At DVC, we design and develop websites to perform well in Google search results. Of course, Google is well-known for changing what companies need to do to get good results. For instance, Google’s Announcement About Core Web Vitals will be used as ranking signals starting in May 2021, in combination with existing UX signals. So, what does this mean for DVC customers – or anyone else?
Core Web Vitals include three measurements with rather esoteric names: Largest Contentful Paint, First Input Delay, and Cumulative Layout Shift. All three are simply ways of measuring how well the site loads up for users.
Largest Contentful Paint is another way to say, “loading speed.” The lower your LCP, the less time it takes for the main content on your page to load up. At this time, a perfect LCP score is 2.5 seconds or faster.
First Input Delay is how long it takes for your page to become interactive for the user. A perfect FID score is less than 100 milliseconds.
Cumulative Layout Shift measures how much the layout on your website shifts unexpectedly while loading. A perfect CLS score at this time is anything less than 0.1.
It’s easy to see why these three elements affect the user experience. If your website takes a long time to load, that will obviously irritate the user. The same thing is true if the user can’t click on anything for a long time, or if the layout shifts suddenly just as they’re trying to do something.
Google’s Announcement About Core Web Vitals will go in effect May 2021. Google will combine these measurements with traditional UX signals such as browsing safety, HTTPS security, intrusive interstitial guidelines (in other words, rules about pop-ups) and mobile friendliness.
To do well in these rankings, your website will have to load up quickly, become interactive quickly, avoid large, unexpected layout shifts, be safe and secure, not have overly intrusive pop-ups, and be optimized for mobile phones. Does your website meet these guidelines currently? Only 15% of existing websites do!
To have your website redesigned to meet Google’s guidelines, contact DVC. We’ll make sure to get all your Core Web Vitals within the recommended ranges, so you can maintain the search engine results you’ve spent so much time establishing. Contact DVC today!
