14⁰⁵
2021

Google is the leading search engine, with over 86% of searches taking place on their platform. Even the #2 spot, YouTube, is an affiliate of Google. If you tailor your site to Google as a search engine, your website and, ultimately, your business will succeed. One of the ways Google determines your ranking is how well you score on their “Page Score” test, a test of user experience. Luckily, Google has released some aspects they deem “Core Website Vitals” that influence the page scores. By improving in these areas, you will improve your score and may get ranked higher.

What are Google’s Core Vitals?
Google has three main core vitals, but countless secondary and tertiary aspects. The three Core vitals have to do with loading time (LCP), interactivity responses (FID), and layout stability (CLS).

LCP: Loading times, of course, depend on user wifi, but even when the WiFi is full strength, websites have difficulty loading all of their content. Making a user wait to view your entire site is annoying and projects a poor image.

FID: First input display speed needs to be fast, when a user clicks something, how fast does your website respond to that? Making sure that your code runs smoothly is key to an efficient FID.

CLS: As a user, when you are reading and all of a sudden the page reloads, it can be frustrating and you lose your spot. Minimizing the amount your layout shifts when different content is added is a way to keep your CLS low.

A website with great core vitals will load colours in 2.5 seconds or under after clicking, should respond in under 100 milliseconds, and should have a site stability of 0.1 or under.

Other factors that contribute to your score include site security, mobility, HTTPS, and the number of pop-ups.

Security: While it is not a core vital, ensuring your website visitors enjoy safe browsing and aren't subject to malware on your site is critical; not only to your score but to customer retention in general.

HTTPS: HTTPS is a certificate that shows customers the data is encrypted making websites harder to hack. Obtaining an Https certificate improves site security and will have a positive impact on your score.

Pop-ups: Having annoying ads pop up on a website you're using is very annoying. Limiting and even eliminating pop-ups on your site is a great place to start, especially if they are not from your own website.

How you can improve the core vitals on your site

First off, to find out how you can improve your score, you need to determine what it is. Google offers a report service, if you need help navigating that, a digital agency like BreezeMaxWeb can set up and analyze it for you.

Loading time:
To improve your LCP, you want to:
- Eliminate anything that is unnecessary. Remove any on-page script that is not controlled by you. This includes third party ads, analytics, and widgets.
- Add a feature that does not load all images at once. Instead, load images once users get to that section, you see this a lot on successful ecommerce web pages.
- In your report, Google will tell you if there are large elements limiting your site speed. Cutting the number of these down will drastically improve site performance. - If none of these work, think about upgrading your website host to allow faster loading all around.

Responsiveness:
Improving your site responsiveness again has a lot to do with the behind the scene aspects.
- While Javascript is not inherently bad for site responsiveness, while the script loads, your website won't be responsive. To increase response times, remove unnecessary scripts and delay loading of scripts you can’t remove.
- To help load Java faster, introduce a browser cache. This will increase your responsiveness.

Stability:
Maintaining stability across your site can be a quick fix in many cases.
- Know where your ads will go. Rather than allowing them to pop up at any time, anywhere on the page. Have a predetermined flow for your page.
- Don't allow your media sizes to fluctuate. Instead, try setting a size for each element on your page, this will allow the page to become more stable.

Secondary:
- Scan your site for malicious links or software and get rid of them.
- Add a mobile feature and layout. This can be pretty simple with a few extra lines of code but once again has major impacts on UX.
- Obtain an HTTPS certification.
- Get rid of pop-ups and if you need ads, add them on page rather than in pop-up format.

For help improving your core vitals on Google, talk to a specialist at BreezeMaxWeb . Our team will improve your site score and ultimately allow you to rank higher in search results. Experts can make small revisions or completely renovate your site, depending on your needs. Call us today for a free website audit !