Is your small business website measuring up to Google’s Core Web Vitals? In the summer of 2021, Google completed the rollout of the page experience update. The update, in a nutshell, will determine whether your website has a good user experience. If it falls short in any of the three Core Web Vitals, your website ranking could plummet.
It’s essential to take action now to ensure your business website has the right performance pieces in place to deliver the page experience Google expects. Here are the three Core Web Vitals metrics you will need to address to ensure your website measures up:
- LCP (Largest Contentful Paint): How long it takes a web page to load once the visitor lands on the page. Does the content appear quickly, or does it take too long for all images and content to load?
- FID (First Input Delay): How quickly the web page responds to the visitor’s input. When the visitor clicks a link or a button, is the page’s response time fast, or does it lag?
- CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift): How is the visual layout stability of the web page? Are the page elements, such as images, videos, buttons, and text stable, or do they shift around the screen, making it difficult for visitors to view?
Google will use these metrics along with page experience tools to assess your business website’s performance. Google’s Measure tool can give you an idea of where you stand and areas to improve upon. The performance results will determine how the page will rank in the search engine listings with the new algorithm.
What Can You Do to Protect Your Business Website’s Ranking?
Google has taken steps to make it as easy as possible for businesses to identify their websites’ weak spots. They have incorporated a reporting feature for the Core Web Vitals in the Search Console. By using this feature, you can run a report on your website that will show you which pages meet Google’s Core Web Vitals thresholds and which ones fall short.
Once you identify your website’s areas of weakness, you can optimize them and make the necessary tweaks to improve performance. That way, once Google rolls out the new ranking algorithm, you won’t have to worry that your website ranking will suffer.
Tips to ensure your website meets the update’s metrics include:
- Optimizing website images
- Upgrading web hosting
- Reserving space for loading content
- Prioritizing content that is above-the-fold
- Ensuring your content is fresh and relevant
- Monitoring mobile-friendliness
Let Us Help You Prepare for the Core Web Vitals Update
When it comes to the upcoming Google update, your business’s goal should be to prioritize your website’s user experience. Now is the right time to invest in your website page experience to boost performance and increase your search engine ranking.
PersistSEO’s experts will ensure your website meets the Core Web Vitals. Let us help you make the necessary changes to maximize your search engine ranking in 2021 and beyond. Call us at (770) 580-3736 to position your business website for success, no matter what Google updates come your way.