These web signals, considered essential, have become extremely important for SEO after Google officially announced that they will become ranking factors from 2021.
Although some time has passed since then, many websites are still lacking in performance.
In this article, we will see what Google's Core Web Values are, how they affect SEO, and why it is important to improve your site's performance.
What are the Core Web Values?
Core Web Vit als is a set of metrics that evaluate the user experience on a website in terms of performance, stability, and responsiveness.
They are defined as essential and have become important not only for UX but also for SEO.
While there are other user experience signals armenia mobile phone numbers database these are considered the basic parameters that a quality site should adhere to.
Specifically these
The Biggest Content Pain (LCP)
Initial Entry Delay (FID)
Cumulative Settlement Shift (CLS)
Page Experience Signal - Google
Now let's analyze them one by one.
Maximum Contextual Pain (LCP)
Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) is the first of the Core Web Vitals metrics and measures the loading speed of the content identified as the main (i.e. largest in size in bytes) within the viewport.
This parameter is calculated starting from the first page load and does not take into account all elements, focusing only on images, videos or text blocks.
Likewise, the value is not calculated on the entire page, but only on the part visible on load, discarding clipped or hidden elements.
It is also good to know that the size of the images is calculated on the lower value between the intrinsic and the visible.
Largest Contentful Pain (LCP)
Source: Web.Dev
A low LCP score indicates that the page loads quickly and provides a positive user experience.
The maximum limit that is positively accepted by Google is 2.5 seconds, which means that the most effective content of your site should load within this limit.
Otherwise, the longer your load time, the higher your LCP score will be, so improving your page load speed is crucial.
Initial Entry Delay (FID)
First Input Delay (FID) is the second metric of Core Web Vitals and measures the responsiveness of a web page.
Google says it’s important to make a good first impression, but to do that you can rely on response times, not just looks.
Google has been calculating the First Contentful Paint (FCP) score for some time now to measure the time it takes to load the first piece of content considered important on the screen.
But today, this value no longer seems sufficient, so FID has been used to measure how long it takes for a website to respond to the first user interaction, such as clicking a button or link.
A low FID score indicates that the page is responsive and offers a smooth user experience.
Otherwise, as we saw with the LCP metric, the more time it takes to respond to an interaction, the greater the value.
First Input Delay (FID) Score
Source: Web.Dev
Cumulative Settlement Shift (CLS)
Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) is the last of the Core Web Vitals metrics and measures the visual stability of a web page.
In other words, it evaluates how many page elements move unexpectedly during loading. This problem is often caused by extremely long page rendering times, especially when external resources are loaded and required fields are not predefined.
Getting a low CLS score not only means that the page is stable and could benefit from a higher ranking score, but it also means that it offers a pleasant user experience and is therefore more likely to convert.
In fact, a high score can be a symptom of serious usability issues that go far beyond SEO, and based on my personal experience, I recommend analyzing this metric more carefully.
Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) Score
Source: Web.Dev
Are Core Web Values Really Necessary?
The short answer is yes.
But now I know what you're thinking.
"If core web values are so important, then why are there so many successful sites with very high scores?"
(Remember that when talking about Web Vitals a high score equals a negative value).
Performance is just one of many ranking factors and certainly not the most important for SEO.
Content will continue to dominate loading speed, and that's only natural.
However, it is worth remembering how improving a site’s performance proportionally increases its chances of generating engagement, increasing user retention and reducing bounce rates; all factors that can contribute to better positioning in search results and increased conversions.
Basic Web Vitals Optimization
The first step to improving basic web vitals performance is understanding where to start and what to do.
This is also a process that may seem long and complicated, but with a few specific interventions, you can make improvements in terms of loading speed, responsiveness, and stability.
