You might have heard of Core Web Vitals (CWV) before—or this term might be news to you. It’s a relatively new set of metrics used by Google to assist with user experience and page performance. Generally speaking, Google put forth CWV to help developers and site publishers improve the experience for site visitors. But what if you aren’t a web developer? Can you still glean something from CWV as an interested layman or on-the-go business owner? The million dollar question: What does this mean for me? Allow us to provide an answer.
Core Web Vitals: What Is It Exactly?
As mentioned, Core Web Vitals is a set of metrics rolled out by Google with the intent of helping, and enhancing, users’ web experience. This metric set is broken down into three key areas that affect user experience: page speed load time, ease of interaction, and UX stability of a page. Core Web Vitals addresses these in three respective parts, including LCP, CLS, and FID.
Now what do these alphabet terms mean? LCP stands for Largest Contentful Paint, and is involved with render time for website elements (think images and text). CLS is short for Cumulative Layout Shift—and it measures any shift in buttons, banners, text, and other display elements that could impede a user’s ability to successfully read or navigate a page. Finally, FID is an acronym for First Input Delay, and it tracks input delay from the user’s perspective through clicks and key presses. This last metric might be more out of your hands, as it could be influenced by a user’s particular device and internet speed.
What Does CWV Mean for Me?
As a developer, Core Web Vitals probably means more to you than a marketing director, project manager, or business owner. It actively checks, and reflects, major UX aspects of your pages. But, even if you aren’t a developer, CWV should be on your radar. It is a ranking factor for web pages—albeit more minor than previously thought.
So what does CWV mean in the grand scheme? Even if you’re an entrepreneur with little-to-no SEO or web development background, Core Web Vitals means something to you: It actively measures webpage performance, which can play a role in leads, sales, conversions, and advertising. In effect, CWV can be a bottom line boon, if not boom. Insights into page speed, interaction, and page UX can offer you—or whoever you have running your site—much-needed perspective into how you can improve user experience across your site. This, in turn, will lead to a site experience that encourages contact, click-through, and conversions.
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So, what’s the verdict on Core Web Vitals? Thankfully, these metrics aren’t as weighted as once thought: Relevance still holds the crown when it comes to ranking. But CWV shouldn’t be overlooked. As the name suggests, they’re vital to an overall improved user experience, which offers ongoing benefit to you.
Having trouble wrapping your head around all the complex facets that inform, and are involved with, SEO? We come with certified geeks who are all over that kind of stuff. Contact Uptick Marketing for a no-hassle chat about how we can help optimize your site, improve page user experience, and enhance your ROI.