{"id":121672,"date":"2021-09-16T21:18:00","date_gmt":"2021-09-17T02:18:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wpengine.com\/?post_type=resource&#038;p=121672"},"modified":"2025-05-12T16:53:51","modified_gmt":"2025-05-12T21:53:51","slug":"core-web-vitals-the-managed-wordpress-difference","status":"publish","type":"resource","link":"https:\/\/wpengine.com\/resources\/core-web-vitals-the-managed-wordpress-difference\/","title":{"rendered":"Build Healthy Core Web Vitals by Choosing Managed Hosting for WordPress"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>If you&#8217;re a website owner, builder, or you touch digital marketing in any way, you&#8217;ve likely heard increased chatter around Core Web Vitals. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This subset of <a href=\"https:\/\/developers.google.com\/search\/docs\/guides\/page-experience\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">page experience metrics<\/a>, included in Google\u2019s larger <a href=\"https:\/\/web.dev\/vitals\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Web Vitals initiative<\/a> whcih launched in 2020, offers guidance for quality signals that are \u201cessential to delivering a great user experience on the web.\u201d As of June 2021, Core Web Vitals also play a direct role in the way your sites rank in Google search.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This ebook, which was co-authored with&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/developers.google.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Google<\/a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/10up.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">10up<\/a>, a&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/wpengine.com\/agency-partner-program\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">WP Engine Agency Partner<\/a>,&nbsp; explains why website performance matters more than ever, with specific steps site owners and developers can take to measure and improve website performance using Core Web Vitals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-medium-font-size\"><strong>Download the full report now, or keep reading for a preview!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-css-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Core Web Vitals 101 <\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>While you may have delayed Core Web Vitals prep on your site or you&#8217;ve swept it under the rug completely, now&#8217;s the time to get up to speed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Core Web Vitals scores are already considered <a href=\"https:\/\/www.searchenginejournal.com\/google-core-web-vitals-ranking-factor\/415533\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">more than a tie-breake<\/a>r between two pieces of content with otherwise equal ranking factors. When you consider more than <a href=\"https:\/\/videos.brightedge.com\/research-report\/BrightEdge_ChannelReport2019_FINAL.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">half of all website traffic<\/a>&nbsp;comes from organic search, that&#8217;s a tie-breaker worth preparing for!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So what are Core Web Vitals? Overall, they are (currently) the following three metrics that have been incorporated into Google&#8217;s search algorithm as ranking factors:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><meta charset=\"utf-8\"><meta charset=\"utf-8\"><meta charset=\"utf-8\"><li><a href=\"https:\/\/web.dev\/lcp\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Largest Contentful Paint (LCP)<\/a>: measures loading performance. To provide a good user experience, LCP should occur within 2.5 seconds of when a page first starts loading.<\/li><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><li><a href=\"https:\/\/web.dev\/fid\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">First Input Delay (FID)<\/a>: measures interactivity. To provide a good user experience, pages should have a FID of less than 100 milliseconds.<\/li><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><li><a href=\"https:\/\/web.dev\/cls\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS)<\/a>: measures visual stability. To provide a good user experience, pages should maintain a CLS of less than 0.1.<\/li><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-css-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How Do I Improve My Core Web Vitals?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>To ensure your website is delivering an optimal Core Web Vitals experience, these three areas are key for you to focus on:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Fast hardware and up-to-date software<\/strong>: Provides better overall speed and uptime as well as the resources needed for uncached hits.&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Fast network:<\/strong> Delivers page content quickly, with optimal load times.&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Clean front-end code:<\/strong> Reduces unwanted layout shifts, ensures a smooth user experience.&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>There are a growing number of tools for testing and tracking Core Web Vitlas, with the following among some of the most popular (and effective): <a href=\"https:\/\/developers.google.com\/speed\/pagespeed\/insights\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">PageSpeed Insights<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/developers.google.com\/web\/tools\/lighthouse\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Lighthouse<\/a>, and the <a href=\"https:\/\/developers.google.com\/web\/tools\/chrome-user-experience-report\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Chrome Page Experience Report<\/a>. You can find out more about these tools and more in <a href=\"https:\/\/wpengine.com\/resources\/core-web-vitals-tools-for-measuring-performance\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">this article<\/a> about Core Web Vitals testing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-css-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Managed Hosting for WordPress Helps Build Healthy Core Web Vitals<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>WP Engine is the only <a href=\"https:\/\/wpengine.com\/managed-wordpress-hosting\/\">managed hosting provider for WordPress<\/a> that has solutions at all three of these layers, including:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Fast hardware<\/strong>: all WP Engine customers benefit from the latest version of PHP (7.4), WordPress-specific server configurations, as well as leading cloud solutions including <a href=\"https:\/\/wpengine.com\/google-cloud-platform\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Google Cloud Platform<\/a>. WP Engine also offers access to Google\u2019s next-gen C2 hardware, which provides a <a href=\"https:\/\/wpengine.com\/more\/next-gen-speed-popular-travel-site\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">more than 40% drop<\/a> in server execution time and a powerful boost for both LCP and FID.&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Fast network<\/strong>: including an <a href=\"https:\/\/wpengine.com\/support\/advanced-network\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">integrated global CDN<\/a> powered by <a href=\"https:\/\/wpengine.com\/solution-center\/cloudflare\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Cloudflare<\/a>, standard with every <a href=\"https:\/\/wpengine.com\/plans\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">WP Engine plan<\/a>, ensures WP Engine customers have a fast network that reduces LCP by reducing protocol overhead and bringing content closer to visitors. Our advanced security offering, <a href=\"https:\/\/wpengine.com\/global-edge-security\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Global Edge Security<\/a>, further improves LCP with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cloudflare.com\/products\/argo-smart-routing\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Argo<\/a> smart traffic routing, and DDOS protection insulating your site from unwanted load.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Clean front-end code<\/strong>: from WP Engine\u2019s suite of <a href=\"https:\/\/wpengine.com\/studiopress-themes\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">StudioPress themes<\/a> (also standard with every plan), to headless front-ends powered by <a href=\"https:\/\/wpengine.com\/headless-wordpress\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Headless WordPress<\/a>, WP Engine offers solutions for both small and large sites, all built with Web Vitals and other user-centric metrics at the forefront.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-css-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Acheving Higher Performance With Headless WordPress<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Headless WordPress is the complete <a href=\"https:\/\/wpengine.com\/headless-wordpress\/\">hosting platform for headless WordPress<\/a>, delivering incredibly fast, dynamic websites that allow developers and marketers to harness the best back and front-end frameworks for building incredibly seamless user experiences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Headless WordPress enables a decoupled architecture, so teams can continue to benefit from powerful WordPress content management features, while opting for performance-focused front-end frameworks, like Nextjs and Gatsby, for wider control across the entire digital footrpint.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The result goes beyond healthy Core Web Vitals to achieve superior perfroamne and better user experiences, fueled by modern frameworks and the world\u2019s #1 open source CMS, all in one powerful headless platform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Learn more about Headless WordPress and the benefits of Headless WordPress <a href=\"https:\/\/wpengine.com\/more\/achieving-peak-performance-headless-wordpress\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-css-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-medium-font-size\"><strong>Read the full report for more!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Speed up your website with WP Engine.&nbsp;<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Ready to ace Google\u2019s Core Web Vitals assessment? Put an end to performance issues with the world\u2019s fastest managed hosting platform. <a href=\"https:\/\/wpengine.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">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":"<p>If you&#8217;re a website owner, builder, or you touch digital marketing in any way, you&#8217;ve likely heard increased chatter around Core Web Vitals. This subset of page experience metrics, included in Google\u2019s larger Web Vitals initiative whcih launched in 2020, offers guidance for quality signals that are \u201cessential to delivering a great user experience on<span class=\"tile__ellipses\">&hellip;<\/span><span class=\"tile__ellipses--animated\"><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":200,"featured_media":121676,"template":"","resource-topic":[],"resource-role":[895,896,903,1296,899],"resource-type":[902],"class_list":["post-121672","resource","type-resource","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Build Healthy Core Web Vitals by Choosing Managed Hosting for WordPress<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"While you may have delayed Core Web Vitals prep on your site or you&#039;ve swept it under the rug completely, now&#039;s the time to get up to speed.\" \/>\n<meta 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