As a website owner or developer, you may have heard about the Core Web Vitals assessment and the importance of passing this assessment. Core Web Vitals are a set of performance metrics that Google considers important for user experience. These metrics are designed to measure the speed, interactivity, and visual stability of a web page.
Recently, Google has made it clear that Core Web Vitals will be a ranking factor for search results. Therefore, it is crucial for website owners and developers to ensure that their website passes this assessment. In this blog post, we will discuss what to do if your Core Web Vitals assessment fails and how to pass it.
Before we dive into how to pass Core Web Vitals, let’s first understand what they are. Core Web Vitals are a set of three metrics that measure the user experience on a web page. These metrics are:
Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) measures the loading speed of a page. Specifically, it measures the time it takes for the largest element on a page to load, such as an image or a video.
This metric is important because users are more likely to stay on a website that loads quickly. If a website takes too long to load its largest content element, users may become frustrated and leave the site.
First Input Delay (FID) is a metric that measures the interactivity of a web page. It is defined as the time between the first user interaction with a web page (such as clicking a button, tapping on a link, or entering text) and the browser’s response to that interaction.
FID is important because it measures how quickly a web page responds to user input, which has a direct impact on the user experience.
A slow FID score means that there is a delay between the user’s action and the browser’s response. This delay can be frustrating for users and can negatively impact the user experience, especially on mobile devices where users expect quick and responsive interactions.
A fast FID score, on the other hand, means that the web page is responsive and provides a good user experience.
Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) is a metric that measures the visual stability of a web page. It quantifies the amount of unexpected layout shift that occurs during the loading phase of a web page.
Layout shift happens when an element on a web page changes its position or size after it has already been rendered on the screen. This can be due to images or other media loading late or because of other factors that affect the page layout.
A high CLS score indicates that the page layout is unstable, which can cause frustration for users, especially if they are clicking on a button or a link and the layout shifts suddenly, causing them to click on the wrong item.
View also: Google Core Web Vitals for WordPress
This can lead to a poor user experience and lower engagement rates. A low CLS score indicates that the page layout is stable, and users can interact with the page more easily.
Now that we understand what Core Web Vitals are, let’s talk about how to check if your website passes the assessment.
There are several ways to check your Core Web Vitals scores. You can use Google’s PageSpeed Insights tool or the Google Search Console. These tools will give you an overall score for each of the three metrics.
What to do if Your Core Web Vitals Assessment Fails
If your Core Web Vitals assessment fails, don’t panic. There are several things you can do to improve your scores. Here are some tips:
Image optimization is an important step in improving the performance of a web page, particularly when it comes to the Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) metric. Large image files can slow down page load times, leading to a poor user experience.
Optimizing images involves compressing them without losing quality, reducing their file size, and minimizing their impact on page load times.
There are several techniques for optimizing images, including compression, resizing, and format selection. Compression is the process of reducing the file size of an image without significantly reducing its quality.
There are several tools available that can be used to compress images, such as Adobe Photoshop, TinyPNG, and ImageOptim. These tools use various algorithms to reduce the file size of an image while maintaining its quality.
JavaScript and CSS are essential components of a modern website, as they are used to add interactivity, styles, and functionality to web pages. However, too much JavaScript and CSS can slow down page load times, leading to a poor user experience.
To minimize JavaScript and CSS, developers can take several steps, such as removing unnecessary code and using minification tools.
Unnecessary code can be removed by identifying and eliminating redundant or unused code. This can be achieved by conducting a code audit, which involves reviewing the website’s JavaScript and CSS files to identify any unnecessary code.
Once identified, the unnecessary code can be removed to reduce file size and improve page load times.
A Content Delivery Network (CDN) is a network of servers located in different geographical locations around the world that work together to deliver website content to users quickly and efficiently.
A CDN can help speed up your page load time by distributing your content across multiple servers.
When a user requests a web page that is served by a CDN, the CDN identifies the server that is closest to the user’s location and serves the content from that server. This reduces the distance that the content needs to travel and improves the page load time.
In addition, CDNs can also improve the reliability and availability of web content by automatically routing traffic to the closest available server if one server goes down.
Server response time refers to the time it takes for a server to respond to a user’s request for a web page. A slow server response time can negatively impact Core Web Vitals scores, particularly the Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) metric, which measures how long it takes for the largest element on a page to load.
There are several factors that can contribute to a slow server response time, such as server load, network congestion, and inefficient server settings.
To improve server response time and optimize Core Web Vitals scores, website owners can take several steps, such as upgrading their hosting plan or optimizing their server settings.
Lazy loading is a technique used to optimize web page performance by delaying the loading of non-critical resources, such as images or videos, until they are needed. This can help improve the Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) score, which measures how long it takes for the largest element on a page to load.
When a web page is loaded, all the resources on the page, including images and videos, are downloaded and loaded at the same time. This can cause slow page load times, particularly if the page contains many large or high-resolution images.
Lazy loading works by only loading the resources that are currently visible to the user, and delaying the loading of other resources until they are needed.
Check out: Core web vitals Assessment: Failed
Now that we’ve discussed what to do if your Core Web Vitals assessment fails, let’s talk about how to pass it. Here are some additional tips to help you improve your scores.
A responsive design is an approach to web design that ensures your website looks good and functions well on any device, including desktop computers, laptops, tablets, and smartphones.
With the increasing popularity of mobile devices, it’s essential to have a responsive design to provide users with the best possible experience, regardless of the device they are using. A responsive design involves using flexible grids and layouts, fluid images, and CSS media queries to adjust the layout and content of a web page based on the size of the user’s screen.
Optimizing your website for mobile devices is crucial in today’s mobile-first world. Mobile optimization involves making your website mobile-friendly by ensuring that it loads quickly, is easy to navigate on a small screen, and has readable fonts and optimized images.
Mobile optimization also involves optimizing for touch screen interactions and ensuring that all buttons and links are easy to tap on a small screen.
Your hosting provider can have a significant impact on your page load time. A fast and reliable hosting provider can help ensure that your website loads quickly and provides a seamless user experience.
When choosing a hosting provider, consider factors such as server response time, uptime guarantee, and server location. A fast hosting provider can also help improve your search engine rankings, as page speed is a key factor in Google’s algorithm.
Regularly updating your website can help improve your Core Web Vitals scores. This includes updating your plugins, themes, and WordPress version.
Regular updates help ensure that your website is secure, optimized, and functioning properly. It’s also essential to regularly monitor your website’s performance and make any necessary optimizations to improve your Core Web Vitals scores.
Regularly checking your website’s performance using tools such as Google’s PageSpeed Insights or Lighthouse can help you identify areas for improvement and make the necessary changes to improve your website’s performance.
In conclusion, Core Web Vitals are a set of performance metrics that are important for the user experience of a web page. Google has recently announced that Core Web Vitals will be a ranking factor for search results, so it is crucial for website owners and developers to ensure that their website passes this assessment.
Read more: Failed Core Web Vitals Assessment
The three metrics that make up Core Web Vitals are Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), First Input Delay (FID), and Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS). Checking your Core Web Vitals scores can be done using Google’s PageSpeed Insights tool or the Google Search Console. If your Core Web Vitals assessment fails, there are several things that you can do to improve your scores, including optimizing your images, minimizing JavaScript and CSS, using a Content Delivery Network (CDN), and more.
Ensuring that your website passes the Core Web Vitals assessment will improve the user experience of your website, leading to better engagement rates, increased traffic, and ultimately, better search engine rankings.
As the internet continues to evolve and become more advanced, the focus on website performance and user experience has become more important than ever before. This has led to the development of a new set of metrics called Core Web Vitals, which Google is set to make a ranking factor in its search algorithm in May 2021.
In this blog post, we will explore what Core Web Vitals are, why they are important, and how you can improve them to ensure your website delivers a great user experience.
Core Web Vitals is a set of metrics developed by Google to measure website performance and user experience. These metrics focus on three key areas: loading speed, interactivity, and visual stability. The three specific metrics that makeup Core Web Vitals are:
Measures loading performance. Specifically, it measures the time it takes for the largest element on a page (such as an image or video) to load.
Measures interactivity. Specifically, it measures the time it takes for a website to respond to a user’s first interaction, such as clicking a button or entering text in a form.
Measures visual stability. Specifically, it measures the amount of unexpected layout shift that occurs during the loading of a page. This occurs when elements on the page move around while the page is still loading, which can be frustrating for users.
Google considers a website to have a good user experience if it meets the following thresholds for each of these metrics:
Core Web Vitals matter because they are an important factor in determining the user experience of a website. They measure how quickly a website loads, how smoothly it runs, and how easily users can interact with it. Google uses these metrics as a ranking factor for websites, meaning that websites that perform well in terms of Core Web Vitals are more likely to appear at the top of search results.
Here are a few reasons why Core Web Vitals matter:
A website’s user experience plays a crucial role in whether a user stays on the website or bounces off. Poor performance, slow loading times, and broken links can cause frustration, leading to a negative experience for the user. Core Web Vitals measure a website’s loading speed, interactivity, and visual stability, all of which contribute to a good user experience.
Google has always emphasized the importance of a good user experience, and Core Web Vitals are no exception. Starting in May 2021, Google started including Core Web Vitals as a ranking factor in its search algorithm. Websites that perform well on Core Web Vitals are more likely to rank higher in search engine results, increasing their visibility to potential users.
In today’s world, most people access websites using their mobile devices. Core Web Vitals also take into account the performance of a website on mobile devices. Websites that perform well on Core Web Vitals on mobile devices are more likely to be ranked higher in search results and provide a better user experience for mobile users.
A good user experience can lead to increased conversions. If a website loads quickly, is easy to navigate, and provides the information that users are looking for, they are more likely to engage with the website and potentially make a purchase or take another desired action.
With millions of websites on the internet, competition is fierce. Websites that perform well on Core Web Vitals have a competitive advantage over websites that don’t. They are more likely to rank higher in search results, providing greater visibility to potential users, and increasing their chances of success.
Check Out: Optimizing Your Largest Contentful Paint Score
Core Web Vitals have become increasingly important for search engine optimization (SEO) since Google announced that they would be used as ranking factors in their search algorithm update in May 2021. This means that websites that perform well on Core Web Vitals metrics have a better chance of ranking higher in search results than those that do not. Therefore, optimizing for Core Web Vitals is a critical part of any SEO strategy.
Google has always placed a strong emphasis on user experience when ranking websites, and Core Web Vitals are just another step in that direction. These metrics are designed to measure the user experience of a website by focusing on three key areas – loading speed, interactivity, and visual stability. By optimizing for these metrics, website owners can create a faster, more responsive, and more stable website that provides a better user experience for visitors.
In addition to improving the user experience, optimizing for Core Web Vitals can also improve search engine rankings. Google has made it clear that they prioritize websites that provide a positive user experience, and Core Web Vitals is an important measure of that experience. Therefore, websites that perform well on these metrics are more likely to rank higher in search results and attract more traffic to their site.
It’s important to note that while Core Web Vitals are an important consideration for SEO, they are not the only factor that matters. Google uses over 200 ranking factors in its search algorithm, and while Core Web Vitals is an important part of that, they are just one piece of the puzzle.
Website owners should also consider other SEO factors like keyword optimization, backlink building, and content creation as part of their overall digital marketing strategy.
In conclusion, optimizing for Core Web Vitals is a critical part of any SEO strategy in today’s digital landscape. By prioritizing user experience and focusing on loading speed, interactivity, and visual stability, website owners can create a website that not only provides a better experience for visitors but also has a better chance of ranking higher in search results. While Core Web Vitals are just one factor to consider, they are an important one and website owners should take them seriously in order to stay ahead of the curve in the ever-evolving world of digital marketing.
There are a number of steps you can take to optimize your website for Core Web Vitals. Here are some of the most important ones:
To improve page speed, you can:
All these optimizations can be done manually by you which can be expensive and time taking, if you don’t want to do these manually there are tools like RabbitLoader which automatically do all these optimisations for you and make your website faster.
Render-blocking resources are files that prevent a page from loading quickly. These can include JavaScript and CSS files. By minimizing render-blocking resources, you can improve page speed and improve your LCP score.
“ To optimize website layout, you can:
All these optimizations can be done manually over a time-consuming process or tools like RabbitLoader can do it for you.
Caching plugins can help speed up your website by storing frequently used data in the user’s browser. This can improve your LCP score and overall page speed.
Slow server response times can also impact your LCP score. To reduce server response time, you may need to upgrade your hosting plan or optimize your website’s code.
Third-party scripts, such as those used for ads or social media sharing, can slow down your website. By minimizing these scripts, you can improve page speed and reduce the risk of layout shift (CLS).
To minimize Javascript and CSS, you can:
Lazy loading is a technique that allows images and other elements to load as they are needed, rather than all at once. This can improve your LCP score and reduce the risk of layout shift (CLS).
Above-the-fold content is content that appears on a page before a user scrolls down. By prioritizing this content, you can improve your FID score and make your website feel more responsive.
After implementing the above optimizations, it’s important to monitor Core Web Vitals to ensure that they are improving. You can use Google’s PageSpeed Insights or other tools to monitor Core Web Vitals and identify areas that need further optimization.
In summary, optimizing your website for Core Web Vitals involves reducing server response time, optimizing website layout, minimizing Javascript and CSS, using lazy loading, and monitoring Core Web Vitals. By implementing these optimizations, you can improve the user experience of your website, potentially increase your search rankings, and reduce bounce rates.
To improve the user experience, you can:
In conclusion, Core Web Vitals have become an important consideration for website owners and digital marketers in the wake of Google’s search algorithm update in May 2021. With Core Web Vitals, Google is placing more emphasis on user experience, and website owners need to prioritize improving their website’s performance to meet the standards set by these metrics.
By optimizing for Core Web Vitals, website owners can improve their website’s loading speed, responsiveness, and stability. This can result in a better user experience for visitors, which in turn can lead to higher engagement, more conversions, and ultimately, better business results.
While there are a variety of steps that website owners can take to optimize their websites for Core Web Vitals, some of the most important include improving page speed, minimizing render-blocking resources, optimizing images, using a caching plugin, and minimizing third-party scripts.
By regularly monitoring their website’s performance using tools like Google’s PageSpeed Insights and Lighthouse, website owners can ensure that they continue to meet the standards set by Core Web Vitals and maintain a high level of user experience.
Ultimately, the importance of Core Web Vitals lies in the fact that they are a reflection of what users value in a website. By prioritizing user experience, website owners can create a website that is not only optimized for search engines but also provides real value to visitors.
With the continued growth of online competition, investing in Core Web Vitals optimization is becoming increasingly important for website owners looking to stay ahead of the curve and succeed in the digital marketplace.
The user experience of a web page is critical to its success. It affects everything from the number of visitors to the conversion rates and overall satisfaction of the users with the site. One key performance metric that measures the user experience is First Input Delay.
First Input Delay (FID) is a critical performance metric that measures the responsiveness of a website, it is the time between when a user first interacts with a page (such as clicking a link) and when the browser is able to respond to that interaction.
A low First input Delay score is important for providing a good user experience, as it ensures that the website will respond quickly to user interactions. This leads to a higher level of user satisfaction and engagement.
According to WebPageTest’s latest statistics from February 2023, about 32% of websites have a first input delay (FID) of 100ms or more which means it needs serious improvements, these 32% of websites due to high FID scores give a bad user experience and overall bad SEO rankings.
We can get this number using the CrUX (chrome user experience) dataset and the BigQuery tool link to the dataset.
The significance of First Input Delay (FID) as an SEO keyword lies in the fact that it is a crucial aspect of technical SEO and page speed.
Technical SEO refers to the optimization of a website’s infrastructure and code to make it more easily crawlable and indexable by search engines. One of the key elements of SEO is page speed, which is the amount of time it takes for a page to load in a user’s browser. A slow page speed can lead to a poor user experience and a decrease in the website ranking in search engine results pages (SERPs).
When a user interacts with a page, the browser must process the event, run any relevant JavaScript execution and update the DOM before it can respond to the interaction. The process can take time and the delay between the user interaction and the browser response is the First Input Delay.
FID is measured in milliseconds and is calculated as the time between the user interaction and when the browser is able to respond to it. The lower the First Input Delay value, the better the user experience.
A good First Input Delay score ensures that the website will respond quickly to user interactions, leading to a higher level of user satisfaction and engagement.
JavaScript code is essential for many dynamic and interactive elements on a website, such as forms, animations, and navigation. However, large JavaScript files can slow down the browser and increase the FID score. There are various ways to minimize the effect of JavaScript to lower the First Input Delay score which will be discussed in further sections.
Slow server response times can also contribute to a high First Input Delay score, as the browser must wait for the server to respond before it can process the user interaction.
The Document Object Model (DOM) is the structure of a web page and represents how the element on the page interact with each other. Updating the DOM can be slow and complex, especially if the updates are frequent or require more elements to change. This can in turn increase the FID.
Images and videos can take up a lot of resources and slow down the browser, large images and videos take longer to load adding the time it takes for the browser to respond to user interaction, this can lead to a slow and unresponsive experience to users, leading to a higher FID score.
Third-party scripts such as analytics and advertising, and social media, can also contribute to a high FID score. These scripts can add additional resources that must be loaded, processed, and executed before the browser can respond to user interaction. This can lead to longer response times and poor user experience.
FAQs:
How is FID Measured?
Measuring First Input Delay is typically done by real-world testing using real users, by logging the time from when a user first interacts with the page to when the browser is able to respond and then testing its interactivity. The measurement tool for measuring the First Input Delay is usually google lighthouse.
What is a Good First Input Delay Score?
A good First Input Delay score is considered to be less than 100 milliseconds. A low FID score indicates that the website is responsive to user input and provides a smooth user experience.
Optimizing First Input Delay (FID) is crucial for improving user experience and website performance. The following are some of the practices for optimizing FID.
Reduce the amount of JavaScript tasks and other resources required to load a page to improve the time it takes for the browser to respond to user interactions. This can be achieved by combining and minifying JavaScript and CSS files, reducing the number of HTTP requests, and using resource-efficient images and videos, alternatively, tools like RabbitLoader can help minimize the amount of JavaScript required for page load automatically streamlining the process for you.
See more: Defer Loading jQuery in WordPress
Large files can significantly slow down a website and increase the FID time, by reducing the size of the files you can reduce the time it takes for the browser to respond to user interactions and improve FID. This can be done manually by compressing them or using more efficient file formats. Or RabbitLoader can help you optimize the size of these files automatically, ensuring that your pages load quickly and efficiently.
The more complex the Document Object Model (DOM) of a website, the longer it takes for the browser to process user interactions. To minimize DOM complexity, use techniques such as avoiding excessive nesting, reducing the number of elements on a page, and using CSS instead of JavaScript to manipulate DOM. this can be done manually or by tools like RabbitLoader which can update DOM automatically allowing for a faster and a more responsive experience for your user.
Lazy loading is a technique that only loads resources such as images and videos when they are needed. This can significantly reduce the amount of data required to load a page and improve the time it takes for the browser to user interaction and reduce the First Input Delay time.
Third-party scripts such as advertisements, analytics, and social media widgets can slow down a website and increase its First Input Delay time, To minimize the impact of third-party scripts manual optimization can be done by reducing the scripts used, implementing lazy loading, and using resource-efficient scripts. This can either be done manually or tools like RabbitLoader can automatically do this for you improving your website’s First Input Delay score.
A slow hosting solution can significantly impact the time it takes for a website to load and increase the time it takes for a website to load and increase the time it takes to respond to user interactions. To optimize FID, use a fast hosting solution with low latency and high bandwidth.
A Content Delivery Network (CDN) can improve the time it takes for a website to load by caching and serving content from multiple locations around the world. By using a CDN you can reduce the time it takes for the browser to respond to user interactions and improve the First input delay.
These optimization techniques can help you improve the performance of your website and reduce the First Input Delay (FID) to provide a better user experience. However, it is important to note that the First Input Delay is just one of several Core Web Vitals and to provide a high-quality user experience, its necessary to optimize all the web vitals including the Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS), and Total Blocking Time (TBT).
Apart from these optimization methods, there are some other methods as well listed below, the below-listed methods revolve around implementing the above-mentioned methods.
Any unused scripts should be deferred until they are needed. This can be achieved either by splitting large scripts into smaller ones or by using code splitting and loading scripts on demand.
To minimize the main thread work, you can use lazy loading to defer the loading of images and other heavy resources until they are needed.
A DNS lookup is the process of finding the IP address associated with a domain name. By reducing the number of DNS lookups, you can speed up your website’s load time. You can achieve this by reducing the number of third-party scripts and plugins used on your website.
Browser caching allows your website to save frequently accessed resources to a cache, reducing the time required to load the resources. You can leverage browser caching by using expires headers, cache control headers, and ETags.
FAQs:
What is Meant by Deferring?
Defer means the process of delaying the loading of a certain resource, such as a JavaScript file until it is needed. By deferring the loading of non-critical resources, it reduces the amount of JavaScript that needs to be parsed and executed during page load, resulting in faster page load times and a good First Input Delay score.
What is a DNS Lookup?
DNS lookup is the process of resolving a domain name to its corresponding IP address. When a user enters a website’s domain name into their browser, the browser sends a request to a DNS server to resolve the domain name to its IP address. The IP address is then used to access the website’s server, where the website is hosted. This is an essential part of the process of accessing a website as it allows the browser to find and connect to the correct server hosting the website.
What is the Core Web Vital?
Core Web Vitals are a set of metrics defined by Google that measure the quality of user experience on websites. They include 3 main aspects: loading speed, interactivity and visual stability the Core Web Vitals metrics are:
Largest Contentful Paint (LCP)
First Input Delay (FID)
Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS)
What is the Largest Contentful Paint (LCP)?
Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) is a web performance metric that measures the loading performance of a page. It specifically measures the time taken for the largest element visible within the viewport ( such as an image or text block ) to fully load and become visible to the user. LCP is one of the three core web vital metrics.
What is Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS)?
Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) is a metric that measures the visual stability of a website. It is one of the three Core Web Vitals.
CLS measures the amount of unexpected movement of page content, such as images or text, while the page is loading, this movement can cause the users to accidentally click on the wrong element, which can have a negative impact on the overall user experience, the goal should be to have CLS score of 0, indicating no unexpected movement which leads to smoother user experience.
What is Total Blocking Time (TBT)?
Total Blocking Time (TBT) is a performance metric that measures the total amount of time a page is blocked from responding to user input, such as scrolling or clicking links, TBT is expressed in milliseconds and is calculated as the sum of all periods of time and where the browsers main thread of the page was blocked for more than 50 milliseconds.
This metric is an important factor in determining the overall user experience of a website, as it measures the interactivity of the page and how quickly it can respond to them. Higher the TBT score the more negative the impact on the user experience and leading to a lower conversion rate and decreased traffic to a website.
Google’s Core Web Vital is monitored by using various tools and techniques, including google analytics and google page speed insights.
Google Analytics can track and report on the user experience metrics of a website, including core web vital, this allows website owners and developers to monitor the performance of their site and identify areas for improvement.
PageSpeed insight is a tool that analyzes the performance of a website and provides recommendations for optimization. It also reports on the core web vital for a given page.
In addition to page speed insight and google analytics, developers can use a variety of performance monitoring, real user monitoring, and testing tools to measure the core web vital and identify areas for optimization. By monitoring these key performance metrics, website owners and developers can ensure that their sites provide the best possible user experience.
In conclusion, optimizing First Input Delay (FID) is crucial for providing a great user experience and improving the overall performance of a websites FID, along with other googles Core Web Vitals, are important indicators of a websites page experience and are increasingly being used by google to rank websites in google search results by google page experience.
Utilizing tools like google page speed insights, google lighthouse, and google analytics, websites can reduce their First Input Delay scores and improve the performance and user experience for real users.
By providing a responsive and fast website, businesses can not only improve user satisfaction and engagement but also boost their visibility on google searches and achieve better conversion rates. Overall paying attention to FID is an important aspect of website optimization and should not be overlooked.