seo_cvw_bhoost
Reading Time: 4 minutes

Core Web Vitals are a series of specific metrics that Google considers important on a web page, in terms of user experience. These metrics directly influence a page’s ranking in Google search results, so they have a significant impact on SEO. This article explores each of these metrics in detail and how they affect SEO.

How does Google rank your site’s speed?

Your site’s ranking in Google Search is influenced by Google’s page experience ranking system. As we have seen in our articles on Google Core Web Vitals, Google collects data related to Core Web Vitals, looking at how real users interact with the website. This data is then reported to its servers and is very different from the data that is generally collected as “lab data”. In fact, the data collected by Google is real data, collected from real users. And this is precisely what makes the difference.

What affects Google’s ranking?

Google Search considers your website’s user experience as a ranking factor. Core Web Vitals are metrics that measure this experience, comparing your site’s performance to others.

What is also taken into consideration is the relevance to the query It is the quality of the content, because they are essentially fundamental factors for the user experience. In essence, the experience on the page can decide who is the winner. Working on Core Web Vitals allows you to achieve better and more quantifiable results.

Besides that, improving Core Web Vitals improves user experience, which drives conversion.

How to view your site’s Core Web Vitals

The authoritative data source regarding overall app performance for page experience ranking is Google Search Console. By entering a website’s URL, you can get all of the information about the metrics that Google is currently using for its reasoning.

The screenshot below shows a site where the Core Web Vitals assessment is performed and passed. But in addition, there is other interesting information about it.

You can also use our tool, Speed Test by Bhoost which can immediately give you some useful information on the metrics and performances dedicated to them. Furthermore, you can request a personalized consultation to best optimize these metrics and thus your site.

What the three main Core Web Vitals metrics are:

  1. Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) measures how quickly a web page loads its main content. The ideal time is within 2.5 seconds. A good LCP score means the page loads fast, keeping users engaged and reducing abandonment rates.
  2. Interaction to Next Paint (INP) is a metric that measures the speed with which the user can interact with the page after it has been loaded. In other words, INP measures the time between the moment the user presses a button or performs an action and the moment the action is actually performed. This element is fundamental because it is a direct measure of the responsiveness of the website. INP replaced the FID metric, First Input Delay.
  3. Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS): This metric measures how much a page’s layout shifts as it loads. A good CLS score should be less than 0.1. A low CLS indicates that the page is stable, which is essential for the user experience. A stable layout prevents frustrating experiences like accidental clicks on elements that move as the user tries to interact with the page.

Any of these metrics has a direct impact on SEO. If your page scores low in one of these Core Web Vitals, its ranking in Google search results is likely to suffer as well. Conversely, improving these metrics can help your page rank better on search engines.

Core Web Vitals metrics have become a key element in Google’s ranking algorithm, which rewards pages with a high-quality user experience. Putting effort into Core Web Vitals pays off. You can expect better search rankings, more website traffic, and ultimately, a thriving online presence.

Laboratory data: Lighthouse

In the second section of PageSpeed ​​Insights, called “Diagnose performance problems“, Google simulates your application’s performance within Lighthouse.

This is a completely separate section from the field data scores above and is intended as suggestions for improvement. They are essentially recommendations that can be followed if you have not met Google’s standards for real users.

Interpreting Lighthouse scores

Lighthouse provides useful information, such as:

  • Performance: If your Core Web Vitals are outside of an acceptable range, Lighthouse reports possible issues, such as linking scripts that may block the main thread for too long.
  • Accessibility: Lighthouse catches common errors like unnamed links or unlabeled form fields. It can also capture elements that don’t have a high enough contrast ratio or links that don’t have enough room to touch.
  • Best Practices: This Lighthouse category is a bit of a collector of suggestions that improve the security and usability of your applications. The information here helps browsers analyze code more easily and helps prevent some (but not most) common vulnerabilities like XSS.
  • THIS – Lighthouse offers advice here on the technical part of your SEO: the technical ways to help search engines crawl your site. These checks can be very helpful in checking why your site may not be ranking as expected, but they are far from comprehensive in addressing all factors that may be affecting your app’s SEO.

Conclusions

Essentially, Core Web Vitals must be optimized to have a positive impact on your website’s positioning. This optimization indeed affects the user experience.

Optimizing Core Web Vitals is a great start, but for top ranking, you’ll need a comprehensive SEO strategy.

A fast-loading, responsive website with stable visuals is key to a positive user experience. Remember, happy users are more likely to stick around. This means a lower site abandonment rate and a good chance of success for your online business.

Source: Vercel

That’s it, folks! Check out our blog for more information.

Reading Time: 4 minutes

As we anticipated, in May 2020, Google announced that “page experience” would soon become a ranking factor in Google Search. This update therefore marked a significant turning point, indicating that a site’s performance is now a key determinant of a site’s visibility.

Google through Core Web Vitals determines how high a particular website should appear in search results.

There are several metrics that come into play. The LCP, the FID and the CLS. If these metrics are not met, Google will understand that the site is not performing and therefore will make it less visible.

Bhoost_improving_the_performance_of_your_website

In contrast, this means that faster, higher-performing websites receive more traffic than slower competitors.

In the time since the announcement, Google has continued to release more information about exactly how performance can impact search rankings.

When it comes to organic search, a slow website will have fewer potential customers.

Not only that, in the month of 12 March 2024, the FID metric is replaced by a new metric, the INP Interaction to Next Paint. This metric measures the time between the moment the user presses a button or performs an action and the moment the action is performed.

In essence, this metric is a direct measure of the responsiveness of the website.

improving_the_performance_of your_website

So as you can see, it becomes really essential to have a fast and high-performance website.

Improving performance is good for conversions

Once a user accesses a website, performance greatly affects their behaviour, influencing them positively or negatively.

According to a survey of more than 700 consumers, nearly 70% of users said that the performance of the website they were browsing affected their likelihood of purchasing or returning to the website.

In fact, how many times have we found ourselves on a site, perhaps to purchase a product? Well, if the site is slow it also gives us a feeling of inadequacy and above all of unreliability. As a result, a user abandons a site not only because it is difficult to navigate, but also because they believe it is unsafe. In essence, it is a matter of image; if the website functions properly, is fast, and responsive, the user feels safer and more at ease.

The speed of a site, as you can see, is a really important factor for the user experience. In fact, this element comes before a good user experience or a good structure.

The performance improvement helps visitors save mobile bandwidth

According to data collected by the HTTP archive, page sizes have increased significantly in recent years. Over the past 10 years, the average size of web pages on the desktop web has tripled.

improving the performance

This can cause problems for all those users who are careful about bandwidth consumption. Although many mobile phone operators now offer a minimum of 50 – 100GB, why consume more? Not to mention that there are areas where the mobile connection is unstable, making a slow-loading site even more impactful.

Increasing page size may lead consumers to upgrade to larger plans and spend more on mobile data.

Improved performance reduces hosting costs

A faster website can reduce costs. Images, videos and other media uploaded to the website must be stored somewhere, often with additional backups. In addition to storage, many cloud providers also charge for outbound bandwidth when users request a file from your servers.

In practice, the same type of image optimization that benefits things like Largest Contentful Paint and Cumulative Layout Shift can also reduce the amount of storage space required to house these assets.

A study by CrayonData found that not only optimizing images and uploading them via a CDN reduced storage costs, but it also reduced network consumption. This resulted in an 85% reduction in hosting costs, saving over $200,000.

So as you can see, you can save a lot in this sense too.

So do I need to improve the speed of my site?

Well definitely, improving the speed of the website can give you advantages in terms of conversions and economics. Organic traffic, conversion rate and sales can all be linked to the speed or slowness of your website.

Making a website faster for users may require buy-in from stakeholders across all teams. It may require you to make difficult decisions about features, functionality and aesthetic elements that affect performance. Also from an organizational perspective, the additional design time and resources required may require management approval.

A fast website can be discovered and engaged with by more users, especially if it outperforms its competitors in speed. Once users find the website, they are also more likely to interact with it in more depth and ultimately convert into customers.

If you want to check the performance of your site to understand whether it is fast or not, test your site speed immediately.

That’s it, folks! Check out our blog for more information.

Reading Time: 4 minutes

Core Web Vitals are a set of metrics that measure user experience on the web in terms of loading speed, interactivity and visual stability.

The performance of a site is in fact fundamental to its success and this, as mentioned, not only guarantees an optimal user experience but also for the positioning of the site in search engines.

In fact, with the introduction of Core Web Vitals, a website must pay close attention to the factors that influence the user experience, because this contributes to its positioning in search engines and therefore to its visibility.

But how do Google Ads ads impact these metrics? In this article, we’ll explore Google Ads’ impact on Core Web Vitals and where it could hinder you from exceeding those metrics.

Google Ads and traffic

To understand how Google Ads impact Core Web Vitals, it’s important to consider the traffic generated by ads. When a Google Ads ad is clicked, the visitor arriving at the site is included in the Core Web Vitals evaluation. This means that traffic from Google Ads contributes to the overall evaluation of these metrics.

Barriers to Overcoming Core Web Vitals

Impact of Google Ads on TTFB (Time To First Byte)

TTFB is a metric that measures the time between a request for a resource and the time the first byte of a response begins to arrive.

There are some situations where Google Ads can hinder passing the Core Web Vitals.

One of the main situations is when 80% of a site’s traffic comes from Google Ads. In these cases, the time to first byte (TTFB) may be slower. This is because TTFB is affected by the loading speed of your ad landing pages.

If the user’s first experience through an ad is subpar, this can have a negative impact on the user experience, increasing the bounce rate and therefore affecting conversion. At the same time, a slower TTFB can negatively impact Core Web Vitals and therefore the site’s SEO.

Strategies for dealing with these problems

There are a few strategies that websites can adopt to address issues arising from Google Ads and Core Web Vitals. For example, it is important to make sure you have a correct caching strategy for visitors who arrive through ad clicks. It is possible that the absence of a proper caching strategy could significantly increase the TTFB for these visitors.

Another situation that can affect Core Web Vitals is the waiting time for a query string. Often, when a click on an ad leads to a redirect to a landing page, the wait time for the query string can increase significantly. This can lead to a strongly regressed TTFB. In these cases, it is important to adjust your business expectations regarding TTFB if ​​you rely heavily on Google advertising traffic.

Another option to consider is enabling parallel tracking for Google Ads. This option will improve the TTFB of your ad landing pages, as well as the First Contentful Paint (FCP) and Largest Contentful Paint (LCP). Parallel tracking allows customers to go directly to the landing page, while click measurement happens in the background.

Impact of Google Ads on CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift)

The CLS is a metric that measures all the layout changes of your site as it loads. In essence, it quantifies the elements that move or change during the page loading.

An example that we reported in our article on Core Web Vitals, to better understand this metric is to access, for example, an online smartphone store. If by clicking on a product, instead of being redirected to the product sheet, you enter a different tab, with a different layout, this can certainly disorient you.

Well the CLS measures precisely this type of change and interaction.

Ads can influence this metric because they can move content on a page if there isn’t enough space for them. This aspect can therefore become very unpleasant for the user, who thus sees the contents moved in an unexpected way.

This type of behaviour can occur for three main reasons:

  1. If the ad area expands or collapses
  2. If you use flexible ad slots, meaning they automatically resize based on the creative
  3. If you use multiple ad slots

So when designing Ads, take these aspects into consideration, so you can guarantee the right user experience. Essentially this factor measures the interactivity and responsiveness of your site.

Impact of Google Ads on FID – First Input Delay

The TRUST is a metric that measures all user interactions that occur on the site when it is still loading.

Regarding ads, if these are responsive or video ads, for example, these can negatively impact the FID. In fact, for example, if the page or advert is poorly viewed or takes too long to be visible, the FID score may be penalised.

Associated with the FID, or rather, we can say an evolution of it, it is also the INP (Interaction Next Paint), which will be an integral part of the process from March 2024. This new metric measures the time a user takes to interact with a page after it has been loaded.

Strategies for dealing with these problems

In order to resolve problems related to FID, you can:

  • Remove some unused and useless JavaScript libraries
  • Load ad tags asynchronously
  • Overall improve the performance of your site

Impact of Google Ads on LCP – Largest Contentful Paint

Per LCP, we mean the time it takes for the heaviest content to actually appear on the screen.

Advertisements, especially those that are larger than other elements, can have a negative impact on the LCP.

Strategies for dealing with these problems

  • Move large ads to the “below the fold” area (the part of the page that the user can only see if they scroll down the page.)

Benefits of Core Web Vitals on Google Ads

Core Web Vitals contributes to better results in PPC campaigns on Google Ads. Your landing page experience quality score can directly influence your bid for a particular position. Improving the technical experience can lead to a significant reduction in cost per click (CPC), up to 20-25%. Additionally, better page loading speed can benefit your automated bidding strategy.

Conclusions

Core Web Vitals are an important aspect of user experience on the web, and Google Ads can influence these metrics in various ways. It is essential to understand the impact of ad clicks on your Core Web Vitals rating and take appropriate strategies to address any issues.

Optimizing the technical experience of the site can lead to better results in advertising campaigns and improve the overall user experience.

FONTE: headerbidding

That’s it, folks! Check out our blog for more information.

poor performance
Reading Time: 6 minutes

When it comes to website performance, it’s common to wonder if poor scores are attributable to the hosting or developer. In fact, both can impact a site’s overall performance. In this article, we will look at the different factors that can cause poor performance scores and discuss both the role of the hosting and the developer in improving site performance.

Let’s start by talking about the hosting. The hosting of a website plays a vital role in determining the overall performance. If the hosting is low quality or not optimized for the specific needs of the website, this may cause a slow server response, long loading times, and an overall poor user experience. Some key factors to consider for good hosting include server speed, availability, scalability and security.

However, it’s not just hosting that affects website performance. It too developer has an important role. A competent developer should follow best web development practices to optimize code, reduce resource burden, minimize server requests and improve the overall user experience. Through the use of caching, resource compression, image optimization and other techniques, a developer can greatly improve website performance.

So, who is responsible for poor performance scores? Let’s delve deeper into the discussion in this new article.

Why should I care about bad performance/structure scores?

First, we ask ourselves why we should actually care about site scores and performance. For starters, these greatly affect the user experience. In fact, a slow website leads to a negative user experience. Not only is this because those who visit it do not have an immediate response to their requests (for example completing a purchase, seeing a product page or specific content), but it also gives a sign of unreliability and insecurity.

So here we go with the introduction of metrics Core Web Vitals, Google has also shown that it pays a lot of attention to these aspects. In fact, the performance score essentially represents the experience of your visitors into key user-centric metrics (e.g. Web Vitals) as your page loads. More the lower your performance score, the worse your page will perform from the point of view of your visitors. Factors like location, network connection speed, and more (ads, cookies, etc.) can also impact how your page loads, which in turn affects your performance score.

poor performance

Facility score

On the other hand, a negative structure score means your page probably wasn’t built with the best front-end practices in place. There are numerous strategies and methods for implementing a website to ensure an optimal loading time, and with a poor structure score, chances are your website has none of them in place.

Your performance on the Facility Score does not necessarily correlate with your Performance Score. However, improving your structure score can be a good starting point for improving your overall page load times (which can potentially impact your performance score). Overall, getting better results can not only improve your visitors’ experience on your page but will also likely lead to more conversions and potentially improved SEO rankings as well. This means that improving your scores has tangible benefits for your website/business/operations.

What are the causes of poor performance/structure scores?

Not reaching thresholds for any of the 6 performance metrics:

  • First Contentful Paint (FCP)
  • Largest Contentful Paint (LCP)
  • Speed Index (SI)
  • Time to Interactive (TTI)
  • Total Blocking Time (TBT)
  • Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS)

it doesn’t just mean having a site that doesn’t perform optimally, but as we also said in our article dedicated to Core Web Vitals, it also means penalizing him. This is why it becomes essential to be able to have a site that responds quickly and performs.

But what does not achieving a satisfactory score on these metrics depend on?

Many of these parameters are directly related to CSS/JavaScript execution, code or image optimization, but also hosting and other features.

But let’s see in detail what can actually negatively affect our site.

Reasons for Incorrect Structure Scores:

There are several reasons why a site might be slow and not meet the Core Web Vitals score:

  1. Image optimization: Non-optimized images can slow down page loading. It is important to resize, compress, and use appropriate image formats to improve performance.
  2. Code not optimized: Inefficient, heavy, or buggy code can negatively impact site performance. It is important to write clean, efficient and well-structured code to improve loading speed.
  3. Cache and storage: Proper cache configuration and use of caching techniques can reduce page loading time. Using browser caching and implementing a server-side cache can improve overall site performance.
  4. Low-quality hosting: A low-quality hosting service can negatively affect the performance of your site. If the hosting does not provide enough resources or has a slow connection, the site may be slow.
  5. Heavy plugins and scripts: Excessive use of plugins or heavy scripts can slow down page loading. It is important to carefully evaluate your use of plugins and scripts and ensure they are optimized for performance.
  6. Slow network connection: Page loading speed also depends on the user’s network connection. A well-optimized site may still be slow if the user has a slow connection.
  7. Server performance: Server performance may affect overall site performance. An overloaded or resource-constrained server may cause slow response times.
  8. Page size and complexity: A page with many elements, scripts, or heavy media may take longer to load. It is important to reduce page complexity and optimize content to improve performance.

These are just some of the factors that can affect the performance of a website. It is important to identify and resolve specific causes to improve your Core Web Vitals score and provide an optimal user experience.

Hosting or developer?

The question therefore arises: “Should I contact my hosting provider or developer?”

There is no simple answer as it depends on who is responsible for your poor performance/structure scores.

Contact your hosting provider

  • you have a long TTFB
    If a long TTFB due to slow server response is the reason for your poor performance/structure scores, it is most often the case that underperforming servers/lack of server resources are the cause. However, keep in mind that poor/inefficient backend code could also be responsible for this, in which case you may need developer assistance.
  • See Problems CDN:
    If your poor results are caused by CDN problems, contact your CDN provider (in some cases, it turns out to be the same as your hosting provider).

Contact your developer

  • You have unoptimized images/videos
    If your poor results are caused by too many unoptimized images (or videos), you will need to contact your developer as this is purely a front-end design issue.
  • Have CSS/JavaScript not optimized?
    When CSS and/or JavaScript are responsible for your poor scores, you will need to ask the developer for assistance as this is also a front-end issue. While reducing your website’s CSS/JavaScript code naturally helps improve performance, you should take care to ensure that essential code is not eliminated. Reducing unused CSS/JavaScript should therefore be a priority to ensure the browser isn’t processing potentially expensive code that isn’t even needed on the page.
  • Caching must be configured
    Finally, if you want to set up caching, you can do it yourself (for WordPress users) or contact your developer to have it set up for you. Please note that your poor results could also be due to a combination of the reasons above. In this case, we recommend addressing the most critical issues first and then addressing the rest based on feasibility.
  • Third-party scripts are problematic
    Suppose your poor scores are caused by third-party content. In that case, you should contact your developer only after you have reviewed your site’s third-party content, determined which requests are negatively affecting your performance, and removed those that do not add value to your business. A developer can then potentially assist with additional optimization opportunities for required third-party requests.

Essentially then, you should contact your hosting provider for TTFB and CDN issues (only if your hosting provider is the same as your CDN provider). However, you can contact your developer for all other front-end issues displayed in the Structure tab.

We recommend working on the critical issues first (long TTFB, Top Issues in the Summary tab) and taking care of the rest later.

Conclusion

Poor performance/structure scores can be caused by a myriad of performance issues on your page, both back-end and front-end. This means that your visitors are probably not having a good experience on your page and you therefore need to intervene.

If you need performance monitoring on the hosting side, contact us and we will find the best solution for your needs.

That’s it, folks! Check out our blog for more information.

atuttoyoga.it_core_we_vitals
Reading Time: 5 minutes

Atuttoyoga.it is a website dedicated to yoga that offers a wide range of resources and content for fans of this age-old practice. As yoga and its online practice increase in popularity, Atuttoyoga.it has quickly established itself as one of the best yoga platforms available on the web.

One of the main reasons for its success is its constant attention to offering a high-quality user experience. This attention is also reflected in the optimal performance of the site. Recently, Google introduced Core Web Vitals, a set of metrics that measure the loading speed and usability of a website. By facing this challenge with determination, Atuttoyoga.it has proven to be at the forefront of satisfying these needs.

How atuttoyoga.it passed the Core Web Vitals with a WordPress optimized hosting by Bhoost

Google Core Web Vitals: A General Overview

Google Core Web Vitals are a set of metrics to measure the loading speed, responsiveness and visual stability of a website. These metrics include Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), First Input Delay (FID) and Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS).

  • LCP measures the time it takes for the largest content on a page to be visible. A good LCP is critical to providing a good user experience, as users prefer sites that load quickly and display content in a timely manner.
  • FID measures the response time between a user’s interaction with a website (for example, a click on a button) and the site’s response to that interaction. A low FID is important to ensure that users can interact with the site without annoying delays.
  • CLS measures the visual stability of a web page and indicates whether elements shift while loading, causing a poor user experience. Low CLS is crucial to prevent users from accidentally clicking on moving elements.

Why is it important?

Google Core Web Vitals are important for a website because they impact the overall user experience. A well-performing website can improve user engagement, reduce abandonment rates, and increase the time users spend on the site. Google also announced that starting in 2021, Core Web Vitals metrics will be used to rank pages in search results. This means that websites with better performance will rank higher in search results, resulting in increased visibility.

To surpass the Google Core Web Vitals, website owners must therefore work hard to optimize the performance of their sites. This may include optimizing code, compressing images, using a content delivery network (CDN), and implementing web development best practices. Furthermore, working with a specialized hosting provider to optimize the performance of websites can be an advantage in achieving and maintaining optimal site performance.

In summary, Google Core Web Vitals are a set of metrics that measure the loading speed, responsiveness and visual stability of a website. They are important for improving user experience, achieving greater visibility in search results and providing a high-quality, performing website.

How Atuttoyoga.it passed the Core Web Vitals

To achieve the goal of exceeding the Core Web Vitals, Atuttoyoga.it has partnered with Bhoost.

We are, in fact, a web hosting provider specializing in optimizing the performance of websites. Through ad hoc consultancy with the customer, we were able to find the best hosting solution which could provide the right performance.

Thanks to this strategic collaboration, the client was able to obtain a site that had a significant improvement in loading speed and overall user experience.

One of the first moves undertaken by Atuttoyoga.it to meet the requirements of the Core Web Vitals is the implementation of a content delivery network (CDN) by Bhoost. ThereCDN has allowed this website to distribute its content quickly and reliably to visitors around the world. This significantly contributed to reducing page load times and minimizing downtime.

The site was created in WordPress and this is why the specific choice of hosting fell on a hosting super veloce per WordPress. In fact, as we have said several times, the speed of a site is a fundamental criterion, be it a normal site or E-Commerce.

So with our specific hosting for WordPress, we have managed to guarantee excellent performance and speed.

The Results: Optimization and User Satisfaction

Bhoost hosting also provided ongoing support to maintain the optimal performance of the online portal. Through constant monitoring and proactive management, Bhoost ensured that the site remained fast and responsive at all times, ensuring smooth navigation for users.

Thanks to these initiatives and the partnership with Bhoost, Atuttoyoga.it has successfully managed to surpass Google’s Core Web Vitals. This means that the site offers an optimal browsing experience, with fast loading times and excellent usability. The users of this portal can access yoga content and resources quickly and seamlessly, thus improving their overall experience on the site.

Below is some data that highlights performance and indications related to usability and Google Core Web Vitals.

As you can see, both mobile and desktop feedback are completely positive. This is the result of a website that is clearly well-optimized and working effectively. Users are happy with what they see and how the website responds to their actions.

The website is fast and functional, thanks to WordPress hosting that can handle both traffic and customers. Having a fast site is the key to having an increase in visits and a very low bounce rate.

Core Web Vitals WordPress hosting
Core Web Vitals WordPress hosting

Below, you can check the results related to the various Core Web Vitals metrics. As you can see, everything is within the acceptable range, and the evaluation is successful.

This aspect is fundamental for a site, as we have already said in our article, Core Web Vitals: What they are and why they matter to Google. Core Web Vitals have officially become new ranking signals. Essentially, these help Google understand what type of experience the user has on our site, and based on this, it decides whether to penalize or enhance the site.

This is why it is of fundamental importance to take this aspect into consideration.

Conclusion:

In conclusion, if you are looking for a reliable and high-performance online platform for practicing yoga, Atuttoyoga.it is the ideal choice. Thanks to its focus on performance, usability, and partnership with Bhoost, this site continues to be a point of reference in the online yoga sector.

If you are looking for a truly reliable hosting partner who can help you make your site perform better and live up to Google Core Web Vitals, contact us.

We will find the most suitable hosting solution for you.

That’s it, folks! Check out our blog for more information.

image-size-importance
Reading Time: 3 minutes

Images are one of the most important elements of a website or e-commerce. However, they can often create some loading and speed issues. The size of the images can have a significant impact on website performance, both in terms of SEO and user experience.

In this article, we will talk about the importance of image size for SEO and for the performance of a website or e-commerce.

SEO

The size of the images has a direct impact on the SEO of a website, we have just said this. When the search engine analyzes the image file, it tries to figure out what it is and what the content is. The images with a small size can be analyzed faster, which means that the search engine can understand the image content more accurately. Furthermore, images with reduced dimensions may load faster, which can improve the website speed and then improve SEO.

Images with small dimensions not only affect SEO, but also image search. When people search for images on Google or other search engines, the results appear as thumbnails. If the images are small in size, they can be viewed faster, which can improve the user experience and the likelihood that the user will click on the image thumbnail.

Performance

The image size has a direct impact on website performance. Images often represent the bulk of a website’s data, which means that their load can significantly slow down the website. Larger images take longer to load, which can result in a higher website latency.

Also, large images can slow down the page loading speed. If images are not optimized for performance, they can take a long time to load, which can lead to a diminished user experience and an increased likelihood of the user leaving the website.

How to optimize images for SEO and performance

To optimize images for SEO and performance, there are a few best practices that can be followed. Here are some tips on how to optimize images:

Compress the size of images

Use a tool image compression to reduce the size of images without losing image quality. There are many online and offline tools available that can help compress images.

Use the right format

Use the right format for pictures. For example, JPEG for photographic images and PNG for images with transparency. Choosing the right format can help reduce the size of your image without compromising its quality.

Reduce the size of the images

Reduce the size of the images to a minimum necessary for display on the website. Images should not be enlarged unless necessary. Also, it’s important to remember that the smaller the image size, the faster it can load.

Use alt text

Use the alt text for images in order to accurately describe the content of the image. Alt text can also help improve SEO image and website.

Conclusion

Why is the size of the image important for SEO? Large images can damage SEO and website performance. Following best practices for optimizing images for performance and SEO is essential to ensure a positive user experience and to improve your website’s visibility on search engines.

Also, keep in mind that reducing the size of your images can only be part of the solution to improving website performance. Other factors such as code quality, server speed, and use of a content delivery network can also affect overall website performance.

That’s it, folks! Check out our blog for more information.

Reading Time: 3 minutes

We have already talked about Google Core Web Vitals and we highlighted the importance of these metrics for online content. Now let us introduce you to the new metric – INP.

These metrics introduced a few years ago, were designed to communicate important data to Google about the user experience on your site. In essence, this is an evaluation of the user experience.

This evaluation was initially made on 3 parameters: LCP; FID and CLS, parameters related respectively to page loading, interactivity and visual stability.

But now things are changing and a new metric, INP, Interaction to Next Paint, is about to be introduced.

inp core web vitals

Starting in March 2024, the Navigation Performance Index (INP) will become a new official metric in Google’s Core Web Vitals. This is important news for everyone working in the world of web design and web development. The quality of website performance will become even more important for search engine rankings and the user experience.

But what is INP and why does it become so important?

INP is a metric that measures how quickly the user can interact with the page after it has loaded. In other words, the INP measures the time between the moment the user presses a button or takes an action and the moment the action is performed. This element is crucial because it is a direct measure of website responsiveness.

Why did Google decide to include INP in the Core Web Vitals?

First, because INP is an important measure of user experience. If a website is slow to respond to user actions, the user may become frustrated and leave the site. Secondly, because INP is a metric that can be easily measured and implemented by website owners.

The fact that INP becomes an official metric in Google’s Core Web Vitals means that website responsiveness will become even more important for search engine rankings and user experience. Additionally, the INP will join other Core Web Vitals metrics currently used by Google, namely page load speed (LCP) and visual stability (CLS).

How can we improve the INP of our website?

There are several strategies we can adopt. First, we can reduce page load time. This can be done using image compression techniques, reducing the number of requests to the server and minimizing the HTML and CSS code. Second, we can use caching techniques to reduce server response time. Finally, we may use page pre-loading techniques to improve the responsiveness of the website.

Implementing INP improvement strategies will improve both the website’s position in search engines and the user experience. Indeed, a website that is responsive and quick to respond to user actions increases user satisfaction and reduces the website abandonment rate.

Also, it is important to take into account that INP not only impacts SEO and user experience but also conversion. Recent studies have shown that an increase in INP can lead to a decrease in conversion, as slow and non-responsive browsing can cause the user to lose interest.

For this reason, it is essential to work on reducing the INP of our website as soon as possible, in order to improve not only the position on search engines but also the conversion and user satisfaction.

To know more and better understand all the methods to maximize the INP metric, read on the web.dev “Optimize Interaction Next Paint“. 

How can we actually measure the INP of our website?

There are several tools that we can use to measure INP, for example, Lighthouse, a Chrome DevTools tool that allows you to perform an in-depth analysis of website performance. Also, we can use other related metrics like the First Input Delay (FID), to get a complete overview of website performance.

You can also measure the speed of your site with these tools.

Finally, INP is not a static metric; it can vary depending on the user’s device and internet connection. To accurately evaluate a website’s CLS, test its performance across different devices and internet connections.

In conclusion, the INP will become an official metric in Google’s Core Web Vitals starting in March 2024. This means that website responsiveness will become even more important for search engine rankings, user experience and conversion.

It is critical to begin working on lowering our website’s INP using strategies, and tools for measuring INP, and testing website performance on various devices and internet connections. Only in this way can we improve the user experience and achieve our business goals.

Is your site slow?

If you have run one of the speed tests and your site is slow and/or underperforming, please contact us.

We will find the right solution to make your e-commerce fast and secure.

That’s it, folks! Check out our blog for more information.

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How fast is your online store ? If you don’t know, check it out now !

In fact, you should know how fast your E-Commerce is, by next May! Because? A few months ago, Google announced that it will change its algorithms and rate sites on three additional parameters:

  • loading
  • interactivity
  • visual stability

These metrics, called Core Web Vitals, are becoming new ranking signals that will come into action in May 2021.

Speed ​​and SEO

The days when SEO was just about filling your website with a long list of keywords and backlinks are over. Today, in fact, Google is starting to pay more attention to a new fact: Web Performance .

In May 2020, Google carried out a study which showed that users demand a better user experience, with fast sites and low waiting times. Speed ​​has however always been an important indicator for a good user experience and now more than ever, it will be a discriminating factor for SEO.

In fact, starting from May 2021 , in addition to affecting the conversion rate, the speed and therefore also the web performance, they will be counted for SEO. This will be measured on a series of new metrics, known as Core Web Vitals .

What does Core Web Vitals mean?

These metrics were designed to help Google understand the experience users have when they access your web pages. Essentially, it is a user experience assessment based on three pillars:

  • loading (LCP)
  • interactivity (FID)
  • visual stability (CLS)

Put simply, each metric depends on the speed of your website.

The metrics of the Core Web Vitals for Google are based on these criteria:

  • How fast does the content appear on the screen? (LCP)
  • How fast does the page react to user interaction? (FID)
  • Does the content move across the screen while the site is loading? (CLS)

Here then the Core Web Vitals can also become an advantage for your store . For example, if you and your competitor have similar and relevant content, Google will reward a site that loads faster.

But now let’s see in detail the singularities of each metric.

Largest Contentful Paint (LCP)

Many people confuse this metric with the time it takes for the page to load completely. However, keep in mind that LCP is not simply the loading time of a page, but rather the time it takes for the heavier content to actually appear on the screen .

Let me explain … When you enter an Ecommerce and click on an article, you arrive on the product page. This page contains; header, logo, text and image. Images are very often quite large and take up more screen space. The LCP would then be the time it takes to fully load the image.

So basically, how can the LCP be controlled?

Google offers a number of tools that help you identify the largest element on a web page. There are also many other tools to verify this. If you want to know what they are, read our article 4 Tools to measure Magento speed and optimize its performance .

You will find lots of info to be able to check the speed of your store and above all a useful overview of the critical issues present .

Once you’ve checked your LCP score, compare it to Google’s data. In fact, according to the search engine company, you shouldn’t be over 2.5 seconds.

How to optimize the LCP?

To try to optimize the LCP, here is a small list that may be useful to you:

  • Optimize images . Preload, compress and reduce the weight of all the visual elements that are present on your site. The lower the number of MB, the less time it takes to load.
  • Optimize the server . Cache all static files or use ready-to-use CDN solutions . The advantage of the CDN is that it delivers content from the closest server to the user. So product images and descriptions load faster.
  • Optimize JavaScript and CSS . Review and cut any unnecessary code from CSS or JS files. It is better to dedicate a separate CSS / JS file for each block instead of writing all the JS logic and styles into one bulky file.
  • Optimize client-side rendering . Don’t use many component nesting operations in the DOM tree. Try using fewer setTimeout functions to render and add elements to the DOM in the case of “document.ready” and “window.onload” events.

First Imput Delay (FID)

This metric reflects your site’s responsiveness – essentially, it measures the time it takes to respond to any user interaction .

For example, if the user enters your E-commerce store, touches a button and… nothing happens, something is wrong! The user is unhappy and leaves your site.

But why does this happen?

All of this happens when the browser is still performing other operations in the background and is simply not ready to execute a command. These kinds of delays are quite common for Magento sites. This is because browsers are asked to execute too many JavaScript commands and browsers simply cannot execute them quickly. As a result, users remain on hold until clicking the button, selecting an option or entering text changes something on the screen.

What is the FID?

It’s a measure of all user interactions that occur while your site is still loading. Google wants your site to respond to user interaction even when it hasn’t finished loading yet. The only two exceptions are zooming and scrolling – these user inputs are not incorporated into the FID score.

Here’s a breakdown of what Google considers responsive:

One special thing about FID is that it cannot be measured without users actually interacting with your site. This means that Google cannot estimate your FID score based solely on theoretical data. They will take data from real users, also known as field data.

Improving FID means reducing unused JavaScript (the coding language responsible for executing user commands). If you cut unnecessary JavaScript and reduce the time it takes to run its tasks, you’ll go a long way with your FID score.

However, JavaScript optimization is tricky. Sometimes, you’ll have to sacrifice some of your site’s features, to see performance leaps.

Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS)

Unlike the two previous metrics, the Cumulative Layout Shift solves a different problem, directly related to the user’s feeling.

In fact, the CLS measures all the layout changes of your site during loading. Let me explain, if you are in an online smartphone store, you click on a product and instead of being redirected to the product sheet, you enter a different tab, with a different layout, which perhaps is linked to another product or even to an advertisement!

It is clear that at that point, I am sure you will be quite annoyed and that you will probably not complete the purchase.

Why can elements on your site change?

This can be accessed for example, when all the content on the page appears to be fully loaded and visible, but the download of a large item has not yet finished. As this happens, all other content is “pushed”, which results in sudden layout changes.

Another important factor that can blow your content layout is ads. They often take up a lot of screen space and load slower than the rest of the content. And as soon as they are uploaded, all content on the site is subject to change.

Here, the CLS is calculated based on how much the elements of your site have moved and the impact that the movement has brought to the customer. Google considers anything less than 0.1 to be “good”, as you can see based on the CLS criteria below:

Of course, Google only considers unexpected movements. This means that if a shopper clicks on your menu and some elements of your page move, it won’t affect your CLS score.

The issue of product images is also important to get a good CLS score. Many developers forget to specify the width and length attributes of images, leaving the browser to decide how they should appear on the screen. Since the product description usually loads before images, online shoppers start reading it first. However, as soon as an image loads, it pushes the text up or down and stops the reading process. If you specify the image size via CSS or HTML, space for that image will be reserved during loading times and customers will be able to browse your site without interruption.

AMP and PWA

The interesting thing about Google’s new update is that AMP is no longer a requirement to be included in the Top Stories section. As of May 2021, all online stores that meet the Core Web Vitals criteria would be eligible to enter the section.

This is very interesting news because it shows how Google is really doing what it can to ensure a great user experience. This is also great news for all PWA websites! In 2015, Google itself introduced PWA technology to create sites with a better user experience.

Now with clear benefits for mobile users and a user-centric approach, PWA stores have a high chance of winning the battle against traditional sites and AMPs.

Want useful tools for Core Web Vitals ?

Many tools are already at hand. Google has made sure that site owners have all the resources they need to adapt to the new changes. Here are 6 essential ways to analyze and improve your site on Core Web Vitals.

  • Speed ​​Hostgento . The new Hostgento tool that allows you to check the performance, speed and critical points of your store.
  • Chrome UX Report . The all-new Chrome API allows you to check your site’s performance over the past 28 days.
  • Search Console . Use the Core Web Vitals report to identify pages that need improvement.
  • PageSpeed ​​Insights . A great tool for getting a quick overview of all Core Web Vitals scores.
  • Lighthouse . Get practical guidance on how to optimize Core Web Vitals metrics.
  • Chrome DevTools . Just like Lighthouse, the free tool provides instructions on how to improve your CWV scores.
  • Web Vitals Extension . Use this quality extension to view key user experience metrics for any site you visit.

Conclusions

The merchants will then compete on speed. But one important thing to remember is that these changes aren’t being introduced to make the online world more competitive. Or The target set Core Web Vitals is to improve the online experience . Then use these metrics as indicators for the success of your online store.

The key to success is to try to always provide the best online experiences to your customers.

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