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Why are Core Web Vitals (CWV) so important?
Core Web Vitals are a set of metrics that evaluate the user experience quality of a website.
They include three main parameters known as the “Core” metrics:
- – Largest Contentful Paint (LCP): Measures loading performance.
- – Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS): Assesses visual stability.
– First Input Delay (FID): Evaluates page interactivity. (Deprecated in march 2024)- – Interaction To Next Paint (INP): Evaluates interactivity
These metrics are essential for Google to determine the quality of a website, impacting SEO and overall user satisfaction. Letโs explore how to optimize them step by step.
What Are Core Web Vitals?
Core Web Vitals are metrics designed to measure the quality of the user experience on a website. These metrics focus on three key parameters, referred to as the “Core”:
- – Largest Contentful Paint (LCP): Measures loading speed.
- – First Input Delay (FID): Assesses page interactivity (replaced by INP in March 2024).
- – Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS): Evaluates visual stability during loading.
- – Interaction to Next Paint (INP): Measures the responsiveness of a webpage during all interactions
Google considers these metrics critical for assessing website quality. Hereโs a closer look at each:
Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) โ Loading Speed of Main Content
LCP measures the perceived loading speed of a webpage by tracking the render time of the largest visible element in the viewport. Google defines the following thresholds:
- – Good: โค 2.5 seconds
- – Needs Improvement: 2.51 โ 4.0 seconds
- – Poor: > 4.1 seconds
To achieve a good LCP, the largest element on the page should load within 2.5 seconds after the server request.
Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) โ Visual Stability
CLS measures the visual stability of a webpage by detecting unexpected layout shifts during page load. Google defines the following thresholds:
- – Good: < 0.1
- – Needs Improvement: 0.1 โ 0.25
- – Poor: > 0.25
To optimize CLS, analyze elements causing layout shifts, such as images, videos, or third-party ads, and ensure they have defined dimensions or appropriate CSS properties.
Interaction to Next Paint (INP) โ The Metric for Interactivity
INP replaced FID in March 2024 as the Core Web Vitals metric for interactivity. Unlike FID, which only measured the delay of the first interaction, INP evaluates the responsiveness of all interactions on a page and reports the longest delay. This shift reflects Google’s emphasis on overall page interactivity rather than a single eventย and defines the following thresholds:
- – Good: โค 200 ms
- – Needs Improvement: 201 โ 500 ms
- – Poor: > 500 ms
Optimizing for INP involves minimizing input delay, reducing processing time, and avoiding layout updates that block rendering.
First Input Delay (FID) โ Page Interactivity (deprecated metric)
FID measured the responsiveness of a webpage during the first user interaction. Although Google defined these thresholds for FID:
- – Good: โค 100 ms
- – Needs Improvement: 101 โ 300 ms
- – Poor: > 300 ms
FID was replaced by Interaction to Next Paint (INP) in March 2024 to better evaluate overall page responsiveness. INP tracks all interactions on the page, reporting a single value that reflects the latency of the slowest interactions.
For FID, optimization focused on reducing the impact of resource-heavy elements, such as JavaScript files. Now, INP offers a more comprehensive measure of interactivity, requiring careful attention to all user actions and their subsequent responses.
Why Core Web Vitals Are Crucial for SEO
Core Web Vitals have become essential ranking factors in Google’s algorithm, directly impacting visibility and user engagement. A well-optimized site not only ranks higher but also provides a seamless browsing experience that increases conversions.
You can check our article on how to optimize core web vitals, but if you want simplify the process, Tuurbo offers a comprehensive solution that automates Core Web Vitals optimization, improving performance metrics without the need for extensive development.
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