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Semalt Explains What Core Web Vitals Are


Table of Contents

  1. What are Core Web Vitals?
  2. How to Measure Core Web Vitals for A Website?
  3. How can You Fix Core Web Vitals on Your Website?
  4. Wrapping It Up
Today, the biggest battle in the digital world is to rank higher on SERPs. But regular improvements and algorithm updates from Google are making it more challenging.

You might complain, but Google wants its users to have the best experience on the web. That's why it keeps coming up with new updates that might look challenging but are beneficial for almost everyone.

Nowadays, a topic most people want to know about is Core Web Vitals. Google, some time back, announced that Page Experience would be among crucial ranking factors, and currently, the Page Experience update is in the rollout phase. Core Web Vitals are essential constituents of this update. 

With valuable information about Core Web Vitals, this article can help you rank higher on Google SERPs and gain distinguished recognition over the Internet.

What are Core Web Vitals?

Core Web Vitals are three user-centric metrics that help website owners quantify and fix the user experience on their website / web pages. They help measure the performance of web pages based on the field data (or real-world usage data).

These metrics reveal many things about a page's behavior, such as how fast the content loads on it, how quickly the browser loading it responds to the users' input, and the stability of content when the page loads in the browser.

The three Core Web Vitals are:
  1. Largest Contentful Paint (LCP)
  2. First Input Delay (FID)
  3. Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS)
Evaluation of each of these metrics helps in understanding how better the user experience is on a webpage. Let's learn more about them:

1. Largest Contentful Paint (LCP)

The first Core Web Vital is Largest Contentful Paint (LCP). This metric quantifies the time from when the webpage begins loading to the time when the largest image or text block of that page appears on your screen.

What LCP Score to Aim?

To ensure your site provides a better user experience, you must aim for an LCP (Largest Contentful Paint) score of 2.5 sec. or less than that. If the LCP score of your website is anywhere between 2.5-4 seconds, you must take action to improve it.    



The LCP score of more than 4 seconds is considered bad/ poor. If you want to provide an enhanced user experience, you must improve or get that score improved.

How to Improve the LCP Score?

If any large image or video background is present on your website, Google may not appreciate it. Also, excessive CSS or JavaScript files may act as render-blockers. 

It would be best if you spend some time optimizing Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) on your website and making sure that everything is in harmony with new guidelines from Google. 

2. First Input Delay (FID)

The second Core Web Vital, First Input Delay (FID), measures the time from a user's first interaction with your site to the browser's response to that interaction. Here, the first interaction can be clicking a link, pressing a key, or tapping a button.

What FID Score to Aim?

In the case of First Input Delay, the lower score ensures a better user experience. If the FID score of your website is less than 100 milliseconds, users will get a better experience. If the score is anywhere between 100-300 milliseconds, you must act to improve that score.



And, any score above 300 milliseconds will provide a bad user experience. If you are a DIY person, take the necessary steps to improve that score or seek professional help.

How to Improve the FID Score?

To improve your site's FID score, you should identify all elements that prevent the browser from being interactive. Some things you can do are:
  • Reduce the influence of third-party code
  • Reduce the execution time of JavaScript
  • Minimize the main thread work
You can also take professional help to improve the FID score, or if you have time, go through the web. dev's article about optimizing First Input Delay (FID).

3. Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS)

The third Core Web Vital is Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS). It measures the "visual stability" of a page by providing the aggregate score of all the unexpected layout shifts occurring on that page.

What CLS Score to Aim?

A webpage has different types of elements. When the web page loads and they move around the page, this page's CLS score is high, which is very bad.

The CLS score is measured differently than the other two metrics. You can visit here to understand the calculations of CLS. If you want your website to provide a better user experience, aim for a score of 0.1 or less than that.



If the CLS score is anywhere between 0.1-0.25, find out the anomalies and take action to improve the score. And a score of more than 0.25 is alarming and might require professional help for enhancing the user experience.

How to Improve the CLS Score?

If you have experience with web design, improving the CLS score will be an easy task. You can do things like:
  • Including size attributes for videos and images on your page
  • Ensuring no content falls above already loaded content
You can also go through an article by web.dev to optimize the CLS score of your page and offer the best user experience.

How to Measure Core Web Vitals for A Website?

When it comes to measuring Core Web Vitals for a website, you'll require lab data as well as field data. The lab data is the information obtained in ideal conditions, like when a developer uses a high-quality PC.

The field data comprises scores obtained with the help of the Chrome User Experience Report (CeUX). And, this report uses the data received from users visiting a website.

Compared to lab data, field data provides more accurate results because it considers users having slower internet connections or operating old devices. Here are a few free tools you can utilize:

• Google Search Console

You can access the Core Web Vitals report of your website through Google Search Console. After evaluating all the indexed URLs, this report classifies them as good, needs improvement, or bad for desktop as well as mobile devices.

• Page Speed Insights

With Page Speed Insights, you won't receive the kind of historical data Google Search Console provides, but it gives vital suggestions to enhance the user experience a website offers.

How can You Fix Core Web Vitals on Your Website?

As the rollout process of the Page Experience update is still in progress, you can't rule out the possibility of issues related to Core Web Vitals on several websites. 

Each website is different from another (even if the difference is minimum), which means the issues they face might not be the same. Therefore, it becomes crucial to evaluate your domain separately and resolve issues accordingly.

Some issues are common, and every website can face them. So, here are tips / suggestions that can help you prevent, address, or resolve problems related to Core Web Vitals.

Potential Fixes for Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) Issues

Potential Fixes for First Input Delay (FID) Issues

Potential Fixes for Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) Issues

  • Make sure no content on your website falls above the existing content. It is not applicable during user interaction.
  • Ensure including size (width and height) attributes to images and video elements on your web pages. Alternatively, you can also reserve the space using CSS aspect ratio boxes.
  • To prevent forceful changes to layout, prefer transform animations in place of animation of properties.
A person familiar with technical aspects of web development might find these fixes simple, but others may find them challenging. One thing you should never forget that Semalt and its team of experts are always ready to help you with all such matters.

Wrapping It Up

Core Web Vitals came into the limelight when Google announced that ranking on SERPs will also consider the Page Experience factors. There are three Core Web Vitals, and they help evaluate and enhance the experience users get on a website.

Not only this, getting Core Web Vitals right helps in improving the rank of a website. Google gave businesses / website owners ample time to find if their websites have any issues related to Core Web Vitals. 

With the rollout process of the Page Experience update in full force, improving Core Web Vitals is now an essential requirement to get a high rank on SERPs. If you have not dealt with them yet, it's the right time to find and fix Core Web Vital issues on your site. In case of any difficulty, don't hesitate to get in touch with Semalt Experts.