Core Web Vitals: How to Prepare Your Website for Google’s Algorithm Update.

Brace yourself; the Core Web Vitals update is coming. If you’ve not prepared yourself yet for the impending change, then you should consider reading this article.

Core Web Vitals Explained

You may not yet know what Core Web Vitals even means. That’s fair; after all, it’s only just starting to be spoken about regarding SEO.

The Core Web Vitals refers to, as you could probably guess, some core factors that help with ranking a website.

They are mainly to do with the reactivity of a page when you click on something, the loading speed of elements, and the layout’s stability.

We’ll go over each of these towards the end, but for now, you should think about how you can prepare for these changes.

Preparation Is Key

With your SEO campaign, you will want to get the best results possible. We believe in three core SEO pillars when it comes to getting a site to the top of the search results, and that’s to do with technical, content, and authority.

In order to get the best results, you should create an action plan based on an in-depth audit to help propel you to the very top of Google.

The bottom line is, you should know how your website is working to get the best out of it. Consider the tools you’re using to create your site; you want the best web development at your disposal to help give you a shot at the big leagues.

What You Should Think About Now

Earlier this year, Google announced that Core Web Vitals would officially become a ranking factor in May 2021. For you, as a website owner, that means several things.

Firstly, if your website has a few graphics and elements, and they can take time to load, Google will start placing its focus on the loading time of the most significant graphic element; this will be known as the LCP.

The LCP stands for largest contentful paint. Previously, the loading time for the first elements to appear was the most important, but that’s about to change. Generally speaking, Google ranks these into three different categories.

Secondly, we have the FID, otherwise known as the first input delay. As touched upon earlier, this refers to how interactive a page is in terms of when something is clicked upon. Google ranks this quicker than the LCP.

Lastly, in terms of Core Web Vitals, we have the CLS cumulative layout shift. This jolly sounding name refers to the visual stability measurement of the site. Complicated sites will stagger the loading of different sections of content, altering the end view. CLS basically means the time it takes for all elements to move in their final place.

You can measure your data via looking at your web analytics to find out what is working for your site right now and what will need further work.

The below website’s desktop and mobile speeds have improved by implementing the Core Web Vitals best practices and recommendations.

Another example from Google Search Console’s preview on how a website’s URLs have improved by implementing Google’s Core Web Vitals recommendations.