In November 2020, Google announced that Core Web Vitals would officially become ranking factors starting in May 2021. These indicate a page's user-friendliness and consist of three metrics:
- The loading time of the main content
- The time until the first possible interaction
- The stability of the layout after loading
By focusing on these metrics, Google aims to optimize the user experience on the web. The announcement was made last year to give website operators time to make their sites more user-friendly before the update comes into effect. Websites that meet Google's user-friendliness criteria will be rewarded twice as much starting in May 2021. Not only through the greater weighting of Core Web Vitals as a ranking factor, but also through the labeling of all pages that are considered user-friendly. Such labeling also contributes to visibility in Google results.
What can website operators do?
Core Web Vitals are nothing new. Website loading speeds have always played a role in Google's search results rankings. However, with the announcement that these will now also become official ranking factors, Google has made it clear that user-friendliness is a particular focus of the platform. The labeling of user-friendly pages in search results is an extra incentive to meet Google's criteria.
But how can you tell if your site is considered user-friendly according to Google's standards? Google Search Console uses a simple traffic light system to show whether there is room for improvement in terms of Core Web Vitals. It is therefore very easy to see whether your site meets Google's requirements. Optimizing the Core Web Vitals metrics is more difficult. Speeding up loading times is considered a technically demanding part of search engine optimization.
Nevertheless, since Google's announcement, it has been clear that good loading times and a user-friendly site are essential for high visibility. What's more, a fast website is not only rated positively by Google, but also by real users.
Since this is an ongoing issue that website operators are constantly dealing with, we have already reported on it here!
If you still have some catching up to do with Core Web Vitals, now is the time to optimize. If you need assistance, please feel free to contact us at pole-position@drive.eu.
