In 2020 Google announced Core Web Vitals, a new set of metrics to evaluate page experience. In the announcement they shared that their studies and research show that users prefer sites with a great page experience, which is primarily influenced by things like how fast a page loads and whether it’s mobile-friendly.

There are three components to Core Web Vitals:

• The time it takes the page to load, which is called Largest Contentful Paint (LCP)
• The time it takes for a page to become interactive, First Input Delay (FID)
• The time it takes for the layout of a page to become stable, Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS)

Starting in May of 2021, these page experience signals will be factored into Google’s search algorithm. And that means that sites with poor scores on these metrics will likely suffer a drop in search rank.

As part of the Core Web Vitals rollout in 2020, Google provided tools to help site owners prepare for the change, such as devoting a section of the Search Console tool to these factors.

In this episode of our Office Hours recorded livestream show, the partners at Shift talked through Core Web Vitals details and the tools a site owner can use to evaluate their site’s performance. Watch to learn more and see how to check if your site is ready for the big change.

Keeping websites healthy is very important to us! Since the announcement last year, we’ve worked to learn the ins and outs of the Core Web Vitals metrics. Through that work, we have created a system for assessing websites and developing a plan of action for site improvements.

To learn more and get started improving your website, visit preparing for Google Core Web Vitals.