The Impact of Core Web Vitals on SEO and User Experiencel

Core Web Vitals were introduced by Google in 2021 as a series of essential performance criteria to determine the user experience (UX) on a website. They have a direct impact on SEO (organic referencing), as they influence a site’s positions in search results. In this article, we will explore in detail what Core Web Vitals are, their influence on SEO, and the strategies to adopt to improve the performance of your site.

What are Core Web Vitals?

Core Web Vitals are performance indicators that measure user experience in terms of loading speed, responsiveness, and visual stability. Google has defined them as essential criteria for good SEO, as they have a direct impact on user satisfaction. These three metrics are:

LCP (Largest Contentful Paint)

This metric measures how quickly the main content of the page loads. The goal is for LCP to occur within 2.5 seconds of the page starting to load to ensure a smooth experience.

FID (First Input Delay)

This metric measures how long it takes for a page to become interactive. In other words, how long does it take before the user can interact with the page, whether by clicking a button or scrolling down the page? Google recommends that the FID be less than 100 milliseconds to ensure optimal responsiveness.

CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift)

It measures the visual stability of the page by monitoring unexpected movements of the content. A low CLS score (less than 0.1) indicates that the content remains stable during loading, which improves readability and interaction with the site.

These three criteria are essential for a quality user experience and, as a result, are now key factors in Google’s algorithm.

How Do Core Web Vitals Influence SEO?

Core Web Vitals are not simply technical measures, but elements that directly influence SEO. Google has announced that it will use these indicators as ranking factors, meaning that the quality of the Core Web Vitals could influence a site’s position in search results. A site with poor performance on these indicators will see its ranking drop, while an optimized site may benefit from them.

Google’s goal is to ensure that users find sites that are not only relevant in terms of content but also perform well and are pleasant to use. A poor score on Core Web Vitals can lead to a high bounce rate because users are less likely to wait for content to load or interact with a site that is not responsive.

The Importance of Loading Speed

LCP is a major indicator of page load time. If a page takes too long to display its main content, it will have a negative impact on the user experience. Users expect fast websites, and if a site takes more than three seconds to load, the probability of a bounce increases significantly. This can lead to a decrease in user engagement and ultimately SEO performance.

Tips to improve LCP:

• Optimize Images: Make sure your images are appropriately sized and compressed without losing quality.
• Use a CDN (Content Delivery Network): A CDN can speed up page loading by distributing content from servers located closer to the user.
• Reduce Blocking Scripts: External scripts can slow down loading times. Prioritize essential scripts and defer the rest.

Site Responsiveness and FID

FID measures how responsive a page is after the user’s first click. This includes the responsiveness of buttons, links, and interactive elements. A FID above 100 milliseconds indicates that the page is taking too long to respond to user actions, which can lead to frustration.

Tips to improve FID:

• Minimize JavaScript: Unoptimized JavaScript can slow down the interactivity of a page. It is essential to reduce the size of JavaScript files and defer them.
• Use the “lazy loading” technique for non-essential resources: Lazy loading allows non-visible resources to be loaded only when they are needed, which improves the overall responsiveness of the page.

Visual Stability and CLS

Another important factor is CLS, which measures the visual stability of your page. A high CLS score means that elements on the page are moving unpredictably while loading, disrupting the browsing experience. Users may click the wrong button or lose their place on the page, which can lead to a high bounce rate.

Tips to improve CLS:

• Reserve space for images: By specifying the dimensions of images or video elements, you allow the browser to reserve enough space before the image is fully loaded.
• Avoid invasive ads: Ads that appear and move content around on the page can greatly affect the CLS score. Avoid pop-up ads or make sure they are sized correctly.
• Use CSS animations: Well-designed animations that don’t cause sudden content shifts are essential for maintaining good CLS.

Measuring and improving Core Web Vitals

Google provides several tools to help webmasters measure and improve their Core Web Vitals scores:

• Google PageSpeed ​​Insights: This tool provides specific recommendations for each page, including suggestions for improving the three main metrics.
• Google Search Console: You can use Search Console to get a report on your site’s performance on Core Web Vitals, including which pages need improvement. improvements.
• Lighthouse: An audit tool that analyzes your site’s performance and provides a detailed report on LCP, FID, CLS, and other technical aspects of SEO.

Conclusion

Core Web Vitals are not just a set of technical criteria, but essential factors for your site’s user experience and SEO. By optimizing loading speed (LCP), responsiveness (FID), and visual stability (CLS), you not only improve your position in Google’s search results, but you also provide your users with a pleasant and fluid experience. Ultimately, Google’s goal is to provide the best possible experience for its users, and sites that meet these criteria will benefit from higher rankings and greater visitor satisfaction.