Have you ever wondered why it is so difficult to stand out in the market today?
It doesn’t matter what your business offers, the competition will always be high.
And reaching the right target in the right way, is becoming more and more complicated.
Well, in this scenario, Core Web Vitals are the keys to focus on to differentiate yourself, and offer users a good experience with your touch-points.
What are core web vitals? Core Web Vitals are a set of standardized performance metrics introduced by Google to evaluate the user experience of a website.
They focus on key areas like loading time, interactivity, and visual stability, which are essential elements for enhancing both user satisfaction and a website’s ranking potential. But specifically, what do these metrics indicate, and how do they affect your website’s technical SEO?
In this article, we will answer these questions and introduce you to our Core Web Vitals History Checker: Ziken Labs’ free tool to analyze your website performance and improve it over time.
What are Core Web Vitals?
As anticipated, Core Web Vitals consist of specific metrics that measure the user experience of a website in real-time. Specifically, they are designed to focus on the performance of a webpage in terms of three primary categories: loading speed, interactivity, and visual stability.
But before diving into these specific metrics, it’s important to understand why Google introduced Core Web Vitals. Over the years, Google has continuously refined its algorithms to prioritize websites that offer a high-quality user experience. Metrics like page speed and mobile-friendliness have long been ranking factors, it’s true. However, with the rise of mobile browsing and more complex websites, Google recognized the need for more sophisticated and user-centric performance measures.
So, Core Web Vitals emerged as the answer, giving website owners concrete metrics to focus on to improve user experience. In fact, by optimizing these specific metrics, website performance improves in areas that directly impact user satisfaction. This is why these metrics are crucial for every marketer, entrepreneur, or web developer to intervene in case of low bounce rates, to improve engagement, and ultimately to guarantee better SEO performance.
The three primary Core Web Vitals are:
- Largest Contentful Paint (LCP)
- First Input Delay (FID)
- Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS)
But in addition to these, there are other performance indicators that influence the overall performance of your website. Let’s know more about all of them, one by one.
Largest Contentful Paint (LCP)
Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) is one of the most critical Core Web Vitals measuring the time it takes for the largest visible content element to load in the viewport. We are talking about images, videos, or blocks of text: whatever the user sees first when the page is loading. LCP focuses on loading performance from the user’s perspective, which makes it an essential factor in the overall page experience.
So, a slow LCP means the user has to wait longer before they can engage with the content, which can lead to frustration and increased bounce rates. For example, if a large hero image at the top of your page takes too long to load, users might abandon the site before they even get a chance to explore it.
- LCP < 2.5 seconds: Good
- 2.5 seconds < LCP < 4 seconds: Needs improvement
- LCP > 4 seconds: Poor
First Input Delay (FID)
First Input Delay (FID) measures the time it takes for a webpage to respond after a user interacts with it.
In this case, we refer to any kind of interaction: from clicking a link to selecting a dropdown menu. So, this metric indicates how quickly your website can respond to user commands, which is particularly important for interactive pages like login screens, contact forms, or e-commerce checkout pages.
This means that a poor FID score indicates a slow and unresponsive website, frustrating users and discouraging them from engaging further.
- FID < 100 ms: Good
- 100 ms < FID < 300 ms: Needs improvement
- FID > 300 ms: Poor
Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS)
Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) indicates how much the layout of a page shifts during the load process. What is a layout shift? It occurs when visible elements like images, buttons, or text blocks move unexpectedly on the screen. As you can imagine, we are talking about a vital metric since it assesses visual stability: something that is often overlooked in traditional performance metrics. And yet, users expect a website to load in a visually stable way. Unexpected layout shifts can lead to misclicks or confusion, which significantly degrades user experience. Imagine clicking on a button and it suddenly shifts as an ad loads above it. What would you do? You will probably click something else accidentally, and the website will lose leads and conversions.
- CLS < 0.1: Good
- 0.1 < CLS < 0.25: Needs improvement
- CLS > 0.25: Poor
First Contentful Paint (FCP)
In addition to the main Core Web Vitals, First Contentful Paint (FCP) is another key performance metric that measures the time it takes for the first piece of content to appear on the screen after a user navigates to a webpage.
Also in this case, the content can be text, images, or any other element that renders from the DOM. So, a quick FCP ensures that users can see that something is happening on the page, even if the rest of the content is still loading. As you can imagine, a delayed FCP can make users feel like the page is unresponsive, leading to higher bounce rates.
- FCP < 1.8 seconds: Good
- 1.8 seconds < FCP < 3 seconds: Needs improvement
- FCP > 3 seconds: Poor
Interaction to Next Paint (INP)
Interaction to Next Paint (INP), instead, measures the time it takes for a browser to process user input and reflect that action in the next visual update (or paint).
In particular, this aspect is very important for those websites that have lots of interactive elements, such as e-commerce sites or social networks. In fact, a fast INP ensures that users feel like the website is responsive to their actions and directly affects user retention, particularly for mobile users, where delays can be more noticeable due to hardware limitations.
- INP < 200 ms: Good
- 200 ms < INP < 500 ms: Needs improvement
- INP > 500 ms: Poor
Time to First Byte (TTFB)
Time to First Byte (TTFB) measures how long it takes for the browser to receive the first byte of data from the server after making an HTTP request. In a nutshell, this metric reflects server responsiveness and network latency. So, the faster the TTFB, the quicker the server responds, allowing the browser to start rendering the page sooner. This means that a slow TTFB can make even a well-optimized website feel slow because users are left waiting for the initial response from the server.
- TTFB < 0.8 seconds: Good
- 0.8 seconds < TTFB < 1.8 seconds: Needs improvement
- TTFB > 1.8 seconds: Poor
Total Blocking Time (TBT)
Total Blocking Time (TBT) measures the time during which the main thread of the browser is blocked, preventing it from responding to user inputs. Something that usually happens when the browser is executing long-running JavaScript tasks. We are talking about a metric that is directly related to how responsive your website feels. So, a high TBT means your website is busy performing tasks, and users may experience delays when trying to interact with it. Which means that optimizing TBT will improve responsiveness and contribute to a better overall user experience.
- TBT < 200 ms: Good
- 200 ms < TBT < 600 ms: Needs improvement
- TBT > 600 ms: Poor
Speed Index
Speed Index quantifies how quickly the contents of a webpage are visibly populated during the loading process. It provides a 360° view of how fast the page appears to load, taking into account the entire content load and giving you a broader perspective on user experience.
- Speed Index < 3.4 seconds: Good
- 3.4 seconds < Speed Index < 5.8 seconds: Needs improvement
- Speed Index > 5.8 seconds: Poor
Performance
Performance, in general, evaluates how efficiently a web page loads. This is why it relies on multiple metrics like loading speed, responsiveness, and resource optimization.
So, a high performance score indicates an overall well-optimized site.
- Performance > 89: Good
- 49 < Performance < 89: Needs improvement
- Performance < 49: Poor
Accessibility
Accessibility, instead, measures how usable a website is for people with disabilities. For example, adhering to accessibility standards (such as the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, or WCAG) is essential for ensuring equal access to your site from all kind of users.
- Accessibility > 89: Good
- 49 < Accessibility < 89: Needs improvement
- Accessibility < 49: Poor
Best Practices
Best Practices refer to your website’s adherence to web development standards and guidelines. In particular, these practices include code optimization, security protocols, and responsiveness across different devices and browsers.
- Best Practices > 89: Good
- 49 < Best Practices < 89: Needs improvement
- Best Practices < 49: Poor
SEO
As you may know, SEO focuses on a website’s visibility and ranking in search engines. This means that optimizing your site’s structure, content, and backlinks are key factors in improving your SEO performance and appearing in the first results of Google’s SERP.
- SEO > 89: Good
- 49 < SEO < 89: Needs improvement
- SEO < 49: Poor
Page Size
Finally, Page Size measures the total size of a webpage, including HTML, CSS, JavaScript, images, and other resources. Meaning that with a smaller “page size” you typically have faster loading times, enhancing both performance and user experience.
- Page Size < 1.5 MB: Good
Why are Core Web Vitals so important in SEO?
When dealing with SEO, user experience and the overall performance of a website are the aspects that every website owner should keep an eye on.
Why? Well, because Google’s algorithm prioritizes websites that offer seamless, fast, and engaging experiences, that is why Core Web Vitals are so closely tied to rankings.
If your website performs poorly on Core Web Vitals, users are more likely to abandon it, even before it fully loads or becomes interactive! This leads to higher bounce rates and lower engagement, two factors that negatively impact your website’s SEO.
Instead, if you have the opportunity to check these metrics over time and intervene to improve them, you will not only enhance user experience, but also give your website the best possible chance of ranking higher in search engine results.
So, let’s take a look at, at least, 4 pros about checking Core Web Vitals over time.
1. Improved Page Speed
One of the most significant benefits of optimizing Core Web Vitals is the improvement in page speed. The importance of page speed optimization lies in the fact that a well-optimized website that loads quickly reduces frustration for users, making it more likely they will stay on the site, explore different pages, and convert into customers. But there’s more: fast-loading pages are prioritized by Google, meaning that your site will be more likely to appear higher in search engine results.
2. Reduced Bounce Rate
Bounce rate refers to the percentage of visitors who leave your website after viewing only one page. So, you can deduce that high bounce rates often indicate poor user experience, and slow-loading pages are a leading cause of this.
For example, when a user clicks on your website and is met with a long delay before the content loads, they are far more likely to abandon the page and search for information elsewhere.
Well, improving your Core Web Vitals helps reduce the bounce, which not only increases the chances of retaining visitors but also signals to Google that your site provides valuable content, which can lead to better rankings.
3. Enhanced User Engagement
Also user engagement is important when talking about website performance.
When users are reading articles, watching videos, or filling out forms, keeping them on your site and interacting with your content is key to conversions and long-term loyalty.
Also in this case, Core Web Vitals play a key role in ensuring smooth and responsive user interactions.
In particular, analyzing metrics like First Input Delay (FID) and Interaction to Next Paint (INP) you will know how quickly users can interact with your site and receive feedback from their actions. Then, by improving these metrics, you will enhance the overall interactivity of your website, making it more likely that users will stay engaged, click on more content, or complete desired actions.
4. Higher SERP Rankings
Ultimately, one of the most compelling reasons to focus on Core Web Vitals is their direct impact on search engine rankings. As mentioned before, Google uses these metrics as part of its algorithm to determine which sites should rank higher in the search results. What does it mean? Those websites that deliver better user experiences, measured by Core Web Vitals, are more likely to be rewarded with higher visibility on Google’s search engine results pages (SERPs).
So, the combination of improved load times, responsiveness, and visual stability signals to Google that your website provides a high-quality user experience.
But how can you effectively track all these metrics and keep them optimized over time?
Well, this is where our brand new Core Web Vital History Checker enters the scene!
Ziken Labs Core Web Vitals History Checker Tool
To assist your business in optimizing website’s Core Web Vitals, at Ziken Labs we have developed our own tool: Core Web Vitals History Checker.
A free, easy-to-use innovative solution that allows you to track and monitor your website’s performance metrics over time, providing actionable insights and historical comparisons to help improve website performance.
Our tool collects data automatically on a weekly basis, generating detailed charts and graphs to visualize key performance indicators. It enables you to see how your site’s performance evolves over time, making it easy to spot trends or problems before they negatively impact user experience or SEO rankings.
How Does our Core Web Vitals History Checker tool work?
We designed our Core Web Vitals History Checker to help website owners and developers track and improve their site’s performance over time in a simple, yet effective way. By analyzing key performance metrics and providing historical comparisons, our tool offers useful insights to improve, and then maintain, optimal site functionality.
How does it work? We wanted you to rely on a smooth process.
Enter Your URL
The first step in using our Core Web Vitals History Checker tool is to input your website’s URL. Once you’ve entered the URL, the tool automatically begins tracking your website’s Core Web Vitals on a weekly basis. This ensures consistent monitoring of your site’s performance, giving you a long-term view of how your website is doing in terms of speed, interactivity, and visual stability.
Review the Results
After the data is collected, you can access a comprehensive dashboard to review all the results. The dashboard will present your Core Web Vitals scores alongside historical data in the form of charts and tables. These visuals make it easy to see both your current performance and how it has changed over time. You can quickly identify trends, such as gradual improvements or sudden declines, giving you a clear view of your site’s health at any given moment.
Take Action on Insights
Our tool doesn’t just stop at presenting data: it also provides actionable insights based on the performance metrics. By highlighting areas where your website is underperforming, the tool guides you toward specific actions you can take to optimize your site. Whether it’s improving page load times, enhancing responsiveness, or addressing layout shifts, these recommendations are designed to improve the overall user experience on your website.
Monitor Progress Over Time
One of the key features of our Core Web Vitals History Checker is the ability to continuously monitor progress. As you implement the suggested changes, the tool allows you to track how these adjustments impact your website’s performance over time.
Regularly checking your scores will help you ensure that your website remains optimized and continues to offer a smooth, fast, and user-friendly experience.
Data Collection and Historical Comparison
Behind the scenes, the tool collects and stores historical data on your website’s Core Web Vitals. And this is the feature we are most excited about! There are a lot of tools that can track your website’s performance in the market. However, our Core Web Vitals History Checker differs from them since it offers a historical view of the data. It lets you easily see how the metrics and the performance of your website evolve over time. Providing you with easy-to-read charts and stats to make informed decisions and intervene where it is necessary.
Easy-to-Understand Visualization
Finally, our Core Web Vitals History Checker tool simplifies complex data through intuitive visualizations. It uses charts and graphs to display key metrics in a clear, easy-to-understand format. So, it’s easy to read, even if you’re not a seasoned developer, but a business owner with limited technical expertise. This helps you make data-driven decisions aimed at improving the overall performance of your website.
Unique benefits of this Ziken labs tool
To make it short, what are Ziken Labs’ Core Web Vitals History Checker key benefits?
Free Access
Unlike many competitor tools, Ziken Labs offers free access to its Core Web Vitals tracker, allowing businesses of all sizes to benefit from this powerful and easy-to-use solution.
Automatic Reports
The tool will send automated weekly reports directly to your inbox, helping you stay on top of performance issues without the need of manually checking the tool.
Clear Visualization
The data is presented in easy-to-understand charts and graphs, making it simple to interpret performance and identify areas for improvement in a short time.
Improved SEO
By using the Ziken Labs tool to optimize Core Web Vitals, you can enhance your SEO, improve rankings, and ultimately increase organic traffic.
Historical Data Tracking
As we said, one of the most innovative features is the ability to track Core Web Vitals over time, enabling you to see the long-term impact of optimizations and identify trends.
Mastering Core Web Vitals: The Key to SEO Success and Superior User Experience
What do we have understood so far? Core Web Vitals surely are an essential set of performance metrics that you should track over time to be sure your website will always perform as it should. By focusing on metrics like Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), First Input Delay (FID), and Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS), you can ensure your website provides a fast, responsive, and stable experience for your visitors.
And, the most important thing: it can definitely help you transform users into clients.
So, what is the best thing to do if not starting analyzing your website for free?
Don’t waste any more time and start using our Core Web Vitals History Checker now.