How to optimize your website for Core web vitals in 2024
Published: 2024-01-07 10:00:54

## What Are Core Web Vitals?
Core Web Vitals are a set of metrics that measure the performance of a webpage. Specifically, they measure speed, visual stability, and interactivity. Google considers Core Web Vitals important ranking factors for [search engine optimization](https://maxlead.in/seo-company-in-kerala/) (SEO). Improving your Core Web Vitals can help your website rank better in search results and provide a better user experience.

## The three Core Web Vitals metrics are:

- Largest Contentful Paint (LCP): Measures how long it takes for the largest content element to load on the page. Good LCP is under 2.5 seconds.
- Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS): Measures unexpected shifts in layout as the page loads. Good CLS is under 0.1.
- First Input Delay (FID): Measures time from first 
interaction to response. Good FID is under 100 milliseconds.

## Why Are Core Web Vitals Important?
Google plans to make Core Web Vitals an official ranking factor, as part of a "page experience" score. Page experience also includes factors like HTTPS, mobile-friendliness, intrusive interstitials, and malware. But Core Web Vitals will likely be the biggest factor in page experience.
Strong page experience won't alone get you to #1 in Google. But improving your Core Web Vitals before Google's 2021 deadline is wise. Let's look at optimizing each vital.

## Largest Contentful Paint (LCP)
LCP measures the time for the main content to load from the user's perspective. It focuses on when users can see and interact with the page.
Check your LCP in Google PageSpeed Insights or Search Console. Search Console shows your entire site's LCP data, so you can identify issues.
Google wants LCP under 2.5 seconds. For image-heavy pages, this can be challenging. Simply adding a CDN may not be enough - you may need to optimize images or remove some.

## Here are ways to improve LCP:

- Remove unneeded third-party scripts
- Upgrade web hosting for faster loading
- Lazy load images
- Remove large page elements
- Minify CSS

## First Input Delay (FID)
First Input Delay (FID) measures the time it takes for the browser to respond to the first user interaction, like clicking a link or submitting a form.
FID maters most for pages with forms, logins, menus, and other interactive elements. For content-only pages, FID may not be as important.
Google wants FID under 100 milliseconds for a good user experience. On interactive pages, focus on minimizing JavaScript and third-party scripts to improve FID.

## Tips for improving FID:

- Minimize and defer JavaScript
- Remove non-critical third-party scripts
- Use browser caching
- Reduce server response times

## Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS)
CLS measures visual stability - how much content shifts around as the page loads. If elements move unexpectedly, you have high CLS.
Instead, you want page elements to remain stable as the page loads. This helps users avoid mis-clicking on shifting elements.
Google wants CLS under 0.1 for a good user experience. 

## To minimize CLS:

- Set size dimensions for images, videos, and ads
- Reserve space for ads before they load
- Add new UI elements below the page fold
- Use CSS Grid and Flexbox for stable layouts

## Interaction to Next Paint (INP)
INP will replace FID in March 2024 as a Core Vital. It measures time to respond after page load, like FID, but after full load.

## To improve INP:

- 1. Reduce JavaScript execution time
- 2. Minimize third-party scripts
- 3. Use a CDN
- 4. Optimize images
- 5. Enable browser caching
Check your INP now to get ahead of the 2024 switch.

## How to Measure and Improve Your Site's Core Web Vitals
Google wants you to begin optimizing for Core Web Vitals now. But how do you get started?

## Measuring Core Web Vitals
These tools can help you measure your current Core Vitals:

- Google PageSpeed Insights: Enter a URL to see speed metrics and optimization tips.
- Google Search Console: Access Core Vitals reports for your entire site.
- Chrome User Experience Report: See real visitor metrics for Core Vitals.
- WebPageTest: Test site speed from various locations.
- Chrome Lighthouse: Audit Core Vitals right within Chrome DevTools.
Once you have your metrics, focus on pages/metrics in the "poor" range first.

## Improving Core Web Vitals
Here are some overarching optimization tips:

- Optimize images - compress, lazy load, and remove unneeded images.
- Minify CSS, HTML, and JavaScript.
- Defer non-critical JavaScript.
- Upgrade to faster web hosting.
- Remove unused plugins/widgets/bloat.
- Enable browser caching.
- Optimize third-party scripts.
- Use a content delivery network (CDN).
It can take testing and tweaking to improve Core Vitals. For complex sites, consider consulting with a web performance expert.
Prioritizing the User Experience
At its core, Core Web Vitals aims to quantify user experience. So the better your overall UX, the better your scores will be. Use these Core Vitals optimizations as an opportunity to improve 
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