WP Engine provides solutions for all Core Web Vitals. <\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Find out how<\/a>! <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n While the update rolled out gradually in the summer of 2021, that roll-out is now complete and site owners, developers, and marketers should all take note of the user-centric metrics that play a larger role in Google\u2019s ranking systems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If this is your first time hearing about \u201cCore Web Vitals,\u201d or if you\u2019re aware of the update but still unsure of how to optimize, keep reading. <\/p>\n\n\n\n This article will dive into the details surrounding the coming changes and offer tips on how you can get ready. Here\u2019s what we\u2019ll cover:<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n Core Web Vitals are a subset of the page experience signals<\/a> included in Google\u2019s larger Web Vitals initiative, which launched in 2020 and aims to provide unified guidance for quality signals that are \u201cessential to delivering a great user experience on the web.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n While factors related to site performance aren\u2019t new to Google\u2019s algorithm\u2014mobile responsiveness and secure browsing (HTTPS) have been ranking factors for years\u2014the introduction of Core Web Vitals as a ranking factor expands the focus on performance with additional metrics representing distinct aspects of the user experience. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The list of Core Web Vitals is set to evolve over time<\/a>, but the 2021 update focused on three areas: load speed<\/strong>, interactivity<\/strong>, and visual stability<\/strong>, with the introduction of these metrics:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Site owners can already measure these Core Web Vitals using many of Google’s web developer tools<\/a>, including Lighthouse<\/a> and PageSpeed Insights<\/a>, or the Chrome User Experience Report<\/a>, which collects anonymized, real user measurement data for each of the above metrics (and more). <\/p>\n\n\n\n One important note: make sure you\u2019re viewing the \u201cMobile\u201d results when measuring Core Web Vitals, as those are the results Google will use for ranking purposes. Check out this article<\/a> for more information on the various measurement and tracking options you can put to use. <\/p>\n\n\n\n As noted above, the page experience update (which introduced Core Web Vitals as a factor in Google\u2019s ranking systems) rolled out gradually, beginning in mid-June 2021 and completed by the end of August. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Since the update, site owners may have seen some change in their rankings, although sites that were already optimizing user experience were unlikely to be caught off guard. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Overall, Core Web Vitals should be viewed as three specific factors that have joined Google\u2019s larger list of page experience search signals with the ultimate goal of optimizing that experience for a website\u2019s end-user.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While LCP, FID, and CLS will continue to play a growing role in user experience metrics, mobile responsiveness, site security, and other user experience factors will remain as important as ever, culminating in the larger \u201dpage experience\u201d that affects a site\u2019s Google ranking. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Core Web Vitals also sits alongside mobile responsiveness, safe browsing, HTTPS, and no intrusive interstitials to inform the way Google rewards sites based on page experience. <\/p>\n\n\n\n If you\u2019ve already focused on providing a great user experience across the sites you\u2019ve built, optimizing for the page experience update shouldn\u2019t be a huge departure from the efforts you already have in motion. <\/p>\n\n\n\n But if your sites are suffering from ongoing performance issues, or you\u2019re building a new site and you’re not sure what to focus on, Core Web Vitals should be the spark you need to begin prioritizing user experience, and all the ingredients it requires. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Google recommends targeting the 75th percentile for LCP, FID, and CLS (for both mobile and desktop) to ensure an optimal experience for site users. If your sites aren\u2019t hitting that threshold, or you\u2019d like to do more to improve your Core Web Vitals scores, here are a few tips for optimizing each metric: <\/p>\n\n\n\n LCP is based on the amount of time it takes to render the largest element on your page. Some of the most common causes of poor LCP include: <\/p>\n\n\n\n Sites with a lot of heavy elements, such as uncompressed images or unutilized plugins, may indeed experience less-than-ideal LCP. While the above areas offer plenty of opportunity for optimization and further research, you can typically improve each of them with these recommendations: <\/p>\n\n\n\n There are also numerous plugins available that address each of these issues separately, For example, Smush<\/a> is a popular plugin for compressing and lazy loading images (WordPress Core also supports lazy loading natively) and Autoptimize<\/a> is a widely used plugin for minifying and lazy loading scripts and styles. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Local Pro<\/a>, the #1 local development tool for WordPress which offers priority support and powerful pre-launch tools, also offers options for image compression. There are also some all-in-one plugins, such as WP Rocket<\/a>, which provide a full suite of performance optimization tools, including caching. <\/p>\n\n\n\n One note of caution: If you\u2019re using a combination of plugins to address performance issues, it\u2019s important to ensure you\u2019re not overlapping efforts (i.e. have two different plugins compressing images).<\/p>\n\n\n\n FID measures the amount of time it takes for a browser to respond to a user action, such as clicking or tapping a link or button. <\/p>\n\n\n\n While Time to Interactive (TTI) is a similar metric, it measures the entire time it takes for a page to become fully interactive, whereas FID measures that first user interaction. <\/p>\n\n\n\n JavaScript is the number one cause of slow FID, and according to web.dev, a Google Developer resource site, you can undertake the following steps to try and improve it: <\/p>\n\n\n\n Additionally, addressing some of the issues that cause slow LCP, such as image compression and script and style minification, will likely improve your FID as well. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The other big factor related to FID is third-party scripts running on your site. Similar to the warning about plugin overlap above, it\u2019s important to make sure your plugins are only running code on the pages they need to run code on, and not loading scripts and styles on every single page of your site. <\/p>\n\n\n\n You can use Chrome or Firefox web developer tools to identify everything that\u2019s loading on a specific web page. In doing so, you may find unnecessary code (or code that\u2019s not important for your site). When you do, get rid of it! <\/p>\n\n\n\n A layout shift occurs when a visible element changes position from one rendered frame to the next. While it\u2019s a bit of a departure from the emphasis on speed seen with LCP and FID, layout shifts are responsible for their fair share of frustrating user experiences. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Given the notoriety of layout shifts, CLS measures the total of all unexpected layout shifts on a page, which can be caused by resources being loaded asynchronously or DOM elements<\/a> being dynamically added to the page above existing content. <\/p>\n\n\n\n This could include an image or video with unknown dimensions, a font that renders larger or smaller than its fallback, or a third-party ad or widget that dynamically resizes itself. <\/p>\n\n\n\n To fix those issues (which should help reduce layout shifts) and you can do the following: <\/p>\n\n\n\n While the above are all common methods for improving CLS, you should also leverage PageSpeed Insights (or another Google assessment tool) to identify specific areas for improvement on your site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Make sure and check out this helpful article<\/a> for a ton of additional information about optimizing your sites and pages for Core Web Vitals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While LCP, FID, and CLS will be the focus of this summer\u2019s update, they\u2019re not the only metrics site owners should be aware of. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Even though they\u2019re not directly included as Core Web Vitals, Time to First Byte (TTFB) and First Contentful Paint (FCP) both directly affect LCP and can help diagnose issues with your loading experience, including slow server response times or render-blocking resources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Additionally, Total Blocking Time (TBT) and Time to Interactive (TTI) can help identify and diagnose interactivity issues that will impact FID. <\/p>\n\n\n\n If you\u2019re looking for a high-level view of what your WordPress site needs to ensure it\u2019s delivering an optimal Core Web Vitals experience, the following three areas are key: <\/p>\n\n\n\n WP Engine<\/a> provides solutions at all three layers, as well as the fastest TTFB on desktop and mobile<\/a> among all WordPress providers. We\u2019ve also been making a ton of improvements to those layers over the last year, including:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Our list of Genesis tools<\/a> has also been geared specifically for the page experience update, including recent improvements to the Genesis Blocks plugin<\/a> and Genesis Block theme<\/a>, which help the Genesis Site Template achieve green LCP, FID, and CLS scores right out of the box. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In addition to all of the above features and tools, WP Engine provides a Technical Health Assessment (THA) for every new Dedicated WordPress Hosting<\/a> customer. Along with other factors, this initial health assessment focuses on front-end performance, specifically looking at Google PageSpeed Insights. <\/p>\n\n\n\n While the assessment is designed to look at sites holistically and ensures customers are following best practices across their front-end, back-end, and database, specific callouts tied to Core Web Vitals will soon be included in the THA process as well. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Regardless of its immediate effect, Core Web Vitals and the page experience update represent a significant, ongoing change to Google\u2019s ranking systems and a larger, rapidly growing focus on user experience. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Google rankings are a huge factor for websites, but beyond that (and truly the larger point Google is driving home with its Web Vitals initiative), sites that provide a smooth, seamless user experience are now the industry standard, and outside of rankings or metrics scores, your sites\u2014and your business\u2014will benefit from building with your end users in mind. <\/p>\n\n\n\n From higher conversions and stronger engagement to better overall SEO, optimizing for Core Web Vitals is a great way to get there. If you\u2019re struggling with site performance or simply want to make sure you\u2019re ready for this coming change, WP Engine is here to help. Speak to a representative<\/a> today if you\u2019d like to find out more. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Ready to ace Google\u2019s Core Web Vitals assessment? Put an end to performance issues with the world\u2019s fastest managed hosting platform for WordPress<\/a>. Learn more<\/a> about WP Engine and the ways we can help power all your digital ambitions.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By now, you\u2019ve probably seen some of the buzz around Google\u2019s page experience update, often referred to as \u201cCore Web Vitals,\u201d which favors sites with faster speeds and a better user experience. It\u2019s certainly not the first time Google has updated its algorithm, but this round of changes is significant in that it\u2019s tied directly…<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":200,"featured_media":118241,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[429,838],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-118223","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-seo","category-site-speed-and-performance"],"yoast_head":"\n
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\n\n\n\nWhat Are Core Web Vitals?<\/strong> <\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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\n\n\n\nWhat Should You Expect?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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\n\n\n\nOptimizing Your Sites for Core Web Vitals<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Largest Contentful Paint <\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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First Input Delay<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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Cumulative Layout Shift<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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Other Important Metrics <\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nWP Engine and Core Web Vitals <\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Building a Seamless User Experience<\/strong> <\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Speed up Your Website with WP Engine <\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n