You probably recently learned about Core Web Vitals and you are wondering what exactly this is, what it means for your business website and how you can ensure your scores remain good to rank in google. Google’s ranking algorithm’s rollout spreading over the period June 2021 to August 2021 includes Core Web Vitals as a major ranking factor.
If you want your business website to rank better or to keep its ranking in google then you should learn about Core Web Vitals, how to see your score, learn why you need to improve it and how.
Usually, digital marketing agencies like AB Designs offer these services as part of their Internet Marketing packages.
Definition of Core Web Vitals
Core Web Vitals is a measurement of multiple metrics in a formula that allows google to gauge user experience on a particular website. Google is focusing more on the user experience to make sure it serves the best references to its users when they perform a search.
The way that Google determines your score is by using 3 quality tests or 3 Web Vitals:
- Largest Contentful Paint (LCP)
- First Input Delay (FID)
- Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS)
You can read more about each one of these in our article about optimising your website to rank in Google.
How to see Core Web Vitals score
Pagespeed Insights
To see your current score, you can head to Google Pagespeed insights and insert your URL. You will be able to see your score as well as recommendations on steps you can take to improve your Core Web Vitals score.
Some of these steps are easy for you to take and some might require a more technical approach.
Google Search Console
If you want a more detailed view of your data, then you should head to Google Search Console and, provided you have already verified your website or domain, you should be able to see your metrics directly in your dashboard.
If your site is still new, then you might not yet see these results in search console.
Chrome browser extension
Alternatively, you can use Google Chrome’s integrated lighthouse tool to check on your Core Web Vitals. Right-click anywhere on your screen, select “inspect” and then choose “lighthouse” tab at the top in the right panel. Then, click on ‘generate report’ and Google Chrome will scan your website live. You should conduct this exercise while browsing in incognito mode to make sure that your score is not impacted by any third-party extensions.
Why should I improve my Core Web Vitals
Google is using your Core Web Vitals metrics to rank your website and this should be reason enough. If you don’t show up in the search results it is the same as not having an online presence and losing a huge part of the market.
Over and above this, your Core Web Vitals are a way to gauge the user experience on your website. You want to identify what gives the best experience to your users as this is also what will encourage them to stick with you as a brand or to purchase your products.
No one likes slow websites, or annoying flying popups all over the place and unresponsive websites. Making sure you keep your Vitals optimized will offer a better experience and increase your chances of converting your website visits into sales.
How to improve my Core Web Vitals
On-Page SEO
There are two approaches when dealing with improving your vitals to rank in Google. First, you need to look at your On-Page SEO. We have recently published an article explaining the steps to optimizing your on-page SEO. You will find out all the steps you need to take in order to make sure that your website is completely optimized and ready. Some of these improvements include:
- Image optimisation
- Cache plugins
- CDN plugin
- Improving CLS
- Improving FID
- Improving LCP
When you are done optimizing your website, you must also make sure that external factors to it are also optimum.
Hosting
We use Siteground which offers a very fast and robust cloud platform. Siteground is also officially recommended by WordPress. They keep upgrading their offers and services continually and have their own premium plugin which comes free on the WordPress repository and works only on WordPress installations that are on their platforms.
This plugin allows you to easily tweak your website’s settings to make the most of Siteground‘s technology and to make your website faster. It takes into consideration the Core Web Vitals and you should see a great improvement of your vitals once you activate the plugin.
Conclusion
To rank in Google there is a lot of technical work you need to do in the background and it is also important to keep up-to-date with new and upcoming Google algorithm updates. To get quality results, you will need to understand what Internet Marketing is and invest time in building your online reputation.
If you need help or you would like to chat and see how my team can help you, get in touch or book a casual virtual coffee.
We can help!
