Why should your developer team care about core web vitals?

Core web vitals are a critical benchmark for measuring user experience. But a lot of companies are unprepared for Google’s latest announcement that these metrics are to become ranking signals. In fact, studies suggest that less than 15% of websites are optimized well enough to pass a core web vitals assessment. Let alone equipped for this next stage of measurement. The question is – how can developer teams make sure their businesses are not missing out on these metrics and crucially, optimizing the user experience? It all starts with understanding the impact of core web vitals and then taking tangible actions to prepare teams, and indeed the entire business, for this change.

Understanding the basics

Core web vitals are an evolution in the way we can measure and understand user experiences. Forrester reports that after three seconds, up to 40% of users abandon a website visit because of a poor user experience. This is catastrophic for businesses that are trying to recover from the last 12 months and connect with consumers in a completely new way. But, Google’s implementation of Core web vitals in 2020, was a core tool in helping businesses enhance their web page experience. In its current form, there are three metrics that aim to represent the perceived performance of a webpage across three different aspects:

• Loading – the time it takes for a page’s main content to load.
• Interactivity – the time it takes for a page to become interactive.
• Stability – the number of unexpected layouts shift of visual page content.

These metrics are now taking on a whole new weighting as Google is beginning to include them as ranking signals, effectively impacting how well a page ranks in their results for organic and paid searches. For businesses, this means that core web vitals will no longer just measure the user experience of a web page, but the ranking signals will highly impact the search engine optimization (SEO) ratings on a website. Having a knock-on effect to business agility to drive revenue, grow brand awareness and connect with target audiences, regardless of location.

Broader business implications

These new changes means that core web vitals will no longer sit within the developer team but become an important topic within the wider business – from marketing to SEO teams and all the way to the C-Suite. Engineering managers and product leaders must set aside time to consider the impact of core web vitals metrics and work with frontend developers to tweak product roadmaps and applications in line with this new form of measurement. While SEO teams and marketing managers need to ensure that the content and resources created will be able to drive the brand awareness they crave.

Companies that pull together to measure and optimize these metrics will benefit from improved rankings in organic search as well as an increased quality score which reduces the cost per click for paid search. Although on the surface this announcement appears to be a small update, it is in fact a significant change for businesses, impacting product roadmaps, marketing budgets and critically a business’ bottom line. 

Developers, get ready

For developers, the core web vitals updates can feel like just another task to juggle. Yet it doesn’t need to be a headache. In fact, introducing ranking signals offers clear advice on what to measure to gauge the user experience of a website. Introducing these metrics as ranking signals has in turn standardized what and how businesses measure webpages and, in turn, highlighted for developers a clear path to success for website performance and optimization. Here are some top tips for how developer teams can prepare for core web vitals and set their business up for success:

• Measure, optimize, repeat – core web vitals metrics are going to become just as critical as the other performance data tracked in the business. Developers must capture these metrics in an analytics or observability platform, alongside common real user monitoring (RUM) data like page URL, device type, and geographic location. By embedding core web vitals metrics into your observability platform, developers can slice and dice the data and understand which pages or device types have the lowest score and find the biggest opportunities for optimization and improvement.
• Understand metric weighting – It’s important to understand the weighting of each metric that your team is using. For example, there has been a recent increase in the weighting for Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) and Total Blocking Time (TBT), specifically in the optimization of user experience and the Google rankings, so there should be a greater focus around these metrics within the team. Whilst teams must understand the weighting of each metric, it’s critical not to forget other metrics such as server response time. Taking a holistic view on all aspects of the web page will help developers improve the overall ranking and performance.
• Real-time monitoring – setting up real time alerting on the core web vitals metrics will not just help developer teams prepare for these changes but keep them on track for optimizing on this announcement. By adopting this approach, developers can be notified in real time if a new deployment or new page leads to a regression in scores. Getting instant alerts enables developers to understand what exactly is enhancing rankings and what is not working. Allowing them to alter and adapt their solutions to optimize user experience and performance. Teams that do not just prepare for core web vitals but monitor them, will set their business up for continuous improvement and success.

Setting up for success

Ready or not, core web vitals updates are going to have a significant impact on a business’s digital presence, its user experience, and online performance. Developers face an opportunity to lead and engage their business by investing the time in fully understanding these updates and what they mean for the wider organization. By taking some simple steps to embed these core web vitals metrics into analytics and observability practices, businesses will thrive in setting up long-term success for their web sites. And ultimately, be able to create a user experience that sets them apart from their competitors.