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Core Web Vitals are essential factors that Google takes into consideration when it evaluates your website’s user experience. There are three separate page speed and user interaction measurements that go into Core Web Vitals.

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These are:

  • Largest Contentful Paint [LCP]
  • Cumulative Layout Shift [CLS]
  • First Input Delay [FID]

Core Web Vitals are part of Google’s overall evaluation of ‘page experience’. In essence, they are how Google’s algorithm comes to terms with your UX.

If you’re wondering about the performance of your Core Web Vitals, then you can check them out in the ‘enhancements’ part of your Google Search Console profile. There you can see what Google thinks of your Core Web Vitals.

What Makes Core Web Vitals Important?

Machine learning is being utilized to streamline business processes more and more each day. The mother of all machine learning services is Google – which as of June 2021 uses page experience as an official ranking factor. This factor is a combination of your site’s Core Web Vitals with a few more factors added on top.

Page experience includes a variety of factors Google regards as crucial to your users’ experience, like:

  • Your site’s Https
  • How mobile-friendly your site is
  • If your site is safe to browse and doesn’t contain malware

Naturally, Core Web Vitals make up a solid chunk of this score. In fact, it’s quite likely that they are the biggest factor considered in Google’s page experience evaluation.

Simply scoring well in terms of page experience isn’t a magical way to get to the top of Google’s rankings. Page experience is just one of around 200 factors Google uses to rank your site.

If you’re looking to get ahead of the pack and enhance your customer value management, then improving your Core Web Vitals now is a good idea.

In this article, we’ll go over all of the Core Web Vitals, as well as consider what you can do to improve them.

Largest Contentful Paint [LCP]

The largest contentful paint describes the amount of time it takes for your page to load from a user’s point of view.

Put simply, it’s the time that passes between a user clicking a link and seeing the content on-screen.

Now it’s important to consider that LCP is quite different from most other measurements of page speed. Most of them, like first contentful paint, aren’t accurate representations of a user opening your page. Plus, factors that are out of your control may affect your visitors’ internet speed, like if it’s faster due to their using a VPN or slower due to viruses or spyware.

Barring any interference by those factors, LCP is essentially a measure of the time it takes for your user to be able to see and interact with your page’s content.

You can use Google PageSpeed Insights to see your LCP. This is the simplest way to do it, and it edges out tools like WebPageTest by giving you factual performance data.

With that being said, the best way to see LCP is through the Google Search Console. The data in the GSC is the same as the data provided by PageSpeed Insights; however, the GSC gives you a breakdown of your LCP on the entirety of your website, rather than each page individually. It’ll give you a list of URLs on your site that are good, bad, or middling.

This is because Google categorizes LCP into three different boxes:

  • A ‘Good’ rating requires that you hit LCP at around 2.5 seconds
  • If LCP take up to four seconds, it ‘Needs Improvement’
  • Anything longer than four seconds is categorized as ‘Poor’ LCP

Now, this factor can be quite difficult to change, especially for those pages with an abundance of features, or simply those that are very large in magnitude.

The first steps you should take when improving LCP is to clean up the webpage’s code, as well as take a look at the media presented. If you have a page with several high-res images, you should consider removing a couple to get a faster LCP. Simply setting up a content delivery network [CDN] or similar is generally not enough to improve LCP.

So, what else can you do to get your website’s LCP as low as possible? Here are a few tips:

  • Minimize running third-party scripts – Studies have shown that every third-party script running on a page slows it down by around 34ms. 
  • Get better web hosting – The better your hosting, the quicker your load times [including LCP] will be.
  • Take advantage of lazy loading – Lazy loading, or asynchronous loading, is when your images load only as users scroll down your page. This means you can ensure a much faster LCP.
  • Get rid of some elements – You can use Google PageSpeed Insights or GSC data to determine if a single element is having a significant effect on your LCP.
  • Minimize CSS – Having a lot of bulky CSS on your webpage can lead to a large LCP increase.

First Input Delay [FID]

The second Core Web Vital is FID or first input delay. Once your page has hit LCP, Google will look at how well your users can interact with your page.

Much like LCP, FID is a rather simple measurement. It is simply the time it takes for a user to interact with the page.

Now, these interactions can be almost anything. They range from picking options from a menu or putting in their email into your registration field, to initiating cloud calling with customer support or a sales rep. Although it is such a wide metric, FID is still extremely important to your Core Web Vital performance.

The reason Google values FID so much is that it’s an excellent metric to see how actual users will interact with your site.

Much like LCP, Google has a variety of different criteria for determining whether your FID is up to par:

  • 0-100ms is a ‘Good’ FID
  • 100-300ms is a ‘Needs Improvement’ FID
  • Over 300ms is a ‘Poor’ FID

Although FID is a measure of how long it takes for something to happen on the page, making it technically a page speed score, it also measures how long it takes your users to interact with your page in a meaningful way.

Now, pages that have basically no room for interaction, like blog posts or something similar, won’t need to pay much attention to FID. After all, the only interaction available is scrolling up and down, and zooming in or out.

For some websites that are heavily rooted in content, you might find that the Google Search Console might not even give you a measure of your FID. 

On the other hand, for pages that are almost completely made of interactable elements like login, sign up, or similar pages where you want your users to click on something quickly, FID is one of their most important Core Web Vitals.

For example, a login page doesn’t really care about how long it takes for all its content to load [LCP], but it cares a lot about when the user can start typing in their details [FID].

So, what can you do to ensure a good FID score? You can try implementing the following changes:

  • Minimize JavaScript – While JavaScript is loading, it’s nigh-impossible for a user to properly interact with your page. Hence, by minimizing the JS on your page, you can get a better FID.
  • Minimize third-party scripts – Much like LCP, third-party scripts harm FID as well.
  • Take advantage of a browser cache – Having a browser cache will help all of the content on your page to load quickly, helping you get through loading JS much quicker.

Cumulative Layout Shift [CLS]

The CLS is essentially a measure of your page’s visual stability while it’s loading. If page elements are moving around a lot while loading, that means you have a high CLS.

Low CLS lets your users remember where links, images, and fields are before your page has fully loaded, and it minimizes the chances of them clicking something like an ad for vape juice by accident.

  • A CLS of 0.1 or less is ‘Good’
  • Up to 0.25 ‘Needs Improvement’
  • Anything past that is ‘Poor’

In order to minimize your CLS score, you can:

  • Use set size attribute dimensions – Doing this will let your user’s browser be aware of how much space a given element will take on-page. This will prevent it from changing this on the fly while the page is loading.
  • Reserve ad space – If you don’t have allocated space for ads, ads might pop up on the page, pushing the actual content to a different location on-screen.
  • Add elements under the fold – By inserting UI elements under the fold, content that the user expects to stick in place won’t go down.

The Bottom Line

Core Web Vitals is now very important for your Google ranking. Given that the top three Google searches get 75.1% of traffic, enhancing your Core Web Vitals is an important part of a good sales methodology. It’s a great idea to take action now to improve your Core Web Vitals. Reports are already available, so you can take measures to ensure an excellent user experience.

|In: SEO|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

Online marketing is one of the most dynamic fields today. Google and the other search engines are always changing their algorithms in their ongoing campaign to provide the best possible service to their users. Platforms and techniques are also always changing as software creators and marketers battle it out in an evolutionary battle against the competition.

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

This means that in order to remain competitive you will need to keep up with the latest trends. Here, we take a look at what trends are important to watch in Search Engine Optimization [SEO] in 2021.

A Greater Focus on Semantic Search

Keywords have been a mainstay of SEO for as long as SEO has existed, and it looks set to stay that way for some time. To get ahead in the Search Engine Result Pages (SERPs), however, it is becoming increasingly important to look at other, more sophisticated strategies as well. One such strategy is to take search intent into account.

Google’s users won’t always know which search terms will bring up your products – many won’t even be looking for your products specifically in the first place. This means that using keywords is not always effective at bringing people to your site, even if you are ranking in first place for those keywords.

Instead, it’s becoming increasingly important to try and understand what people are looking for regardless of how specific their search queries are. With this in mind, it helps to remember the four intents people have when using Google:

  • Getting information
  • Buying something
  • Shopping around and comparing products/prices
  • Finding a specific website

Define what your likely prospect’s intentions are, and create content that helps to deliver what they are looking for. If you’re selling CNC machined parts, for example, your prospects are likely to be looking at specifications, price, and performance. If you’re selling a conference calling solution, they’re likely going to be looking at speed, quality of sound and video, features, and monthly rates. Create content with these intents in mind and your content is more likely to match with the search terms people are using. 

Also, try and make the most of any tools that are available that will help you understand better what peoples’ intentions are. Machine learning solutions can help you get into the psyche of your prospects, helping you to create a website that is better suited to meet their requirements. 

Greater Focus on Mobile-Friendliness

It should be obvious by now that SEOs need to pay attention to the fact that mobiles are the most common source of traffic on the internet. The search engines are certainly well aware of this, and your site is more likely to rank well if it has been designed with mobile-friendliness in mind.

Regardless, mobile-friendliness is more of a focus in 2021 than ever before. Mobile-friendliness in SEO means several things, including:

Mobile Responsiveness

Your website will not only be shown on desktop computers with large, 20+ inch monitors but also small smartphones, and the shape of the mobile screen will also vary. Mobile responsiveness takes this into account and helps ensure your website appears correctly regardless of the size and proportions of the screen it is shown on. Google will know whether or not your website is mobile optimized, so make sure it’s something you do.

Image by Mocho from Pixabay

Accelerated Mobile Pages

Accelerated mobile pages (AMP) means that the website is optimized to load up quickly when it’s shown on a mobile device. AMP basically means that a “lite” version of the website will be shown instead of the full version. Readers still get access to everything on the site but without the bells and whistles and everything else that might slow it down. AMP is another thing that Google will be able to identify if your website uses.

Reduced File Size

Large files, including images, can take a long time to load on mobiles. Google will know if your site is taking a long time to load, and this will result in your site falling down in the SERPS. To help keep the loading times down, it’s a good idea to reduce file sizes as much as possible. 

Large Buttons

A high click-through rate (CTR) is a factor when it comes to the SERPs. However, the small screens of mobile devices can make it difficult to click on a button in just the right place, potentially causing users to struggle to open a page, or open pages they did not mean to open. One way to overcome this is to make sure any buttons are large enough and easy enough to find that they can be located and clicked on easily, even on small screens.

Constantly Improving User Experience

Google is placing more and more focus on user experience, and this includes their experience beyond the SERPS. They also want your website to provide a good experience for their users.

A lot of the common user experience issues have been covered in the mobile-friendly section above, but a good user experience should apply to all websites regardless of the device being used to access it. This includes fast loading times – people searching on a desktop computer will also not want to be left waiting while your website loads up.

Make sure your website is easy to navigate and people can find their way around without having to go on a treasure hunt for what they want. Use videos where possible. People often prefer them over having to read text, and it helps people absorb and understand what you are saying. 

Try and take the opportunity to ensure your website adds value to your product/services. For example, an investment firm could offer a free-to-use calculator that helps their users work out the returns on their mutual fund investments. Such tools will be shared and result in a higher CTR, helping to give your rankings a boost. Value selling in this manner can also help to compel prospects to choose your company over a competitor. 

Voice Search Optimization

Voice search is becoming increasingly common, with nearly 123 million people in the United States alone expected to be using voice search in 2021.

Image by mcmurryjulie from Pixabay

Perhaps the key challenge is having to adjust to how people use voice search, particularly how they perform searches. When people perform a search using a keyboard, they tend to do so concisely and use the exact words they are looking for. When a search is made by voice, however, it tends to be done more casually, using complete sentences rather than just a few select keywords.

For example, a keyboard search for CBD products might be something like: “CBD flower near me” but a voice search is more likely to be “I want to find CBD flower close to where I live.“

These differences mean SEOs need to rethink their keyword strategy to account for voice searches as well as keyboard searches. 

More Advanced Zero-Click Search Results

Google likes zero-click results because it helps to deliver what their users are looking for, and quickly. Many questions are answered right there on the SERP itself, saving their users from having to click through and wait for web pages to load up. 

There is some controversy over zero-click search results because of the claim that they take traffic away from websites, and website owners are the ones providing the content for Google to use. Google and others, on the other hand, claim that they are actually increasing traffic to websites.

Regardless of where you stand on the debate, it looks as though zero-click searches will be around for some time. Indeed, it looks as though Google is going to double down and place even more focus on them in 2021 and beyond. 

SEOs need to bear in mind that zero-click search results are here to stay for the foreseeable future, and do their best to make the most of the situation. See it as an opportunity to answer a prospect’s question before they even click on your website, meaning you have already given them something of value, thus strengthening your relationship with them.

Zero-click search results can also be very effective at raising brand visibility regardless of whether or not they generate clicks. 

More Focus on Local SEO

Recent years have seen an increased focus on SEO, and 2021 is continuing this trend. It makes a lot of sense, especially to smaller businesses, so it’s something SEOs should be focusing on regardless of trends.

Google My Business has emerged relatively recently as somewhat of a powerhouse where local SEO is concerned. Using Google My Business can help make your business a lot more visible on search engines, while also giving you an opportunity to improve your customers’ experience. It’s free to use, so make the most of it, because you can be sure your competitors will be even if you don’t. 

We Will See More Video

Users of Google might have noticed that there are more and more videos shown on the SERPs. Google likes video; a website that has video tells Google that the website is trying to offer content that’s useful and/or entertaining – which is exactly what their users want.

As mentioned above, video will also help to improve the user experience, which helps to keep people on your site, reduces bounce rates, and increases your CTR. 

Not only that, but videos also help to make your website more visible on other platforms, like YouTube. For example, a lot of people will turn to YouTube for videos on how to do things, like fixing a faucet. If those people can find your video showing them how to fix a faucet on YouTube, it can send a lot of traffic your way. 

Even better, useful videos tend to be shared among people, potentially helping to generate more good quality backlinks for you. 

Video also doesn’t have to be as expensive as it used to be. Nowadays, even amateurs can produce professional-looking videos on a limited budget. Professional quality cameras are more affordable than ever before, and sophisticated but easy-to-use software helps with editing. 

Conclusion

Above are just a few of the trends we can expect to see in the second half of 2021. Much of SEO will focus on developing technologies and how people are using the internet. Technologies like voice search, for example, are likely to increase in usage, and it makes sense to adapt accordingly if you have not done so already.

The examples above are not the only current SEO trends you should watch, but some of those that are most likely to affect you. Keep your ear to the ground and adjust accordingly to help keep you ranking above the competition.

About The Author

Doug Walker is an Online Marketing Expert that has built successful eCommerce businesses from the ground up, worked with enterprise-level organizations such as Dell, Intuit, Coldwater Creek, and FindLaw/Thomson Reuters, and consulted for small law firms and businesses. Over the past 13 years, Doug has taken a customized, proprietary approach to digital marketing and has written several articles to help maximize revenue and dominate online niches.

|In: SEO|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

Since most of the consumers are online, it is important for brands and businesses to have a presence online. And for that, many brands are establishing their own websites and blogs. But just starting them is not enough. If you want good traffic, more clicks, better ranking, and high ROI you have to work on it, and that is where SEO comes in.

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Make SEO an essential part of your marketing strategy and keep track of its trends. It is important to keep a track on it, because every year new SEO trends come and you don’t want to be left behind.

In this blog, we will talk about some of the newest SEO trends that you must look out for in 2019.

  1. Optimize for more than Google search engine

Since years, Search engine optimization was done keeping Google in mind, but in 2019 this trend is changing. People nowadays search on various things about products, and you have to optimize for that too and not just your website if you want to get more business.

Currently, people search on Amazon for things they have to buy or on the app store for a particular app. Thus, it is crucial that you learn how to drive traffic from other things too.

In simple terms, 2019 is asking you to be on top of everything, whether it be Amazon, or app store, or a podcast channel, anything where people can search for your brand.

  1. Content should be exceptional and of high quality

As usual content will always be the king, many trends will come and go, but this won’t. If you want your content to come in the top three Google searches, use exceptional and quality content. Especially, since 2018, as Google has updated its algorithm to intensely focus on evaluating the quality of a blog or sites content.

The websites that will have exceptional content with depth will have great rankings and enough organic traffic.

It is crucial that you publish good content, something that is relevant to the consumers and informs them about your brand too. Make sure your content strategy is not just about getting more users, but also about engaging them. You should also insert the relevant images, so that your content look good. You can use Canva to make amazing blog images.

  1. Include Microformats to your website

In terms of coding, microformats are HTML patterns that provide information about your website to Google.  It helps search engine to know what exactly is your website about and then rank you appropriately.

If you provide honest microformats, Google will reward you with better rankings. Also, it makes your content more engaging for the consumers and encouraging them to click on it. As we all know, more clicks mean more traffic and better revenue.

  1. Voice search

A study has shown that by 2020, 50% of the searches will be voice searches. Voice-enabled devices like Alexa and Google home will perform most of the voice searches on behalf of consumers without making use of a screen.

Voice searches are long, so SEO for that is completely different. You will have to find 7-9 words phrases as your keyword including a question that people might say while voice searching for your brand.

Consumers usually ask what, where, how, and when questions so optimize your website for that.

  1. Focusing on technical SEO is important

In 2019, you will have to focus on the technical SEO of your website, because every year numerous sites are coming up and their complexities keep increasing too. Focus on these areas as part of your technical SEO:

Speed – You will have to work on your site’s speed, and make it fast and simple. Google will rank your site better if it loads quickly.

JavaScript – Most websites even now use JavaScript and its frameworks to create their website. That is why you have to be a little familiar with JavaScript so that you can understand how a search engine works with such sites.

PWA – Progressive web apps are the future, and you have to figure out a way to make sure that your website has a future as PWAs.

These are some of the trends that you need to implement in your SEO marketing strategy. To know about more trends, keep watching this space.

About the Author

Kavita Paliwal is an Outreach Specialist cum Content writer at ViralChilly. When not glued to her laptop, she can be found making travel plans that rarely happen :). Connect with Kavita on Twitter @dreamerkavita

|In: Infographic|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

Search Engine Optimization is the process by which web developers optimize a website so that a search engine such as Google or Bing can index it. Taking this a step further, SEO also helps a website rank higher in search engine results and thus gain more exposure and custom.

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SEO is a complex and ever changing process, so web developers and SEO experts have to continually update their knowledge to keep track of how search engines such as Google are indexing and ranking websites.

The following are several important factors that can contribute to a website’s SEO

Keywords – Search engines look at common words and phrases known as keywords that a user might type in when searching for a particular thing. For example, if a user is searching for hotels in New York, a keyword phrase could be ‘Top quality hotels in New York‘ or ‘quality hotels in Manhattan‘. When considering SEO, you must research popular keywords and incorporate them into your website content.

Content quality and relevance – Content such as blogs, social media posts, and website text should be relevant, informative, and useful. By creating engaging and interesting content, your organic SEO should improve, which is incredibly important if you want to get more traffic. Seotribunal.com even states that 70 to 80 percent of people focus exclusively on organic search results, ignoring the ads altogether.

Page loading speeds – Loading speeds can play a role in SEO. If a website has really slow page loading speeds, this will put customers off and give them a bad experience. Search engines understand this and in their drive for providing quality results, they will give less weight and ranking to such websites.

Backlinks – A backlink is a link to your website from a third-party source. Search engines look at your catalogue of backlinks to help ascertain the quality and popularity of your website. It is important to build up a quality library of backlinks from reputable and relevant sources to help boost your SEO.

These are just a few factors and there are many more to consider. As stated, SEO requirements and techniques are constantly evolving to match search engine updates.

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