Usability is the alpha and omega when it's going to succeed online. Therefore, inter alia, mobile mobility and speed have been important ranking factors for long-term search engines. In May 2020, Google announced that the focus on usability as a ranking factor would increase. Core Web Vitals will be an important part of their algorithm from May 2021So let's say that this is the same thing as that.
Failure to monitor and optimise for loading, interactiveity and stability on their website will lead to a risk of poor rankings in search results, thereby also reducing visibility and traffic to the page. This may in turn have major implications for turnover.
In this article we will consider what Core Web Vitals is and how well prepared Norwegian online stores are for the algorithm change.
What is Core Web Vitals?
Core Web Vitals is a three-measuring term that together has to say something about the usability of a specific website. The targets are based on loading, interactiveity and stability and say something about the quality of a website from a user perspective. Each subside of a domain has its own score. Core Web Vitals consists of the following:
- Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) is the time it takes for the largest element on the side to become visible. This may be the time it takes, for example, before a large header image is loaded in a online store.
- First Input Delay (FID) is the time it takes for a user to interact with the page. This may be to press a button or fill in a form on a page.
- Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) is a measure of the number of items that move on the side without meaning. This may be, for example, if a chat window, banner or pop-up is loaded and thus affects other items on the page so that they “move” on.
Each of the dimensions breaks down into three main orders per page: Poor, Needs Improvement and Good.
How well are Norwegian online shops performing?
To see how well prepared Norwegian e-commerce is, we have tested 100 of the largest online stores operating in Norway. We have, using PageSpeed Insights, tested the mobile front page of all the online stores. Therefore, the figures in this survey do not give a complete picture of the whole domain performance, but are a good indicator from one of the main pages of a website. We chose to test the score from the mobile phone when the majority of the searches (64%) on Google are performed on a mobile device.
PageSpeed
The first thing we did was test how online stores performed on the PageSpeed Score. PageSpeed is a measure that says something about a page's speed by checking multiple dimensions, including those we're looking at in Core Web Vitals score. PageSpeed analyzes a page using Lighthouse which collects lab data on the page. The scale is measured on a scale of 1-100 where:
- 0-49 is considered bad
- 50-89 is considered to be medium
- 90-100 is considered good
The average PageSpeed score among online stores is only 24 out of 100 possible points. It turns out that the majority of online stores in the test score “bad” on the test and that only 7 of the websites score well enough to get the character “medium”. There are none of the online stores do well enough to get the score “good”.
The one that scores best of the 100 online stores is Netonnet with 71 points on the mobile front page. Despite their best in this test, the score does not keep the goal of being classified as good by Google.
Largest Contentful Paint (LCP)
Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) is, as previously described, a measure of the time it takes for the largest item on the page to become visible to the user of the page. The results of the LCP are therefore categorised as follows:
- Under 2,5 is considered good
- 2,5 – 4,0 is considered as medium
- Over 4,0 is considered poor
42.4% of the front pages of the 100 Norwegian online shops were well-achieved in the LCP target, 48.5% were medium-made and 9.1% were poor. This means that 57.6% of online stores in the test should actively enter to work on optimising the front page Largest Contentful Paint (LCP).
How to improve the LCP score?
Large images and JavaScript related to, for example, reviews from other third-party platforms are typical things that can lead to a high LCP on the front page of online shops. Using tools like Google Search Console and PageSpeed Insights, you can easily get concrete measures to work with LCP for specific pages that score medium or bad.
Measures to improve the LCP page are:
- Remove or optimize the page element with maximum content rendering (LCP)
- Reduce the impact of third party code
- Implementation lazy loading
First Input Delay (FID)
First Input Delay (FID) is the time it takes before a user can interact with the page. Examples of interactions with the page can be click on a button, select a category in the menu, enter its email into a field or open “read more” to expand a long text from mobile phone. The results of the FID are therefore categorised as follows:
- Less than 100 ms is considered good
- 100-300 ms is considered to be medium
- Over 300 ms are considered poor
88,9 % of the front pages of the Norwegian online stores were successful in the FID, 9.1 % of medium and only 2 % poor.
How to improve the FID score? Most of the front pages that were in the test had a good result on the FID. However, other pages on the websites have bigger problems with this particular goal, such as a “log in” or “sign up” page. Measures that can be implemented to improve the FID of a page are: Minimise JavaScript Show static resources with effective buffer guidelines / long buffer lifetime Reduce the impact of third party code Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) says something about the visual stability of a page when loaded. If items on the page move when loaded have a side poor visual stability and hence high CLS. The reason why high scores on the Cumulative Layout Shift count negative is that it is felt as little user-friendly and often frustrating for the user when they need to re-invent items or click incorrectly on items because they move. Examples are that an ad or a data protection banner loads the page and presses other content up or down. CLS is classified in the following categories: Under 0,1 is considered good 0,1 – 0.25 is considered medium Over 0.25 is considered bad Of the three dimensions in Core Web vitals, the definitely Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) is the Norwegian online stores that score the worst. Here score over half, all of 56.6%, bad. 13.1% score mean and 30.3% score satisfactory.
How to improve the CLS score?
It is clear that visual stability is something many have to work to improve in the future. The precise measures and elements to be addressed need to be identified for each page through analysis, for example, by Lighthouse.
Measures that can be taken to improve a page CLS are:
- Avoid the wrong use of fonts
- Specify dimensions of images to be used
- Specify dimensions of banner ads
- Be careful with or avoid any dynamic pop-up that affects other contents
What should Norwegian online shops do now?
Website owners should prepare and reveal their potential for improvement. We therefore recommend that an audit be made of how your entire website performs on these measurement parameters. This can be done in several ways, for example with tools like PageSpeed Insights, Google Search Console and ScreamingFrog.
It may be an advantage to contact your developers or SEO Agency to take a review of Core Web Vitals and put a plan.
Conclusion
Although Core Web Vitals is a relatively new goal that is likely to be changing in the future, we can confidently say that the expectation of user-friendly pages has come to be. Search engines and users want pages that are fast, stable and easy to use.
The test shows that several Norwegian online shops have a way of following best practice when it comes to loading, interactiveity and stability. Just how hard websites will be punished and rewarded with bad and good rankings based on their score on Core Web Vitals remains to be seen in May 2021. Our best tip is to stand ready!
Would you like to help me map how your website is performing on Core Web Vitals? Contact us for an unwarranted offer on an audit of your website.