Since becoming a ranking factor in June 2021, Core Web Vitals have created new opportunities for improvement for many websites. Based on user experience, the metrics which measure page performance are designed to offer a closer look at how websites are coded and how that code renders a useable web page.
Google has made it fairly easy to monitor these metrics through reporting in Google Search Console. The dedicated report helps site owners/managers identify opportunities for improvement in the area of Core Web Vitals.
So, why does page performance matter?
The longer a page load time, the higher the bounce rate.
According to Google, if a page load time increases from 1 second to 3 seconds, bounce rate increases 32%. If a page load time increases from 1 second to 6 seconds, bounce rate increases by 106%. We all know that high bounce rates indicate that user’s aren’t happy.
Understanding the Core Web Vitals report.
The CWV report is based on three metrics: LCP, FID, and CLS.
LCP (Largest Contentful Paint)
LCP is the amount of time it takes to render the largest content element visible in the viewport from when the user requests the URL. Typically, the largest element is and image or video.
FID (First Input Delay)
FID is the time from when a user first interacts with your page to the time when the browser responds. Interactions can be a link clicked or button tapped, etc.
CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift)
CLS refers to the unexpected shifting of webpage elements while the page is still loading. Here Google uses the sum total of all layout shift scores for any shift that isn’t from user interaction. Shifting elements tend to be fonts, images, videos, forms, and buttons.
Only indexed URLs can show in the report and only URLs with enough data for the metric will be included. The page status shown is the status of its most poorly performing metric.
Navigating the report.
The CWV report shows URL performance grouped by status, metric type, and URL group which is groups of similar web pages.
The Core Web Vitals overview page chart shows how the URLs on your site perform based on historical user data. Toggle the Poor, Needs improvement, or good tabs to get data on specific statuses.
By clicking through to the summary page for either Mobile or Desktop you will see the status and issues for all URLs that Google has data for. The chart shows the count of URLs with a given status on a given day. You can toggle the tabs above the chart to show the number of issues in a given status.
By selecting a row in the table below the chart, you will see details about URL groups affected by a selected issue as well as a sample of the related URLs in each issue category.
If you click a URL in the examples table, you will see more information about that URL and also a list of similar URLs.
If you would like help in determining how Core Web Vitals may be affecting your site ranking, contact Allegro for a full website audit.
