What is the significance of Core Web Vitals for SEO?

Author: Kurt Schauer

Since May 2021, Google has introduced a new ranking factor: the Page Experience. The Core Web Vitals play a central role in this. But what exactly does Page Experience encompass, and what lies behind Core Web Vitals? Above all, the question arises: What does this mean for the ranking and search engine optimization of your website?

In this article, we would like to explain the most important terms and measures to you. We will also show you how you can determine how well your website is positioned in terms of Core Web Vitals.

What exactly does Page Experience include?

With the Page Experience ranking factor, Google is implementing a new algorithm that is strongly oriented toward the actual user experience. This involves technical factors that are crucial for the user experience when interacting with a website.

Even though relevant content continues to play a central role in a satisfactory user experience, the following applies: A website can still rank in the top positions even if its Page Experience factor is weaker — provided it impresses with particularly high-quality content.

However, when two pages are similarly relevant in terms of content, the one with the better Page Experience will receive a higher ranking.

What factors does Page Experience consider?

The ranking factor Page Experience combines the Core Web Vitals with existing user experience signals. Google highlights the following factors:

Mobile friendliness: More than 50% of users now browse the internet on their smartphones. Therefore, seamless operation of the site on mobile devices is essential for a positive user experience.

Safe Browsing: For Google, safe browsing means avoiding pages in search results that could cause potential harm. This includes insecure connections that enable fraudulent activities like phishing, as well as pages that have been hacked, inject malware, or offer unwanted software for download. According to Google, such pages do not provide „safe browsing.“

HTTPS security: A secure HTTPS connection is recognizable by the small padlock symbol next to the URL. These security certificates ensure secure data transmission between the website and the user’s browser. The data is protected from eavesdropping and manipulation by third parties during transmission. Google increasingly considers this factor important for Page Experience.

Intrusive Interstitial Guidelines: Intrusive interstitials are obtrusive pop-ups that cover a large part or the entire content of a page. Especially when accessing pages via mobile devices, such pop-ups are very annoying for users. Therefore, pages with such pop-ups are downgraded in terms of user-friendliness. Exceptions include legally required queries, such as those for cookies or age ratings.

In addition to these existing Page Experience factors, Core Web Vitals are now being added. These form a set of core metrics for evaluating website performance and encompass various aspects of the user experience when interacting with a webpage. Google will thus place even more emphasis on the user experience when browsing in the future. In detail, Core Web Vitals are a compilation of metrics for loading time, which we would like to briefly introduce to you below.

Core Web Vitals at a Glance:

Largest Contentful Paint (LCP): This metric assesses a page’s loading speed by measuring the time it takes to load the largest visible content (usually a video, image, or text block) after a user has accessed a URL. A short loading time for the main content is crucial for a positive user experience.
First Input Delay (FID): FID measures how quickly a page responds to a user’s first interaction. This means it measures the time between an action (e.g., clicking a button or a link) and the moment the browser responds to that action. A fast response time is crucial for a positive first impression, as it shows that your website functions reliably and user-friendly.
Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS): This metric records all unexpected layout shifts that occur on a page and summarizes them into a single value. Often, ad banners or pop-up buttons cause unwanted content shifts, for example, text blocks suddenly moving. This is particularly annoying for users and will be negatively evaluated in the future as part of the Page Experience.

How can Core Web Vitals be measured?

Core Web Vitals originated from the analytics tool Google Lighthouse, which is primarily used to conduct detailed performance analyses of websites and URLs. The SEO analysis tool Searchmetrics has also already examined similar parameters regarding their importance for a good ranking and developed the Google Lighthouse ranking factors from them.

SEOs and website operators can analyze Core Web Vitals with the following tools:

Google Search Console
PageSpeed Insights
Google Lighthouse
Chrome DevTools
Chrome UX Report
Web Vitals Extension

Google plans to gradually integrate the measurement of Core Web Vitals into these tools. For popular content management systems (CMS) like WordPress, Google already provides specific guidance on which settings or plugins cause problems and shows how these can be resolved.

The best part: To correctly understand the metrics in the tools, website operators do not need to be performance experts or SEO specialists. Nevertheless, it is helpful to be able to correctly interpret the Core Web Vitals data to specifically improve usability and sustainably optimize the user experience.

Do you have questions?

Kurt Schauer

Managing Director