Google applies core web vitals—including each page’s loading speed and ease of navigation—to measure users’ experiences with websites. It then factors those scores into its rankings in search results. Thus, you have good reason to keep an eye on your website’s scores and improve them. You can boost these scores by reducing your server’s response time, compressing images, reducing JavaScript execution, defining image & embed dimensions, and implementing lazy loading. Moreover, local SEO specialists have the tools and experience to enhance core web vitals for you.
KME.digital offers digital marketing services in Fairfax, VA, and the surrounding region. Our services include web development, graphic design, marketing automation, paid advertising, and SEO. We formulate customized solutions for clients to produce the best results for each one. With 95% of our clients doing business in Virginia, we capitalize on a centralized network of connections. Contact us for a digital evaluation today at (703) 585-3321.
Below, we outline how to improve your website’s core web vitals:
Identify Core Web Vitals & Define Metrics
In outline, Google’s core web vitals are:
Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), which measures how long a page takes to load and display its largest element.
First Input Delay (FID), which measures a page’s responsiveness when users first interact with it as well as how long the browser takes to respond to an input event.
Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS), whichmeasureswhether a page behaves as the user expects it to or whether it shifts in disruptive ways.
Improving LCP
Reduce Server Response Time
Your website’s server response time influences your page-load metrics, SEO, and UX. To improve these measures, Google recommends maintaining a server response time under 200 milliseconds.
Our digital marketers can help lower your server response time by leveraging an effective web host with optimized security, performance, and availability. These factors help mitigate service disruptions and provide consistent response rates.
We also recommend using a Content Delivery Network (CDN). CDNs improve website performance by caching content through servers distributed worldwide. Some web hosting providers offer CDNs as an additional service, while content management systems offer it as a plugin.
Compress Images
You should also compress your website’s images so they require less file space on your website. Image compression can significantly improve your LPC, UX, loading speed, and search ranking.
Upload your image to an image optimizer to compress it without compromising its quality. Save landscape images in jpg and save graphics in png for the best results.
Implement Lazy Loading
The load time for visitors to reach your page should be 4 seconds or less. However, a workaround is so-called “lazy” loading, which decreases the amount of time it takes the user to see your page’s LCP, or primary content, by loading that material first. The remaining content loads as the visitor scrolls down the page to view it.
Professional digital marketing agencies use a page speed performance tool to determine each page’s speed. On websites hosted by WordPress, KME installs the Lazy Loading plugin to optimize loading performance.
Improving FID
Reduce JavaScript Execution
JavaScript execution determines your website’s FID—the time a browser requires to react to user interactions with your web page. Pages that take more than 300 milliseconds receive a poor FID score. We cannot simulate FID because it is a field metric. However, we can use Total Blocking Time to measure and adjust metrics that correlate with FID determinants.
Improving CLS
Define Image & Embed Dimensions
Image dimensions tell web pages the amount of space that an image requires. It’s crucial to set these dimensions, as they help speed up page loading. Without these dimensions, your images may load after the rest of the page’s content and shift it. These disruptions interrupt your site’s visual stability.
Define the dimensions of embedded items, such as videos, as well. You can test the quality of videos on your website’s front then and adjust them accordingly.
KME.digital: Experienced Local SEO Specialists in Fairfax, Virginia
Turn to KME.digital for digital marketing services in Fairfax, Virginia. We are committed to understanding your business so we can optimize a strategy for it. As local SEO specialists, we ensure our clients’ businesses look their best while we help their materials appear before their intended audience. Contact us at (703) 585-3321 to discover a solution for your business!
