In May 2020, Google introduced SEOs, brands and their websites to a new set of ranking signals called Core Web Vitals. The goal of Core Web Vitals focuses on improving the usability of a webpage based on page speed and user experience. Google continues to take page experience more seriously and will likely continue adding new metrics to track against. Site owners including SEOs need to continually track these metrics in real-time to ensure web pages meet the specifications and build better websites that take page speed and user experience into consideration.

According to a recent Deloitte study, improving mobile site speed by just one-tenth of a second resulted in significant decreases in bounce rates across the site. In a mobile-first world where over half of all searches occur on a mobile device, tracking Core Web Vitals is becoming more important as consumers become increasingly impatient and expect sites to load quickly to achieve the goals of their search query. 

Core Web Vitals can impact several site initiatives and activities including (but not limited to):

• Bounce Rate
• Conversions
• Average time on page
• E-commerce metrics on PDPs

Brands should optimize their pages to reflect this among other page experience factors including mobile-friendliness, site security, and intrusive interstitials to provide the best experience possible for consumers. As a ranking factor alongside relevance for a page to match a user’s search query, Core Web Vitals can play an important role because slower pages can lead to consumers finding new web pages based on their search. Brands may lose out on initiatives and KPIs such as e-commerce, site visits or time-on-site if consumers keep bouncing off pages with a poor user experience.

Knowing and accepting Core Web Vitals into the industry was a big step for SEOs. But understanding what Core Web Vitals measure is only the first step. There are three primary Core Web Vitals metrics to track performance that digital marketers need to be aware of:

When doing audits, other definitions you may come across include:

• Chrome User Experience Report (CruX): Aggregated field test data for page experience including Core Web Vitals
• Lighthouse (Lab): Controlled testing environment for Core Web Vitals

How to monitor and optimize for Core Web Vitals

The most common way to improve Core Web Vital scores are to optimize JavaScript, CSS and images. Unused JavaScript and images generally consist of the largest file sizes loaded onto your site. While these make your site visually appealing and can improve user experience, ensuring all these are used properly are essential to performance. The SEO team at iCrossing works closely with each team responsible for a digital transformation including web development, user experience and content strategy to ensure websites are built and updated with the best practices and latest technology. We utilize top industry tools and resources to check for Core Web Vitals and deliver comprehensive reports to clients to capture opportunities to improve site performance. These reports are run on an ad-hoc basis and we also build and deliver monthly reports.

The most common way to improve Core Web Vital scores are to optimize JavaScript, CSS and images. Unused JavaScript and images generally consist of the largest file sizes loaded onto your site. While these make your site visually appealing and can improve user experience, ensuring all these are used properly are essential to performance. The SEO team at iCrossing works closely with each team responsible for a digital transformation including web development, user experience and content strategy to ensure websites are built and updated with the best practices and latest technology. We utilize top industry tools and resources to check for Core Web Vitals and deliver comprehensive reports to clients to capture opportunities to improve site performance. These reports are run on an ad-hoc basis and we also build and deliver monthly reports.

When to incorporate SEO into your Core Web Vitals

Core Web Vitals issues can occur on any page on your site but leveraging your SEO team and prioritizing webpages can help improve performance across your site and on your most visited or impactful pages. Optimizations could occur on a template basis or page by page, but should be tracked and monitored regularly. If a site is going through a migration or general maintenance, communicating updates should occur early in the process so nothing is built upon a site with a poor foundation.

iCrossing can help optimize your site’s Core Web Vitals and usability. Contact us to see how our SEO team can set up a foundation for long-term SEO success including Core Web Vitals best practices.