Every time Google announces a new algorithm update, it starts a riptide of worry throughout the digital marketing industry. With this summer’s upcoming introduction of Core Web Vitals—the latest and greatest ranking signals to join the hundreds in place—we’re here to break down what this update is all about and why you don’t need to worry.
What are Core Web Vitals?
First things first: what even are Core Web Vitals? As explained by our sister company Dealer Inspire:
“Core Web Vitals are Google’s measure of your website experience based on real-user Data. [They] provide unified guidance for quality signals deemed essential to delivering a great user experience.”
Bert Berousek and Scott Wiley, Dealer Inspire
More and more, Google is emphasizing the importance of user experience in their rankings, recognizing how a site serves a user through functionality and helpfulness.
Core Web Vitals consist of three different factors, each measuring a specific aspect of functionality:
- Perceived Loading Time (tech speak: largest contentful paint) – Let’s face it, we’re all impatient when a site takes forever to load, so this factor measures how long it takes for images and text to appear, most specifically your largest image on the page.
- Interactivity (tech speak: first input delay) – Have you ever clicked on a button, only to discover the site hadn’t fully loaded yet and now you’re being taken to a totally different page? Frustrating! This factor ranks the milliseconds before users can interact with your site correctly.
- Visual Stability (tech speak: cumulative layout shift) – If you’ve ever gotten dizzy watching images and text jump all over a page, this factor is for you, measuring how often page elements move around as they load.
Together, Core Web Vitals join the (literally) hundreds of ranking signals Google already looks for, including a site’s structure, security, mobile friendliness, and more. While Core Web Vitals are important, they aren’t the end-all, be-all determining factors as to whether or not your site will get found.
What Do I Need to Do About Core Web Vitals?
Ensuring your site is in tip-top shape is always recommended, but when it comes down to it, working on a solid SEO strategy is likely to serve you better than worrying too much about algorithm changes. Why? Google prioritizes users, and smart, relevant content directly helps users find the answers they’re looking for. Your site could be the most technologically sound URL on the interwebs, but if it isn’t providing an excellent user experience, Google will still give it the side eye.
So what’s a small business like yours to do? Crank out that killer SEO! Creating a regular stream of targeted, engaging content will give you the most bang for your buck, a long-term investment that will keep showing up for you regardless of how the algorithms continue to evolve.
For an excellent deep dive into everything you’d want to know about Core Web Vitals, check out this guide from our fellow experts at Dealer Inspire!
Stay Ahead of the Digital Marketing Curve
So, ready to draft up an SEO strategy that will satisfy algorithms and audiences alike? Launch Digital Marketing can help! We have the skills and savvy to help take you from zero to page one, and can create targeted content that supports your goals. Contact us for a free consultation!
