Gotta Load Fast – Site Speed Features Heavily in Google’s New Core Web Vitals
The latest major update to Google’s algorithm, known as Core Web Vitals, is slated to go live this June. Make sure your business website is ready.
In an effort to make their search engine better for users, Google updates the search algorithm very often. So often, in fact, that most of these updates go completely under the radar – in 2018, for example, Google made an average of 9 updates to their algorithm every day! However, every so often a bigger update will be announced ahead of implementation to allow web developers and businesses time to evaluate their current site and make any changes necessary. The latest update, known as Core Web Vitals and slated to go into effect in June, focuses on the core user experience of websites and makes this a part of the overall invisible “score” the algorithm gives sites. It is really important to take heed of this update and do what you can to prepare your website for its implementation – businesses who act now can reap the benefits that your competition could miss out on.
Speed is the Name of the Game
Core SEO best practices can be incredibly complex for the typical business owner or executive to understand. However, the Core Web Vitals update can be boiled down into one word – speed. Web users nowadays have certain minimum expectations when it comes to the performance of the website, and anything that interrupts those expectations can cause a potential lead to back out of your site and onto the next site in the search result list. We want to avoid this at all costs, and Google wants to avoid showing their users bad websites as well.
The Core Web Vitals update aims to provide a standard of website performance – designing a site with this in mind, along with existing SEO best practices such as meaningful content, site security, the mobile experience, and much more, can help your site rank higher in SERPs and lead to more traffic. This can, in turn, lead to more and higher quality leads for your business.
The Three Core Web Vitals
Loading – Largest Contentful Paint: this metric indicates the time it takes for the main content on a page to load and be visible on the screen. The value you need to shoot for is less than 2.5 seconds.
Interactivity – First Input Delay: how quickly can a user begin to interact with your content while the page is still loading? This metric measures this value, which should be less than 100 ms.
Visual Stability – Cumulative Layout Shift: we’ve all been on sites where you point your mouse cursor at a hyperlink – only to click on something else unintentionally because the site shifted in the browser. Google does not want to see this and has made a measurement of this shift part of its Core Web Vitals.
What Should I Do?
If your website isn’t performing optimally, the Core Web Vitals update from Google may push your website down in search engine results. The good news is that Google has already announced this update and given businesses plenty of time to evaluate their sites and make changes as necessary. Call Adventure Web Interactive whether your website needs some help or a complete redesign. Our team of experts understands SEO best practices and how all of the individual components – design, security, content, accessibility, user interface, and user experience – combine into a greater whole that works for you and your business. We can also evaluate the performance of your current site and make recommendations for changes to help you adapt to the Core Web Vitals update and provide a better user experience for your potential customers.
Contact Adventure Web Interactive Today
For more tips on how to optimize your website and drive more traffic to your website, follow our blog. Adventure Web Interactive offers expert web design as well as digital marketing solutions, including blog and copywriting and social media management. Take the stress of planning, posting, and plotting off of your team and contact us online or by giving us a call at (410) 788-7007. To see more information about our team and services, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and LinkedIn.
