You don't know the code? You still need to know the core Google web important

If Google SEO is important to your website, then this summer is the time to update the core.

In mid-June, Google will start using page experience as a ranking factor . It won't have a full impact on the rating system until August.

Now is the time to check Core Web Vitals , which are important to the user experience. You need to make them robust so that Google can pick them up.

User experience (#CoreWebVitals) became a ranking factor for @Google this summer. Is your website ready? @ab 80 @CMICContent #SEO Click to Tweet Even if you're not a webmaster or programmer, it's a good idea to understand all of its meanings and terms so you can advocate for improvements and work closely with your tech team to make things happen. that becomes a reality.

And if you're tech-savvy, this can be a useful supplement with a section devoted to optimization written for you.

What is Core Web Vitals?

Core Web Vitals includes page experience elements. Unlike other data from your website collected by Google bots this data regarding user behavior is obtained from Using Chrome .

The #CoreWebVitals data on your site comes from real user behavior on your site, @ab says 80 via @CMIContent. #SEO Click to post a Tweet To test Core Web Vitals for your site, log in Google Search Console your and go to the Experience > Core Web Vitals report:

TIP: To dig deeper, open the report and click on the issue line you want to investigate.

The report reflects two use cases – mobile and desktop. While Google hasn't said which has more weight, the position of the mobile report above the desktop report can be a subtle indicator. Also, although not a ranking factor, Google is very interested in AMP – accelerated mobile pages.

Keeping that in mind, a mobile-first approach will likely be more than helpful for your site's Core Web Vitals impact, although that doesn't mean you can skip sessions. desktop version.

Learn terms

Page analysis provides four important metrics: first-content paint (FCP), largest-content paint (LCP), first input delay (FID), and cumulative layout shift (CLS). . It also conveniently displays the metric's performance as good, in need of improvement or poor.

Paint the content first

Paint the content first (FCP) measures the time from when a page begins to load until any piece of content appears on the screen.

Paint the biggest content

Biggest satisfied paint (LCP) measures a page's load speed – the time between a link click and the first view of the largest content element on the page. Unlike FCP, LCP is a better indicator of total page load speed since the largest element is usually the last element loaded.

First input delay

First input delay (FID) measures page engagement and responsiveness – the time between a user interaction and the browser's response to that interaction on the page. It is not possible to simulate this metric as it requires real user interaction.

The impact of the FID score depends on the type of site. For example, the FID metric for a blog page wouldn't be so important because blog pages aren't made for interaction. But the FID score for a signup or download page will be important because they require input from the user. Those are the sites that you should strive for in order to get a green FID score.

Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS)

Cumulative layout shifting shows the visual stability of the page. It helps you see how often users experience unexpected layout changes. For example, page elements can change position as they load, resulting in visitors clicking quickly to be taken to a page they don't want.

Find out your page score

You can view your Core Web Vitals report in Google Search Console or enter a URL PageSpeed Insights Tool to view this analysis.

This is an analysis of the mobile edition of CNN's international homepage ( http://edition.cnn.com ):

TIP: If you use the Core Web Vitals report to check your metrics, click the affected URL to visit PageSpeed Insights to get the information below.

The PageSpeed Insights report identifies opportunities for improvement:

When you click the down arrow icon to the right, you'll see a suggested fix – as shown in the preload key requirements category above.

Your @Google PageSpeed Insights report identifies opportunities and diagnoses with suggested fixes, @ab says 80 via @CMIContent. #SEO Click to Tweet The analysis also gives a diagnostic report. Similar to the opportunity report, when you click the down arrow icon, more details and recommendations appear:

TIP: In PageSpeed Insights, you can only test one page at a time, so analyzing all of your site's pages and saving the results can be a challenge. For quick bulk testing, you can use SEO tools like WebSite Auditor (disclosure: I work for the company) and Screaming Frog crawl Core Web Vitals for each page of the site.

Image source

Read this if you are a webmaster (if not, skip to the bottom)

Most of these fixes require you to know and have access to the back end of the website. If that's not you, go to the last part. If that's the case, read on to learn some optimization tricks for LCP, FID, and CLS.

Optimized for LCP

With LCP measuring the load time of the page's largest content element, optimize that element so it's not too heavy.

Make sure you have meaningful elements (first largest content element) near the top of the page (header and svg elements don't count.) Otherwise LCP load time will be much longer, affect your LCP score.

Minify JavaScript and CSS as much as possible because they slow down the page. Do the same reduction or removal of third-party scripts. ( Every third party script slows the page down by 34 multiple sclerosis.)

Slow loading setting. This feature allows the browser to load content such as Picture and video only when the user scrolls down the page thus making LCP reach much faster.

Optimized for FID

Heavy JavaScript is the most common obstacle to achieving a good FID score. Remove excessive JavaScripts. Among other options:

Break long-lived code into smaller, asynchronous tasks.

Optimize the page for readiness to interact .

Removes too many third-party scripts.

Using web workers .

Enable page caching for faster responses.

Optimizing CLS

CLS is probably the Core Web Vital that deals with the most content. To lower your CLS score:

Set the size property size for any part of the media (images, GIFs, videos, etc) to tell the user's browser how much space each element will take up/

Leave a spot for ads on the page so they don't suddenly appear in the middle of a loading page.

Place new UI elements above the fold so the loaded portion of the page doesn't shift.

For those who want to dive into all the technical details of CLS optimization, Google's John Muller recommends The almost complete guide to cumulative layout shifting . It carefully explains all the peculiarities of CLS and can be of good use to SEOs and webmasters.

Optimization from a strong position

While performing page experience optimization is super technical, all content marketers can benefit by knowing the language and elements of what's important and why.

And it's true that optimizing Core Web Vitals is an adjustment step. Content quality and backlink profile remain the most influential factors . After all, load times and user experience don't matter much if searchers don't want to read your content.

RELATED CONTENT TO BE HAND-VIEWED: 3 types of backlinks you want your content to get (and how to get them)

Gather with your fellow content marketers and talk tech this June 8 with 10 for the virtual ContentTECH Summit. Sign up today .

Cover photo by Joseph Kalinowski / Content Marketing Institute