Core Web Vitals Update is coming
Google confirms that the Core Web Vitals (CWV) Update is now coming within June 2021. Actually, the update had already been planned for May 2021, but Google had postponed this according to its own information to give website operators the opportunity to make their pages better.
What are the likely consequences of the update?
With the Core Web Vitals update, more relevance is attributed to page performance. The loading time of a page is very important for users. Even an increased loading time of 3 seconds can cause a big loss of revenue. Therefore, in the optimal case, web pages should be loaded within a given time so that the user experience is not compromised. Google has introduced Core Web Vitals for this purpose. The CWV consist of three indicators:
- LCP - Largest Contentful Paint (loading)
- FID - First Input Delay (interactivity)
- CLS - Cumulative Layout Shift (visual stability)
The current Google Search Help lists the following as good values:
You can test whether your site meets the requirements of Core Web Vitals using a variety of tools. These includes e.g.:
Important: Please note that you need to look at the CWV for mobile devices! Google is focusing mobile devices because most users search for something via their smartphone (~60-70% of search requests).
Furthermore the Core Web Vitals will become a ranking factor in Google search. Therefore, as a website owner, you should definitely optimize your site. Google also says that pages will not be penalized if they do not meet the CWV. However, pages that have optimized their pages will be rewarded. If, for example, the pages of your competitors are optimized, they could catch up with you in Google search or even overtake you.
However, you dont have to worry too much at the beginning if you dont manage to optimize your site right away. Google has already confirmed that the CWV update will not have a noticeable impact for the first time. But it will get more importance within the following months.
What can I do to optimize my sites?
Their are multiple ways to optimize your website to meet the Core Web Vitals requirements. We recommend to test your site first with the Pagespeed Insights or Lighthouse Tool. They will suggest improvements you can first try to optimize. If you are using Wordpress, their are several plugins that helps you to optimize your site performance like WPRocket (paids), WP Fastest Cache (free), or WP-Optimize (free and paid plans).
You can read more about the Core Web Vitals at the Google Search Help.
2021-06-05
