Why you need to take core web vitals seriously

We are getting closer to the launch date of the new Google ranking factor called Core Web Vitals. Is this yet another attempt by Google to shake the industry up a bit? Maybe, but this one is for once actually favorable for both publishers, advertisers, and website visitors.

Google has confirmed that Core Web Vitals will become the official ranking factor for search results in May 2021. In our 4-part blog series about Core Web Vitals, you will learn everything you need to know about the new ranking factor. In part 1 we’ll dig deeper into what Core Web Vitals are and the importance of a good Core Web Vitals score. In parts 2,3 and 4, we’ll cover what LCP, FID, and CLS are and give you our best tips on how to improve your Core Web Vitals.

Publisher, is your traffic coming from search engines?

Publisher, if a significant part of your traffic comes from search engines and search, read carefully because this is extremely important for you. The Core Web Vitals will affect your appearance on search engines tremendously, so in order to keep getting those traffic streams, you need to pay extra attention to guarantee that you meet the criteria for a great Core Web Vital score. We are not saying that the rest can just lay back and relax, this new update will affect everyone online, but especially those who are dependant on search traffic. A poor Core Web Vital score indicates that your site is not user-friendly, which itself should be something you would want to fix ASAP. As the Core Web Vitals ranking will have an impact on your SERP results and your traffic streams it will also affect your revenue, something you might not have taken into consideration.

What are core web vitals?

Core Web Vitals are an initiative from Google to update its algorithm so that it favors page experience as a ranking signal. This means that page experience will become an official Google ranking factor from May 2021 onwards. Core Web Vitals will be added to an existing group of metrics called Page Experience Metrics, a set of factors that affect a website’s user experience. Other factors that Google uses to measure the user experience are:

• Mobile-friendliness
• HTTPS
• Safe browsing
• No interstitials

Added factors that sum up to Core Web Vitals are:

• Largest Contentful Pain = LCP
• First Input Delay = FID
• Cumulative Layout Shift = CLS

To explain it shortly, Google is adding a selection of ranking factors to score your page that focuses more on the user experience, rather than traditional ranking factors. In other words, how pleasant your site is to browse will have an impact on how well it scores.

Why are core web vitals so important?

Why are Core Web Vitals on everyone’s lips suddenly and are they really that important? Well, we all know by now that Google likes to shake up its algorithm and does so bi-weekly, almost. However, they usually tweak and launch without saying a peep about it, so if and when Google rolls out an official press release 6 months prior to the release of the new features, yes it’s something needed to be taken seriously.

Most websites are, like it or not, dependent on Google for traffic and SERP ranking. The Core Web Vitals are going to have a large impact on the ranking and appearance in search engines, so yes, it’s important to implement the suggested improvements and meet the quality standards Core Web Vitals demand. Rumor has it that Core Web Vitals will become the new criteria to meet in order to appear in Google’s Top Stories, meaning the section at the top of search results. Formerly, AMP-pages were the needed criteria to appear in Top Stories, but after the launch of Core Web Vitals, this will no longer be the case. You can read more about AMP-pages, also an initiative by Google, in our blog post What is AMP.

Something that’s also worthwhile keeping in mind is that Core Web Vitals is not really a new, groundbreaking innovation taking place, it’s more just a clear ranking factor on things that should already be in place if you have a qualitative website, meaning a fast load, interactive elements, and a visually stable site. With or without Google making these things an official ranking factor, it’s important to implement these things and guarantee your visitors a great user experience.

CONCLUSION

You can bet your bottom dollar that Google will keep a close eye on the Core Web Vitals when these are launched, so we highly recommend that you follow the instructions and fix the potential low-scores you have on your site. It’s a huge risk for publishers to ignore the Core Web Vitals, as these affect your ranking, and if you get a poor ranking, it will affect your appearance on search engines and most likely harm your traffic amounts. Low traffic equals low revenue streams, and we bet that’s not anything you are interested in.

We at Kiosked strive to keep all our publishers informed about upcoming trends, regulations, and policies, and we want to make sure that everyone is up to date and informed about the new upcoming tweaks to the algorithm, as it can and will affect the traffic and revenue a lot. If you have any questions regarding Core Web Vitals or monetization in general, don’t hesitate to drop us a line at sales@kiosked.com and we are happy to help.

Next week we’ll be back with Part 2 of the Core Web Vitals series, and we’ll dig deeper into what actually is being measured, what Largest Contentful Paint is, and how you can improve it.

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