Everything you need to know about… Google Core Web Vitals

So, you’ve got your business online, and you’re ready to start building your profile and getting your website out there in the eyes of your target audience. You’ve heard of SEO and are currently working on a strategy to ensure that Google finds your site whenever your industry or specialist subject is mentioned.


But of course, in typical Google fashion, things are constantly changing and the focus on user experience is always shifting to accommodate new ideologies and preferences.


Google Core Web Vitals first came to fruition in 2020, and over the past year has made its mark in quantifying the user experience through a set of three new ranking tools which join the generic user areas already being ranked by Google (which include mobile usability, safety while browsing, and HTTPS).


In this article, I’ll be introducing you to the three new subsections of Google’s Core Web Vitals and letting you in on a few things that you can start doing now to ensure that your website is up to Google’s high standards.

Introducing the Core Web Vitals

Google has long been interested in user experience above all else, ranking everything from the value of your content to the layout of your website in determining which sites offer the highest value to users.

Core Web Vitals is a new initiative which is ultimately designed to make things easier for you, the website owner, by allowing you to ascertain exactly how effective your website is in line with Google’s expectations. It is essentially a DIY check that you can perform to quantify the experience your website is providing to users – drawing your attention to problem areas so that you can fix them yourself.

The three new additions to Google’s ranking are as follows:

  1. LCP (Largest Contentful Paint)
  2. FID (First Input Delay)
  3. CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift)


Any idea what they mean? No? Don’t worry, you’re not alone. Let’s take a closer look at what these areas really look at – and what you can do to optimise the experience across all three avenues.


Largest Contentful Paint


This is the page user time from the perspective of your website visitor. It refers directly to the seconds from clicking a link to the page loading and can be impacted by poor connectivity as well as pages stuffed with images or other visual content. As the title suggests, it works on the load time of the largest piece of content on any given webpage.


Your LCP time should sit under 2.5 seconds in order to provide the optimum user experience, as anything longer than that can be problematic both in the eyes of Google and the increasingly impatient users who will be visiting your site.


WHAT CAN YOU DO?

  • Check your images and videos. Chat to your website developer about ensuring the size is right across all devices, or else dive in yourself and conduct a page load time review in order to isolate the problem areas and compress the largest images.
  • Reduce the number of redirects on any one webpage.
  • Cache your website, keeping the webpages static so that when a user clicks a link, the page loads without searching for the most up to date content.


For more tips on improving your LCP score, chat to your website developer.


First Input Delay

First Input Delay is all about interaction and reaction, and how quickly your website is able to respond to a certain action performed by the user. Some examples include selecting clickable links and playing videos, with FID asking how long it takes for the webpage to become responsive.


It is important for website owners to understand that this is the area which deals with your CTA’s and action buttons. So much of your marketing and advertising will be designed to capture users and encourage them to take action – but a low FID rating can ruin all of that trust in seconds.


The best FID measurement is under 100 milliseconds, if you want your website to be ranked highly in the eyes of both Google and your website visitors.


WHAT CAN YOU DO?

  • Optimise your Javascript. More often than not, a problem with FID will be caused by Javascript, and so you need to take steps to break tasks up into smaller chunks which can be achieved more quickly and optimise the front level load time so that your page is ready for interaction immediately.
  • Minimise the amount of data that needs to be processed on the user end.
  • Defer unused Javascript so that it doesn’t waste time and bandwidth.

(If this simply goes over your head, or you need support in achieving the recommended steps, chat to your web developer).


Cumulative Layout Shift


This is the area which deals with visual stability and how well your webpage is displayed across devices. Far from simply focussing on the aesthetic display of your website across different screen sizes, CLS looks at how stable each element on the page is – whether elements of the page jump around as the user scrolls, and whether or not a shift in page layout affects the user experience.

This is a crucial element of usability because shifting page elements and boxes can be aggravating and confusing for your website visitor – ultimately creating a poor experience.

The lower the better when it comes to your quantitative CLS measurement – under 0.1.


WHAT CAN YOU DO?

  • Ensure that every element on your webpage has set dimensions – from adverts to images and more. This means including size attributes in the build of your website, so that elements sit in the right place and do not move around as the user interacts with your site.
  • Don’t overlay content.
  • Be careful with the way you use and implement animated elements in your website. Any features which move as the user scrolls can be problematic.

The key thing to remember is that Core Web Vitals are here to help and can introduce you to potential challenges and issues with your website long before Google picks up on them and penalises you for them.


Use these updates and three specific areas to get to know your website from a backend user perspective, and use the results as a way of guiding future upgrades and updates to your site.

An Open Letter to the DIY “I know what I’m doing” Crew

If you’re of the mind that you can do everything and anything yourself, then you must LOVE the internet – and everything it has to offer. With everything from written guides to visual charts and Youtube videos available for every age group, industry, and user type, there really has never been a better time to branch out on your own, learn online, and do it all yourself.

And if you come across the odd article which shares content of little to no value, or which shares tips which will damage your reputation rather than bolster it – who cares! Because you know exactly what you’re doing without any support, right?

What is SEO – and do I REALLY need it?

SEO is short for Search Engine Optimisation – which is the tool responsible for helping consumers and potential customers find your website and your content. However, in the eyes of more business owners than you would expect, SEO is purely a hoop that Google makes them jump through… and they’re not having it!

Enter the anti-SEO crew, intent on going it alone and using the power of their own content to drive conversion and attract customers. These are the people who DON’T need help increasing their revenues, and who aren’t that fussed about increasing profits. They’re the business owners who operate in such a clear and obvious niche, that they KNOW the right audience will find them, with or without SEO.

At the end of the day, SEO is a stepping-stone to greater business success. So, what do you do when your business doesn’t need help in succeeding?

Why you DON’T need SEO

If you’re a big fan of the internet and all of those DIY resources we mentioned earlier, you will likely already be aware of the number of businesses and SEO experts out there, keen to help bolster the value and reach of your content and online presence. These are people who boast both experience and knowledge, who understand the algorithms and who know how to play the system in order to ensure that their clients get the best results month after month.

Most of all, they are the businesses and experts whose job it is to boost the presence of their clients among their own specific industry and marketplace – using SEO and the various tools that SEO presents in getting content noticed and drawing the right people in to read it.

So, what about those who don’t need SEO? Are they right in believing that SEO is just another corporate demand made by the powers behind Google? Or are they missing a trick?

See for yourself….

  1. SEO keeps your target audience coming back

For many, gaining and retaining the attention of a target audience is the number one goal of any advertising campaign and marketing strategy. But if you’re truly confident in your ability to keep people entertained and interested, simply using great content and fun visuals, great! Never mind if they can’t find it once it’s been posted… the right people will get there eventually, right?

  1. SEO helps you to reach new customers

Do you really need new customers? SEO is one of the most useful, effective, and efficient tools in expanding your audience footprint and getting your message out on a wider scale – so if you’re perfectly content with your business as it is and DON’T want to continue to grow and evolve, SEO is really more of an obstacle than a valuable asset.

  1. SEO increases revenues

Increased revenues mean more profits and more growth, more recruiting and an increase in your business operations. For many, these are the signs of a successful company, but for others they are more stress than they’re worth. Which camp are you in?

  1. SEO helps you stand out against the competition

If you don’t want to stand out and are more than happy simply co-existing with your industry competitors, then avoiding SEO is the very best move you can make. Standing out from your competition means showcasing what your business has to offer, and really making a mark on the target audience through your vision and company values – ensuring that the right people find your company through search engines and SEO-bolstered content. Is this something you want to communicate, or are you happy just floating along in the industry current?

  1. SEO builds brand awareness, even outside your target audience

If you don’t want to increase revenues and build your business, then expanding your target audience and communicating with those outside of your core target market is a waste of time – time that could, perhaps, be spend indulging in a hobby or personal interest. For those businesses that are totally confident in their target audience and existing communications, to the point that expanding outside of that core audience to build wider brand awareness is detrimental to business success, then SEO is a problem to be avoided.

The simple fact is that SEO is only suitable for those businesses that want to succeed in a way that bolsters company growth, increases revenues, and continues to reach out to both the target audience and potential new customers – consistently and effectively. For those businesses and organisations who are happy to stay where they are, swimming among the competition rather than pulling ahead, SEO is an asset that they don’t need.

But before you decide that the second option is for you or dismiss SEO as just another hoop designed by the powers at Google, ask yourself this. Can I really continue to meet the constantly changing demands of a modern, technologically-able audience, on my own? Or might a little SEO support serve my business well in the long run?

How many times have you needed to get in touch with a company about a product you’ve ordered or a service they have delivered, only to find that the advertised means of contact is an online form which can take up to 24 hours for a response? 

As a species, technology and innovation are making us more impatient – and more demanding. When we have questions or issues to raise, we want to be able to do so immediately, and we want to know that our message will not only be acknowledged but also responded to. 

Enter the new world of social media marketing. 

We are constantly being told about how social media is an important, modern part of the customer journey – both during the discovery phase, the research phase, and the follow up phase. For companies who are on top of their social media and are utilising it seamlessly, this means that everything from reviews to complaints are likely to be received through social platforms – with Facebook ranking as the most popular platform for businesses. But what about the benefits of social media marketing, and messaging in particular? 

What is social media marketing?

Social media marketing refers not only to the use of social media for advertising and marketing products and services, but also includes direct messaging and commenting as a means of contacting a company and/or responding to customers. Initially designed as just another means of online contact, advances across the industry have meant that automated chatbots are now an integral part of every social media strategy – especially when it comes to Facebook Messenger marketing, which is the outlet of choice for most modern consumers seeking a way to get in contact with a company at all hours of the day (and night). 

The benefits of chatbots when it comes to Facebook Messenger marketing

There are a broad range of benefits that come with using social media as an integrated part of your marketing strategy, but chatbots sit up there as the most beneficial aspect to come from Facebook Messenger marketing in particular. 

Far from the robotic images and flat responses that many envisage when they think about chatbots, modern chatbots are interactive, engaging, and able to use everything from words to visuals and videos by means of response to a variety of questions, issues and comments. Of course, in ascertaining and identifying the benefits of using chatbots in your Facebook Messenger strategy, the first thing to note is the simple fact that your communication lines are always open – unlike real team members, chatbots don’t need sleep. With this in mind, chatbots are especially popular with global brands where their customer base lives across a huge variety of time zones and thus may need assistance at any time of the day or night. 

Another benefit of integrating chatbots into your Facebook Messenger marketing plan is that they can provide consumers with simple answers to a huge range of questions – thus eradicating a huge load of admin for your social media team. More often than not, consumers contacting you through social media will be after a quick response – for example, the stock levels of a certain product, or the status of a delivery driver. These require factual, quick responses which can be delivered seamlessly by a chatbot. 

For those instances where a more personalised response is required, the developments in AI mean that this is becoming more possible every day. By being able to differentiate the products and services required by different individuals, and by using the details they provide in order to generate personalised responses, the future for chatbots – and for sales conversion – is bright. 

As well as the efficient and effective responses created by chatbots, additional information and benefits that can be gained through the use of chatbots include:

Other benefits of Facebook Messenger Marketing

As well as being able to use chatbots to replicate and engage in personal and direct conversations, there are a handful of other benefits that come with using Facebook Messenger marketing as a company or brand. 

For one thing, the messenger platform allows you to integrate with your target audience on a platform which works for them and which they regularly use as part of their everyday internet activity. All too often we see brands and companies losing out on that crucial transition from browser to buyer, simply because they are not presenting a presence that is readily available across different platforms. If you only allow customers to ask questions through a contact form on your website, or by dialling a number and being put on a hold list, the likelihood is that you will lose a large chunk of potential business from those who would rather quick on a quick chat icon and receive an automatic response. 

And finally, why not consider Facebook Messenger marketing as a way to acknowledge and generate information about orders and delivery notifications? A massive 85% of people say they want to be able to text back after receiving a push notification – so it follows that using Facebook Messenger marketing to control those kinds of notifications could open up a channel for conversation and ongoing communication. 

Why you should integrate Facebook Messenger marketing today

Facebook is the OG of all the social media platforms when it comes to consumer – business interactions, and as such it is leading the way with the integration with direct messaging, consistent communication and advertising, and chatbots. The future of your business could well rest in the way that you employ and use social media in the coming weeks and months, particularly with the 2020 pandemic driving more and more people to browse and shop online. 

Create a seamless consumer experience using chatbots and messenger apps – and watch as browsers start to become buyers.

Verified by MonsterInsights