Core Web Vitals: A Comprehensive Guide to Understanding Performance Metrics

by Joost Nusselder | Updated on:  26/12/2022

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Are you looking to understand how Core Web Vitals can help you optimize your website’s performance?

Core Web Vitals are a set of performance metrics related to loading, interactivity, and visual stability of web pages. They measure the user experience of a website.

In this blog post, we’ll provide a comprehensive guide to Core Web Vitals and how they can help you improve your website’s user experience. 

What are core web vitals

What are core web vitals?

Core Web Vitals are a set of metrics that measure a website’s performance. They identify potential issues that can affect user experience and help prioritize fixes.

Core Web Vitals measure a page’s loading performance, interactivity, and visual stability.

The Core Web Vitals are:

  1. Largest Contentful Paint (LCP): measures the time it takes for the main content of a page to load.
  2. First Input Delay (FID): measures the time it takes for a page to respond to user input.
  3. Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS): measures the number of unexpected layout shifts on a page.

These metrics are used to measure a website’s performance and identify potential issues that can affect user experience.

They are essential because they help prioritize fixes and ensure users have a good experience when visiting a website.

The Core Web Vitals are part of the Google Search Console and can be used to track a website’s performance. Google also uses them to rank websites in search results.

To improve the performance of a website, it is important to monitor the Core Web Vitals and make sure they are within acceptable limits.

This can be done by optimizing the code, reducing the size of images, and using caching.

Overall, Core Web Vitals are a set of metrics that measure a website’s performance.

They identify potential issues that can affect user experience and help prioritize fixes. They are important because they help ensure that users have a good experience when visiting a website.

Why are core web vitals important?

Core Web Vitals are important because they measure a website’s performance and provide insight into how users experience a website.

Core Web Vitals are a set of metrics that measure a website’s loading speed, interactivity, and visual stability.

These metrics are essential for website owners to understand how their website is performing and how users are experiencing it.

Core Web Vitals are important because they provide insight into how users experience a website.

By measuring site speed, interactivity, and visual stability, website owners can identify areas of improvement and make changes to ensure a better user experience.

This is especially important for websites trying to attract and retain customers.

Core Web Vitals are also important because search engines use them to rank websites.

Search engines use these metrics to determine which websites provide the best user experience and should be ranked higher in search results.

This means that websites with better Core Web Vitals scores will likely appear higher in search engine results.

Finally, Core Web Vitals are important because they allow website owners to improve their website.

By understanding the metrics and making changes to improve them, website owners can ensure that their website provides the best user experience possible.

This can increase website traffic, higher search engine rankings, and more conversions.

What is the history of core web vitals?

The history of Core Web Vitals dates back to the early 2000s when web developers began to focus on user experience and website performance.

Google first developed it in 2010 as part of their PageSpeed Insights tool, which was designed to measure website performance. The tool was later rebranded as the Core Web Vitals in 2018.

Since its inception, Core Web Vitals has been used to measure the performance of websites and their user experience.

It has evolved over the years to include more metrics and to become more comprehensive.

In 2020, Google announced that Core Web Vitals would become a ranking factor for their search engine, making it even more important for website owners to optimize their websites for performance.

Google has also released a series of tools and resources to help website owners optimize their websites for Core Web Vitals.

These tools include the Chrome User Experience Report, the Lighthouse tool, and the PageSpeed Insights tool.

These tools give website owners insights into how their websites are performing and how they can improve their performance.

In 2021, Google announced that Core Web Vitals would become a part of the Google Search Console.

This will allow website owners to track their website performance and improve their website to improve their rankings in Google’s search engine.

Core Web Vitals has come a long way since its inception in 2010. It has become an essential tool for website owners to measure and improve their website performance and user experience.

With the addition of Core Web Vitals to the Google Search Console, website owners will have even more resources to help them optimize their websites for performance.

Important things about core web vitals

Search Console

Search Console is a free tool offered by Google that helps website owners monitor and maintain their website’s performance in Google search results.

It provides detailed information about how often your website appears in search results, which keywords are used to find it, and how many clicks it receives.

Search Console also provides insights into the performance of your website, including its Core Web Vitals.

Google Web Dev

Google Web Dev is a suite of tools and services that help website owners create and maintain a website.

It includes tools for creating websites, optimizing them for search engines, and tracking performance. It also includes tools for monitoring and improving the performance of websites, including Core Web Vitals.

SEO

Search engine optimization (SEO) is optimizing a website to improve its visibility in search engine results.

SEO involves optimizing a website’s content, structure, and code to make it more attractive to search engines. SEO also includes optimizing the website for Core Web Vitals.

Ranking

Ranking is the process of determining a website’s position in search engine results. Ranking is based on various factors, including the website’s content, structure, and code.

Ranking also considers the website’s performance, including its Core Web Vitals.

Compare core web vitals

Core Web Vitals vs Lighthouse

Core Web Vitals are a set of metrics that measure a website’s performance, while Lighthouse is an open-source automated tool for auditing and improving the performance of web pages.

Core Web Vitals measure the loading, interactivity, and visual stability of a page, while Lighthouse evaluates the performance, accessibility, best practices, and SEO of a page.

Core Web Vitals are focused on the user experience, while Lighthouse is focused on the technical aspects of a website.

Core Web Vitals provide a score for each metric, while Lighthouse provides a score for the page’s overall performance.

Core Web Vitals vs Page Speed

Core Web Vitals are a set of metrics that measure a website’s performance, while Page Speed is a tool from Google that measures the performance of a page. Core Web Vitals measure a page’s loading, interactivity, and visual stability, while Page Speed measures the loading time of a page.

Core Web Vitals provide a score for each metric, while Page Speed provides a score for the page’s overall performance. Core Web Vitals are focused on the user experience, while Page Speed is focused on the technical aspects of a website.

Core Web Vitals are designed to be used as a guide to improve a website’s performance, while Page Speed is designed to be used as a benchmark to measure a website’s performance.

Core web vitals and Google page experience

Core Web Vitals are a set of metrics that measure a website’s performance from the user’s perspective.

They are divided into loading, interactivity, and visual stability. The metrics measure how quickly a page loads, how quickly users can interact with the page, and how stable the page is when loading.

Core Web Vitals are part of Google’s new page experience algorithm, which was set to launch in May 2021.

This algorithm will use Core Web Vitals as one of the factors in determining how a website is ranked in search engine results.

This means that websites with good Core Web Vitals scores will be more likely to rank higher in search engine results.

Additionally, websites that have poor Core Web Vitals scores will be penalized in the rankings.

FAQ about core web vitals

Is Core Web Vitals important for SEO?

Yes, Core Web Vitals are important for SEO. Core Web Vitals are a set of metrics that measure a website’s performance. Google uses these metrics to measure the user experience of a website, which is an important factor in SEO. By improving a website’s performance, Core Web Vitals can help improve the user experience and therefore improve SEO.

What happens if you fail Core Web Vitals?

If you fail Core Web Vitals, your website is not providing a good user experience. This can lead to a decrease in organic traffic and rankings. Additionally, Google may display a warning to users that the website is slow or unstable, which can lead to a decrease in conversions.

Will Core Web Vitals affect ranking?

Yes, Core Web Vitals can affect ranking. Google uses Core Web Vitals to measure the user experience of a website, which is an important factor in SEO. If a website fails Core Web Vitals, the user experience is not good, which can lead to a decrease in rankings.

How do I pass Core Web Vitals?

To pass Core Web Vitals, you must ensure that your website provides a good user experience. This can be done by optimizing your website’s loading performance, interactivity, and visual stability. You can do this by optimizing images, minifying code, caching and reducing the number of redirects. You should also ensure that your website runs on a fast and reliable hosting provider.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Core Web Vitals are an important set of metrics that measure a website’s performance.

They provide valuable insights into how a website is performing and can help webmasters and developers identify areas for improvement.

By understanding and optimizing Core Web Vitals, website owners can ensure their websites provide the best possible user experience.

Also read: this is how I use Ezoic Leap to pass core web vitals and increase site speed

Joost Nusselder is The Content Decoder, a content marketer, dad and loves trying out new tools en tactics. He's been working on a portfolio of niche sites since 2010. Now since 2016 he creates in-depth blog articles together with his team to help loyal readers earn from their own succesful sites.