If you were forced to choose just one thing on which to focus all your SEO efforts, what would it be? Some SEO agencies would say Core Web Vitals. Though there are other possibilities, focusing on Core Web Vitals wouldn’t be a bad idea. In fact, they are something every SEO agency should be concerned about.
To fully appreciate Core Web Vitals, you need to understand that Google relies on hundreds of metrics to determine page ranking. They have a core group of metrics that directly impact user experience. This small number of metrics is what Google refers to as Core Web Vitals.
The Three Core Web Vitals Every SEO Agency Should Know
You might be surprised to learn that there are just three metrics within this Core Web Vitals group. All three relate to website performance with respect to the user experience. Here they are:
- Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) – LCP is a measurement of load speed based on an estimation of how long it will take the largest piece of content to fully display in a browser’s viewport.
- First Input Delay (FID) – FID is a measurement of how responsive a site is in terms of interacting with a visitor. It measures the amount of delay between a user’s first action and their browser’s response to that action. The shorter the response time, the better.
- Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) – CLS is a measurement of a page’s visual stability. It is mathematically quantified by calculating how often different elements shift around a page unexpectedly. The lower the CLS score, the more visually stable a page is.
All three things matter to user experience. Websites that take too long to load get left behind. Sites that are not responsive enough or are bogged down by constantly shifting elements chase visitors away.
What Google Says About Core Web Vitals
Every SEO agency should be intimately familiar with Core Web Vitals and their relationship to user experience. We can confidently say that the entire Webtek staff gets it. But do not take our word for it. If you don’t think Core Web Vitals are as important as we say they are, check out Google’s support site for yourself.
Here are just five statistics Google cites:
- Visitors are 24% less likely to abandon pages that meet Core Web Vitals standards.
- Conversion rates increase by 1.3% for every 100ms reduction in LCP.
- Reducing CLS by 0.2 increases page views by 15% and decreases bounce rates by 1.72%.
- Meeting Core Web Vitals standards helped at least one company boost ad revenues by 18% and page views by 27%.
- Reducing CLS from 1.65 to 0 helped another company improve its global domain rankings.
If you are interested in reading specific case studies on Core Web Vitals, follow the link on the Google support page. And if not, at least accept the fact that Google takes Core Web Vitals seriously because they affect how visitors perceive Google search results.
A Faster and More Responsive Site
What does all this mean for your site? It means that you and your SEO agency should put whatever effort is necessary into improving your Core Web Vitals performance. You should be working to reduce LCP and CLS. You should be working to increase visual stability. Get these things right and you should notice a measurable improvement in everything from page views to conversion rates.
When you think about it, focusing on improving the user experience goes a long way to achieving what you are after with your webpage. Google has simply quantified it in their Web Core Vitals measurements.
