Core Web Vitals are a group of user-centric metrics that Google considers vital to assess the overall user experience. They measure web usability aspects such as Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), First Input Delay, and Cumulative Layout Shift of content as the web pages load.
In a nutshell, Core Web Vitals are a set of factors that forms a part of Google’s “page experience” score. The updates are incorporated to limit users from clicking on the content they didn’t want to see.
Now let’s take a look at three primary metrics in Google’s Core Web Vitals ranking factors to improve page experience –
What are Google’s Core Web Vitals Ranking Factors?
- Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) – LCP is about the time a page takes to load as soon as a user clicks on any page link up to when the page loads on their screen.
- First Input Delay (FID) – It involves the time taken by a user to click on links, filling out forms, opening up accordion content on mobile devices.
- Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) – This core web vital element is about the visual stability that a page and aspects of the page offer. It emphasizes all the elements load simultaneously rather than a few of the loads a little later. If elements take too long to load, it can cause a bad experience for the user. This is particularly important to get right for mobile devices as well.
Other Key Elements that Affect Search Signals
- Mobile-friendliness – Web users seek the same user experience on mobile devices on desktops and tablets. It would help if you made sure that your visitors enjoyed visiting your website on any device. Don’t just squeeze the content to fit into mobile devices.
- Safe-Browsing – The safe-browsing element alerts users of harmful content across all types of products. It helps website owners keep their websites safe for users. Thereby assisting the users in preserving traffic, reputation, and revenue. According to Google, Safe Browsing protects more than 4 billion devices each day.
- HTTPS – HTTPS (Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure) is an internet communication protocol protecting data between the user’s computer and the site. It helps build trust with the users that the website can handle data without leaking it to prying eyes.
- No Intrusive Interstitials – This is about popup ads that tend to block most or all pages, leading to a bad user experience. Identify and fix intrusive interstitials as they ruin the user experience and negatively impact that site’s ranking signal.
Wrapping Up
To sum up, we can say that when it is about ranking web pages, the Google algorithm is gradually shifting toward a more user-centric approach. The websites that emphasize improving user experience and abides by all the core web vitals shall be ranked better. The sooner you make UX improvements on your website, the faster you move ahead of your competitors.
If you liked the article, leave your valuable feedback. Also, read our blog on top Google ranking factors of 2021.
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