Why Should I Care About Core Web Vitals?

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You have likely heard of SEO and may have even tried it to improve your site's metrics, Google rankings, and performance. 

But you may not know what specific metrics influence Google to reward your site with page 1 web rankings. And Google, places significant emphasis on UX (user experience), which of course, includes user interaction with your page.

The reality is that in addition to UX, there are hundreds of factors, which is why SEO was born. And to make things even more challenging, Google typically doesn't tell us what goes into their search algorithm, but when they do, we listen.

Last year Google announced their newest ranking factor: Core Web Vitals. It is important you know a little about Core Web Vitals, the upcoming Google algorithm change, and how it will affect your site.

In fact, not only did Google announce they were making core web vitals a search ranking factor in advance, they even gave us a target date! That's right, and if all goes as planned, Core Web Vitals will become a Google ranking factor in May of 2021.

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Why Should I Care About Core Web Vitals?

Before we dig too deep into the details of core web vitals metrics, let's discuss why you should care about Core Web Vitals. The answer is simple. Optimizing your site for Core Web Vitals is a quick win. A way to improve your site's search rankings quickly and with a relatively small amount of effort.

Ranking Factor

From a search optimization perspective, Core Web Vitals will soon be a ranking factor on the web. How much will this influence the search landscape? We won't know that until it is released. Some releases have entirely changed the search landscape, like the Panda, Penguin, or Florida updates.

However, these are just a few of the most memorable. Google updates its algorithm hundreds of times every year. Most of these are small, nearly invisible changes. Where on the spectrum Core Web Vitals will fall, remains to be seen, but there is no question it will impact the web and in search ranking performance.

Conversion Factor

While the update as a ranking factor in itself is important, the actual effect it has on your website is even more critical. Google did a study and found that, among other things, when you have good Core Web Vitals, users are 24% less likely to abandon the site.

Abandonment is a simple way of saying someone leaves the site before taking your desired conversion action. This decrease in abandonment inevitably leads to an increase in conversion.