It seems that in recent years Google has been on a quest to provide a better internet experience for everyone. The search engine company has been lifting the page-ranking bar ever higher and refining factors every year. That means their algorithm updates have been consistently taking webpage owners by surprise, leaving them to deal with the consequences.
Google’s approach, however, appears to be changing, as the upcoming Core Web Vitals (CWV) update has been announced a year in advance.
It is officially set to hit in May 2021 and is expected to be a major one.
Google not only gave an early heads-up but also provided a set of tools for website owners and developers to evaluate and prep-up their pages in time.
Core Web Vitals are page experience signals about the loading speed, interactivity, and visual stability of a page. Together with other factors, they make a set of webpage quality standards Google considers to be the baseline for a satisfactory user experience.
And for a reason. CWV scores will now have a crucial impact on websites. Content quality and relevancy will remain essential for a page to rank higher, but from now on the Core Web Vitals will become a top-ranking factor.
What does that mean? Well, imagine there are several pages from different websites ranking for a particular keyword. They all have relatively similar content that matches the user’s query and intent. The one with a better quality score will rank higher, and earn a better position in search results.
But it doesn’t end there. Google intends to launch a badge for the CWV status of a page – a visual indicator adjacent to the page’s title in search results. It will serve to make it easier for users to choose the page that will give them the information they need while providing a better overall experience.
This means that these core standards will not only affect ranking but sooner or later will impact the way users perceive and evaluate pages even before they open them.
Meanwhile, Google intends to keep adding new page experience signals that would be regularly updated, in order to make for a really good UX. Hopefully, they will maintain the new approach and keep website owners and developers posted on scheduled changes.
Plus the existing search signals, including mobile-friendliness, safe-browsing, HTTPS-security, and intrusive interstitial guidelines, are still relevant, and if website owners have not optimized for them yet, it’s about time they do. Otherwise, with updates piling up, website revisions might have to turn into full revamps which in turn will bring massive traffic losses and increased recovery time.
Impact of Google Core Web Vitals Update
Google has stated that they aim to release visual indicators alongside some pages. These visual indicators are symbolic that the page is standard according to the user experience matrices. If this update is introduced, it will change user perception and make choices to visit pages. So basically, user’s preferences will get highly influenced after the rollout of indicators. Webpages have to make sure they are meeting the user experience signals standard.
Ranking will also get affected, and it will now depend on the quality score of pages. Different pages from the various website offering similar content will be given their ranks depending on the quality score of user experience.
Check your Website status.
Now that you know all about core web vitals and their importance, let’s take a look at how to check your website status and identify the areas of improvement. Ranking for your website can significantly affect if it’s not meeting all the matrices of user experience signals.
- GSC (Google Search Console)-If you’re a verified website, you can screen your site’s present status in the Core Web Vitals Report of the GSC. With this tool, you can discover your pages’ presentation categorized as “Great,” “Need Improvement,” or “Poor.”
- Page Speed Insights (PSI)-Use PSI on the pages that need improvement to analyze and recognize explicit issues.
- Lighthouse and Chrome DevTools- These tools can be utilized to quantify your pages’ specs and help know what necessary changes are needed for fixing issues on your site and what steps to take to fix them.
- Web Vitals Chrome Extension- The extension can be utilized to screen the core web vitals of pages in real-time on your devices progressively. It tends to be used on each page of each site, whether you are the website’s owner. It can give you an overview of how different pages like yours are also performing.
- Chrome User Experience Report (CrUX)- Here, you can discover data about your site’s CVW execution in light of genuine client information.
Conclusion
Google updates for Core Web Vitals will be released in May 2021, and as anticipated, it will drastically affect the ranking of pages. You can check your page’s status and take the necessary steps to ensure that you are not dropping your ranking.
User experience will gain a lot of momentum very shortly as Google aims to provide value to users with its updates.
Subhajeet (Nik) is the CEO cum Co-Fonder of Tizant. He waters his passion for creating brands. He firmly believes that focused communication is the key and it must carry a purpose that serves both brand and business. Nik is a mighty bridge to the clients on a global platform.