Core Website Vitals: What do we know?

Core Web Vitals include user-centred metrics, which gives scores on elements of your pages including load time, interactivity and stability of content as it loads.

When you group the above elements together, you get the Page Experience name. 

Google has previously said that Page Experience on its own is not a ranking factor, but each element within will carry its own weight in the Google ranking algorithm.

To achieve good Page Experience, you should consider checking each of these elements and then making any recommended improvements to your website.

It isn’t known which element carries the most or least weight in Google’s ranking algorithm, so it is probably best to work on each metric.

As a digital agency, we’re constantly looking out for the latest announcements from Google. That’s why we’ve already covered Google’s announcement earlier this year. Find out what Google’s new update means for your SEO.

How will search visibility be impacted?

It isn’t known for sure how Google’s new update will impact search visibility, but seasoned SEO professionals have given their verdicts.

In a poll carried out by Search Engine Journal, SEO professionals seemed to be uncertain about the impact of Core Web Vitals on search rankings.

Ultimately, they decided that “it depends”.

It’s no surprise that they came to conclusion. Digital marketing professionals haven’t yet been offered any solid answers from Google.

Potential high impact

Here’s what Disney’s SEO Analyst predicts the potential impact could be.

“I think this update will be really big. For a lot of websites, this will mean completely changing the way their templates are coded and how their resources are rendered.

Projects like these can take some time to execute so prioritising them in your roadmaps early on is important.

Additionally, there could be a positive impact for non-AMP websites that are well optimised. Showing up in Google’s Top Stories can help publishers command more SERP real estate when they may have previously struggled.

News publishers who’ve benefited from using AMP can probably expect to see a lot more competition after the update.“

Potential moderate impact

Here’s what the SEO Content Strategist at Entertainment Weekly predicts the potential impact could be.

“Google has clarified the specific measurement points of something we have known is important for a while: how (and how quickly) our page load.

It’s helpful to know the specific benchmarks Google is using to quantify these broad terms, but it hasn’t changed much in terms of strategy – only how we measure and confirm a favourable page load.”

Potential low impact

Here’s what the Founder of SEO Company, Polemic Digital, predicts the potential impact could be.

“While the Page Experience update is highly anticipated and much publicised, I don’t expect to see massive shifts in rankings and visibility.

Google tends to tread carefully when it comes to these updates and doesn’t want to rock the boat too much.

Historically, load speed and other user experience signals have been rather minor ranking factors, and I don’t see this change drastically in 2021.

Moreover, many niches are dominated by sites that are currently very poor in terms of Web Vitals scores – most will not have cleaned up their act by May, so I suspect they’ll continue to dominate.

So, is Core Web Vitals likely to have an impact?

All in all, there seems to be mixed opinions from SEO professionals. In our opinion here at Bigger Picture, it’s unlikely that Google would give web masters a whole year’s notice about a change that wasn’t intended to have a major impact.

Even if Core Web Vitals doesn’t turn out to be a major ranking factor, providing better user experience for visitors is always a win-win for web masters.

How to prepare for Google's new ranking signal

To achieve a high quality UX, you should really be focusing on the points that Google has already laid out. Work with your webmaster or digital agency improve these metrics.

  • Load time
  • Interactivity
  • Stability of content as it loads

What else should you be doing?

You should continue to post relevant content to your website. Google will still rank pages with the best information overall, even if some aspects of page experiences are inferior.

A good page experience doesn’t override having relevant content.

In cases where there are multiple pages with similar content, however, page experience becomes a lot more important for visibility in Search.

Contact your digital agency

If you’re concerned about how your website is performing and are keen to make improvements before Google’s update goes live, then get in touch with our team today.

Our development team can help prepare your website for the new Google update.

Visit our digital agency in Basingstoke, Hampshire. We’d love to help.

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