform as intended, so maintenance is essential. In order to tweak the page to peak performance, you first need to know where the problem lies. Luckily, there is Core Web Vitals from Google, which is a handy tool for monitoring the key metrics of your webpage performance.

By addressing the issues found by the tool, you can retain your user longer, decrease bounce rate, and improve ad performance. In today’s post, we will look at how to read the vitals and keep your webpages alive. So do your due diligence but use a handy tool; why work hard when you can work smart?

Core Web Vitals and their advantages

Bluntly put, Core Web Vitals (CWVs) demonstrate how your website performs, based on field data. To meet certain KPIs, such as keeping a low bounce rate and keeping 24% more users than on average; use the CWVs report, which is based on 4 metrics: three of them are integral part of CWVs already, and the fourth one is an upcoming replacement to one of the metrics.

• Largest Content Paint (LCP) — let’s consider the largest objects on a website, e.g., video, heavy image, huge text block, and then let us consider how long it takes to render. This metric indicates how quickly the user can load the page and is essential for keeping the bounce rate at bay. Ideally, its value should be less than 2.5 seconds (we will elaborate on the values a bit later).
• First Input Delay (FID) — click on an interactable element and wait for the browser to respond. The result is a metric that is crucial for interactive pages, where the user is required to do something actively, e.g., playing a mini-game or giving credit card info. Whatever the case, fast input response is at the foundation of a good user experience (UX). The golden standard here is 100 milliseconds or less.
• Interaction to Next Paint (INP) — unlike the aforementioned FID, this metric estimates the longest page response time from a user’s click, while taking into account all the interactions made. Think of it as an average for all the input delays. As of yet, it is not a part of CWVs in full, but it will eventually replace the FID in March 2024. An ideal INP is equal to or less than 200ms.
• Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) — sums up all the abrupt changes in layout when scrolling your webpage. This metric registers all the instances of “teleporting” content. Shifting layout is detrimental for UX, especially during the interaction, which is why the lower the number — the better. A good CLS equals 0.1 or less.

Each of these metrics are given a status level: Good, Need improvement, and Poor. Ultimately, whichever metric ranks the lowest is the rank, which your website will be assigned. For instance, a URL on desktop with poor LCP and need improvement CLS will have the poor status on desktop.

It should also be noted that each metric has an aggregated value of many different user interactions, and each one of these are grouped together according to the device the user has. Moreover, whether it is a LCP group or FID, they follow the same rule for calculating results: the rating is whatever 75% of the user’s experience (or better).

CWVs for publishers and advertisers

Whether you are a publisher or advertiser, knowing the CWV metrics, along with the new INP, is important.

As a website owner, a lower bounce rate, greater user engagement, and quicker loading speed will render your website higher in a Search Engine Results Page. A higher rank means more popularity, which is good for retaining the old users, while welcoming in new ones. By addressing the issues with the CWV metrics, you can improve your ad revenue. And the main merit of CWVs is that you know exactly what needs improvement, so you can dedicate your time and efforts accordingly.

Advertisers, on the other hand, can use these metrics to either optimize their pre-landers for a more seamless funnel experience or to tweak the landing page itself for better Search Engine Optimization. Adhering to a CWV report is also beneficial for Google Ratings in general, which is good because you can drive in more organic traffic; thanks to greater UX and engagement rate. 

CWVs put to practice

Probably the hardest part of optimizing a webpage and UX is determining what exactly to do. Thanks to CWVs, you can have this question answered and then focus on actual problem-solving. But before getting to it, remember that it is important to prioritize your goals first, because you can’t fix everything at once.

Therefore, it is essential to conduct a website performance audit. This will help you understand which metric bottlenecks the rating of your webpage: LCP, FID, INP, or CLS. Then, it is best to focus on “poor” metrics, since they will deliver the most impact once they are fixed.

As a rule of a thumb, consider increasing your page speed first, which is achieved via minimizing server response time, leveraging browser caching, and compressing images. Each option is good for LCP, which is a must if you want to stay ahead of the competition in our age of “infobesity”.

Get good at interactivity by optimizing JavaScript execution. Make sure that you reduce the main thread of work to improve FID (and INP as well) and responsiveness. Next, strap in all the media elements of your page by setting up explicit dimensions and adding dynamically loaded content to reduce CLS.

Fixing all the issues is not the end of your journey! Make sure to continuously monitor CWV performance to identify any emerging issues and address them accordingly. Specifically, click on “Start Tracking” to commence a 28-days long session, during which Google will collect data and determine whether your wanna-be fixes have made any real impact.

Contact our team of experts if you need any help and remember, practice makes perfect.