Core Web Vitals: Definition, Importance In SEO & Best Practices For 2022

Core Web Vitals are specific parameters and factors that Google uses to “rank” a webpage.

The user’s experience on a web page is a massive determinant if they will revisit it.

The Core Web Vitals provides Google with information regarding the page’s speed and user interaction, considering the layout, input delay, and content.

These factors combined make up a user’s experience on a webpage.

Read on to find out more about Core Web Vitals.

What Are Core Web Vitals?

Core Web Vitals are Google’s way of giving every web page a ranking, or score, based on the user’s experience.

Difference Between Core Web Vitals and Keyword Tracking?

Core Web Vitals considers three factors: loading time, interaction, and visual stability.

Core Web Vitals help provide users with the best interactive experience possible.

Keyword tracking uses specific tools, like SERP checkers, to find and keep track of the naturally-occurring keywords on a webpage.

These keywords need to rank in search engine results to drive users to the webpage, enhancing the number of clicks a company receives and the traffic for a particular link.

Those who use keyword tracking need to consider their keywords’ visibility, volume, page, and position.

How Does Core Web Vitals Work?

Core Web Vitals help measure whether your webpage is poor, needs improvement, or is good for users.

This system uses a ranking, taking into account the largest contentful paint, cumulative layout shift, and first input delay, to determine whether the webpage is successful or not.

What Is the Purpose of Core Web Vitals?

Core Web Vitals realizes that a user’s experience on a webpage is the most crucial factor in whether they will stay on the page, revisit it in the future, or continue browsing.

Google ranks page experience as one of the most important factors for customer experience, taking into account:

• Mobile-friendly layout and information
• Few pop-ups and ads
• Safety (no malware)
• HTTPS link

Core Web Vitals increases the user experience and shows the webpage owners where they may need to improve.

Different Types of Core Web Vitals

Consider the different types of Core Web Vitals to improve the user experience.

• Largest Contentful Paint (LCP): LCP is the measure of how long it takes the web page to buffer when a user clicks on the link. Websites and web page owners should try to have an LCP score of fewer than 2.5 seconds for 75% or more of user visits.
• First Input Delay (FID): FID analyzes the time it takes for a user to begin interacting with a web page. These interactions can range from selecting a choice from a dropdown menu to inputting information into a search bar. The purpose of FID is to analyze how and when users interact with websites. Creators should keep this score below 100 milliseconds.
• Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS): CLS is the changing, moving, or “shifting” of media or visual elements on the page while the web page loads. These elements include fonts, words, banners, images, videos, buttons, and more.

An Example of Core Web Vitals

Curious as to what Core Web Vitals really look like?

Check out this case study by Moz that describes the purpose of CVW, the steps of integrating vitals into a web page’s ranking, and the influence of these three metrics on a webpage’s success.

Do Core Web Vitals Affect SEO?

Core Web Vitals directly affect a website’s search engine optimization since it influences the “page experience” ranking.

Why Are Core Web Vitals Important for SEO?

Core Web Vitals makes up the largest part of Google’s page experience ranking, influencing which web pages are ranked at the top regarding a user’s interaction with a web page.

Core Web Vitals provides hosts with measurable and quantifiable information regarding the user’s experience on a webpage.

If a user has a better experience, they are more likely to click on the page again.

The information from Core Web Vitals provides webpage owners with a detailed analysis regarding what can be improved.

Are Core Web Vitals Necessary?

Yes, they are.

Google made page experience a critical factor in the Google Search criteria back in 2021, increasing the importance of Core Web Vitals in terms of measuring a page’s interactive capabilities, UX, and optimization.

Core Web Vitals are crucial to the SEO score of a website:

• The CWV score is combined with other page ranking data, which can influence the SEO and experience of your web page.
• CWV make up the majority of the page experience factor of a website (what drives a user to return).
• If your web page does not meet the CWV criteria, your page will fall in the search engine rankings.

How Long Does It Take for Core Web Vitals To Work?

Google offers various tools to help users improve their core Web Vitals, such as PageSpeed Insights, Core Web Vitals report, and Chrome User Experience Report.

These three tools can help users immediately view and review their performance.

Process of Checking Core Web Vitals

Users can check their Core Web Vitals by evaluating the effectiveness of their website, debugging their homepage, and monitoring their progress by using third-party and Google integration tools.

Step 1: Collect Data

The first step of checking Core Web Vitals is to collect data via third-party apps or by creating your own tools.

Step 2: Use Google Tools

The second step of checking your Core Web Vitals is to take advantage of the plethora of Google’s integration and analytics tools, which include the following:

• Chrome User Experience Report: This report helps compare your website’s analytics and data to see how it matches up with Chrome user data.
• PageSpeed Insights: This tool is helpful for learning how to test the speed of a web page.
• Search Console: This tool helps evaluate performance regarding specific categories of pages.
• Lighthouse: This tool helps creators find areas of improvement regarding testing, staging, and building phases.
• Web Vitals Chrome: This extension is helpful for owners to measure any changes in their Core Web Vitals throughout their page’s lifespan.
• Chrome Dev Tools: These tools provide in-depth insight into the effectiveness and performance of a webpage.

Step 3: Use Integration Tools

After the analysis of a web page and its performance, creators must use integration tools in the workflow to change any problem areas.

This step includes:

• Recording data in the Core Web Vitals archive/library
• Analyzing the pages performing poorly with the Search Console tool
• Using Chrome User Experience to perform a site-wide assessment
• Using Chrome DevTools to analyze user experience

How To Check Core Web Vitals on a Website

Users can view their Core Web Vitals report on Google to see how their webpage is performing.

Step 1: View the Chart

The Core Web Vitals report provides an overview of the trends of how a web page is performing.

Step 2: Click on “Open Report”

The entire report shows how your page performs based on user data.

Step 3: Select “Poor,” “Needs Improvement,” or “Good”

Creators can see how each one of their web pages is performing based on the specific ranking.

This ranking system allows users to see how three metrics are ranked on a webpage: LCP, FID, and CLS.

Step 4: Analyze the Issues

Creators can see the specific issues regarding a webpage to see what needs to be changed and how to fix them by performing an external test.

Step 5: Click on a Specific URL

Lastly, creators can find a specific URL to see how it is affecting the entire site’s optimization by clicking on the specific URL, running an external test, and troubleshooting the issues.

Core Web Vitals Best Practices

Creators need to follow a few best practices to learn how to improve their Core Web Vitals.

• Minimize JavaScript: JavaScript can slow down your web page, reduce web browser capabilities, and reduce your site’s bandwidth usage and performance.
• Utilize a Content Delivery Network: A content delivery network uses different servers around the world to help keep your data secure. This data security means your website visitors will have a faster loading experience.
• Optimize Fonts: Optimize your web fonts to reduce your file size and speed up the loading process.
• Optimize Images: The second best practice is to optimize your images by using an image compressor, increasing page speed and boosting the ranking on search engines.
• Use the Correct Dimensions To Embed Codes and Images: Using the right dimensions for images and embed codes can help you reserve a space, avoid image shifts, and reduce the CLS score.
• Improve Server Response Time: The last way to boost your Core Web Vitals is to boost your server response time by analyzing your web host server, using CDN, and minimizing slow plugins. For example, editing your WordPress performance plugins can help reduce your server response time and boost SEO for WordPress sites.

Core Web Vitals Tools To Save Time and Money

Creators should use Core Web Vitals Tools to help optimize their web pages, save personal time, and lead to a bigger payoff in the end.

What Are Core Web Vitals Tools?

Core Web Vitals tools are helpful analysis and performance-based measurement tools that provide creators with information regarding how and why they should alter aspects of their webpage.

Our Favorite Core Web Vitals Tools

Check out our top Core Web Vitals tools to help you increase your web page’s experience.

1. WordPress Performance Plugins

WordPress Performance Plugins are helpful tools that increase the optimization of a webpage.

A user can focus on their managed WordPress hosting site by increasing the user experience, integrating helpful content, increasing WordPress SEO optimization, and running analytical tools.

There are numerous WordPress Performance Plugins for users, including:

• WP Smush Pro: This optimization plugin allows users to compress images, load their images, optimize up to 50 images at one time, identify any images bogging down the speed of the server, and resize images to a fast format.
• Perfmatters: This plugin allows users to disable unused WordPress features slowing down the system, disable HTTP script slowing down the web page, and optimize team tasks.
• Cloudflare CDN: Another popular plugin is Cloudflare, a platform that helps protect users from malware attacks by enhancing the site’s security.

Along with the three aforementioned WordPress plugin tools, there are two other options that are effective in website optimization.

2. WP Rocket

WP Rocket is a user-friendly and helpful plugin that helps with optimization, CDN integration, Cloudflare integration, Google Analytics integration, page caching, and Javascript.

WP rocket helps with caching, site speed, and loading information.

The main features of this cache plugin include:

• Combining JavaScript files for faster loading speeds
• Sucuri and Cloudflare integration for multi-app use
• Database optimization
• LazyLoad images to avoid longer buffering times and frozen web pages
• Caching pages for quick loading and viewing
• Preloading page caches
• Decreasing bandwidth usage
• Reducing HTTP requests
• Removing unused CSS to optimize your CSS

3. Imagify

Imagify makes compressing images simple and fast with whatever technology you choose, helping creators speed up their websites.

The main features of Imagify include:

• Optimize Your Pictures: Users can optimize their JPG, PNG, GIF, or PDF files by compression.
• Resizing Images: Users can resize their images for optimal integration.
• Simple and Easy-to-use Layout: Imagify is simple, functional, and easy to use.
• Connect to the API: Users can use Imagify in project development, app creation, or image optimization.

Other Related SEO Terms To Know

If you’re trying to optimize your web page, it’s helpful to know other important SEO terms.

• Cached Data: Cached data is the process of keeping numerous copies of files or data in a storage location (known as a cache), so they can be found quicker and easier in the future.
• Benchmarking: Benchmarking is comparing your web page and site’s performance to the baseline and best practices within the industry.
• Bounce Rate: Bounce Rate is the number, or percentage, of web page visitors that leave the site after seeing only one page (typically the homepage).

Frequently Asked Questions

Knowing the most commonly asked questions is helpful for web page creators to understand popular topics.

Wrapping Up

Online creators need to understand the basics of Core Web Vitals to build an effective webpage for users.

By enhancing the user experience by using analytical tools and optimization tactics, web page owners can drive more traffic to their websites, increase the number of clicks, and boost their web page’s reach.