Has there been instances when you tried checking your website speed and performance in Google PageSpeed Insights and see such a message:
But don’t worry; you’re not alone. In fact, about 56% of websites fail the Core Web Vitals assessment.
The good news is you’ve already taken the first step. By reading this article, you’ll learn how to join the fortunate 44% of websites with excellent Google Core Web Vitals and an enhanced user experience.
What Are Core Web Vitals?
Core Web Vitals are a class of performance metrics developed by Google to help site owners measure a webpage’s overall user experience. The three most important metrics are:
• Largest Contentful Paint (LCP): Measures loading performance. Technically, LCP should occur within the first 2.5 seconds of the page starting to load.
• Interaction to Next Paint (INP): Quantifies responsiveness and interactivity. A good INP score is less than 200 milliseconds.
• Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS): Assesses unexpected layout shifts. A good CLS score is less than 0.1.
These metrics provide unified guidance on quality signals essential for delivering a great user experience to your site visitors.
How to Obtain a Core Web Vitals Assessment for Your Website?
Google’s PageSpeed Insights tool provides a Core Web Vitals assessment using real user data. To evaluate your website’s performance, simply enter your website URL into the tool.
If your website does not meet the standards of Core Web Vitals, you will see a “Core Web Vitals Assessment: Failed” message under the “Discover what your real users are experiencing” section.
To successfully pass the assessment, at least 75% of user experiences must receive a “Good” rating across all three Core Web Vitals metrics.
Also Read: What’s a Good Core Web Vitals Score? 2024 Guide
What Happens If Your Site Fails the Core Web Vitals Assessment?
With 40% of users leaving a website, if it takes more than 3 seconds for the website to load, a slow or glitchy site is the last thing you want. According to a Nitropack survey conducted on 245,433 ecommerce websites, visitors lose patience and disproportionately start to abandon a web page at 2.75 seconds of page load.
Failing the Core Web Vitals assessment indicates that visitors are experiencing poor user experiences on your website. For instance:
• Largest Contentful Paint (LCP): It takes a long time for the main content to load.
• Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS): The content shifts around on the page after being displayed.
• Interaction to Next Paint (INP): The page responds slowly to user input.
The Core Web Vitals are a ranking signal, so failing the assessment may result in lower rankings on Google.
Three Ways to Fix the Failed Core Web Vitals Assessment
Conquering the “Core Web Vitals Assessment: Failed” message requires optimizing your website for speed, responsiveness, and visual stability. Here’s how:
Optimizing LCP
To improve your Largest Contentful Paint (LCP):
• Boost server response time: Utilize caching mechanisms and server-side optimization techniques to ensure your servers deliver content quickly. Check below how the caching mechanism works:
• Optimize images and videos: Use compression tools and appropriate web-friendly formats to reduce file sizes—every byte counts!
• Defer non-critical resources: Load ads, analytics scripts, and other non-essential elements after the initial page load to avoid delaying the main content.
Optimizing FID
Ensure a smoother user experience by implementing the following:
• Minify and compress JavaScript: Reduce the overall size of your JavaScript files to improve your website’s loading speed.
• Reduce third-party scripts: Analyze the necessity of third-party scripts on your website. Load non-essential scripts only when needed or find alternatives.
• Choose a better hosting server: Select a high-performance hosting server like Nestify, ideally DNS servers or servers located in the country where you receive the most traffic.
• Update your website template: An outdated template can slow down your site. Consider upgrading to a new or custom-built template.
• Perform regular maintenance: Regularly update your CRM and any add-ons to maintain optimal website speed.
Optimizing CLS
Consider these actions to achieve a stable Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) experience:
• Pre-allocate space for dynamic content: Reserve space for elements like ads to prevent layout shifts.
• Preload and prefetch critical resources: Prioritize loading essential resources to improve stability.
• Consult a UX/UI designer: Have a professional assess and address any CLS issues on your website.
• Add new UI elements below the fold: Ensure new content appears below existing content to avoid shifting.
• Avoid inserting content above existing content: Prevent elements from pushing each other around.
• Check all devices: Verify that web elements are positioned properly on mobile, desktop, and tablet devices.
• Optimize image and text sizing: Ensure images and text are appropriately sized for all devices.
• Use a CMS integrated with Google Lighthouse: Identify and resolve design issues with the help of integrated tools.
What Tools Can Help You to Improve Core Web Vitals?
Improving Core Web Vitals involves using several tools that provide insights into various performance metrics and user experiences. Here are some essential tools:
1. PageSpeed Insights
PageSpeed Insights is an open-source tool offered by Google that assesses the content of a web page and offers suggestions to make that page faster. It provides both lab and real user data, covering:
• User Experience (UX): Helps identify and resolve issues that affect the user experience.
• Bounce Rates: Offers insights into how quickly users leave your site if it’s slow.
• Conversions: Highlights performance issues that might be impacting your conversion rates.
• SEO: Provides actionable insights to improve search engine optimization.
• SERP Rankings: Indicates how performance metrics affect your site’s position in search engine results pages.
• Core Web Vitals: Directly measures LCP, INP, and CLS metrics, offering specific recommendations for improvement.
2. Google Lighthouse
Google Lighthouse is, again, an open-source, automated tool for improving the quality of website pages. It can be checked against any web page, public, or requiring authentication. Key features include:
• Performance Audits: Provides a detailed analysis of your page’s performance, including metrics like LCP, INP, and CLS.
• Accessibility:
Evaluate the accessibility of your website and offer suggestions for improvement.
• Best Practices: Checks for common web development mistakes and offers fixes.
• SEO Audits: Assesses your site’s SEO and provides recommendations to enhance it.
• PWA (Progressive Web App) Checks: Ensures your site follows best practices for progressive web apps.
3. Real User Monitoring Tools
Real User Monitoring (RUM) tools collect data from actual users visiting your site, providing a comprehensive view of their experiences. These tools offer:
• Real-Time Insights: Track how real users interact with your site in real time, offering immediate feedback on performance issues.
• Detailed Metrics: Provide in-depth data on Core Web Vitals metrics (LCP, INP, and CLS), as well as other performance indicators.
• User Segmentation: This allows you to segment users based on various parameters (e.g., geography, device type) to understand performance issues affecting specific groups.
• Error Tracking: Identify and troubleshoot errors that impact user experience.
• Continuous Monitoring: Offer ongoing tracking and alerts for performance issues, helping you maintain optimal site performance.
Popular RUM tools include:
• Google Analytics: Offers performance insights along with user behavior analytics.
• New Relic: Provides comprehensive monitoring and diagnostics for web applications.
• Datadog: Offers full-stack monitoring, including performance metrics and user experience data.
• Pingdom: Focuses on uptime and performance monitoring, providing insights into real user experiences.
• Dynatrace: Offers AI-driven insights into performance and user experience, with detailed metrics on Core Web Vitals.
Using these tools in the right combination can help you identify, diagnose, and fix issues affecting your Core Web Vitals, ensuring a better user experience and improved search engine rankings.
Conclusion
To succeed in your Core Web Vitals assessment, you’ll need to invest time in optimizing your site. While some quick fixes can improve page speed, gaining insights from real user experiences is crucial. Setting up a real user monitoring tool can help achieve this.
Consider whether Google’s thresholds are sufficient or if you want to set higher site speed challenges.
For those preferring free tools, use PageSpeed Insights’ real user data. This data is vital for user experience, bounce rates, conversions, SEO, SERP, and overall ranking.
Also Read: How Does Core Web Vitals Impact Blog SEO?
FAQs
Are there any common mistakes to avoid when optimizing for Core Web Vitals?
Yes, common mistakes to avoid when optimizing for Core Web Vitals include:
• Ignoring mobile optimization: Mobile devices often have different performance characteristics than desktops, so optimizing for mobile is crucial.
• Overloading pages with unnecessary scripts or content: This can unexpectedly slow down page loading times and negatively impact user experience.
• Ignoring browser compatibility: Optimizations should be tested across different browsers to ensure consistent performance.
Can third-party plugins or integrations impact Core Web Vitals?
Yes, third-party plugins or integrations can impact Core Web Vitals if they introduce additional scripts or content that affect page loading times or layout stability. It’s essential to evaluate the performance impact of third-party integrations and optimize them accordingly.
