Core Web Vitals Assessment: Failed? Here’s How to Improve in 5 Simple Steps

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.

What are Core Web Vitals?

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:

1. Largest Contentful Paint (LCP): 

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.

2. First Input Delay (FID):

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.

3. Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS): 

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.

How to Check Core Web Vitals Assessment

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:

1. Optimize Your Images: 

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.

2. Minimize JavaScript and CSS: 

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.

3. Use a Content Delivery Network (CDN): 

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.

4. Reduce Server Response Time:

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.

5. Use Lazy Loading: 

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

How to Pass Core Web Vitals

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.

1. Use a Responsive Design: 

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.

2. Optimize for Mobile: 

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.

3. Use a Fast Hosting Provider: 

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.

4. Keep Your Website Up to Date:

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.

Conclusion:

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.