Google has published an entire video discussing the connection between the Core Web Vitals and SEO:
Measure your Core Web Vitals
Before you start improving your Core Web Vitals and SEO, you need to know how you score in the first place. The easiest way to measure your Core Web Vitals is by using Lighthouse or PageSpeed Insights.
Lighthouse is a tool from Google that uses lab data, therefore you will not get a representative picture of how your real users experience your site.
PageSpeed Insights on the other hand uses field data, this is data from your real users. To use this tool you need enough website traffic.
Core Web Vitals score
The score you see within PageSpeed Insights (field data) will count as a ranking factor. You will be shown whether you have passed or failed, and what your Core Web Vitals score is for each metric.
“In general, we (Google) prioritize pages with the best information overall even if some aspects of page experience are sub-par. A good page experience doesn’t override having great, relevant content.”
Are Core Web Vitals a ranking factor?
Simply put, yes, but Philip Walton, a Google engineer working on web performance, answered that Core Web Vitals were mostly not a binary ranking factor. The relevance of a page does play a more important role. If website A is faster than website B, but website B is more relevant based on the search query, website B would still outrank website A.
If you already rank well on the Core Web Vitals, and SEO is your only reason to optimize them, this is a waste of your time. Unless you and your competitor score equally well on content, then you can outrank them by having a higher Core Web Vitals score.
By the way, improving Core Web Vitals is still necessary to increase conversion rate, improve data quality, get happier visitors, and even lower your CPC.
Will optimized Core Web Vitals improve your rankings?
Analyzing your SERP data is crucial for figuring out how visible you are on the Search Engine Results Page (SERP) and for enhancing your search engine optimization (SEO). You can learn a lot about how well your website performs on SERPs by using a SERP analysis tool, such as Thruuu, including:
- The information is shown on the search results page;
- The used page titles and descriptions;
- Title, headings, word count, body content, and other on-page data, such as metadata.
You can create a strategy that optimizes your Core Web Vitals and raises your overall SEO performance by performing a SERP analysis. By doing this, you can improve your website's traffic and visibility on search engine results pages.
Core Web Vitals and SEO: Conclusion
Having good Core Web Vitals is about much more than just SEO. It's about optimizing the user experience. The speed-related user experiences can affect a website's earnings, which means that optimizing Core Web Vitals has value beyond a ranking position.
“The other thing to keep in mind with Core Web Vitals is that it’s more than a random ranking factor, it’s also something that affects your site’s usability after it ranks (when people visit). If you get more traffic (from other SEO efforts) and your conversion rate is low, that traffic is not going to be as useful as when you have a higher conversion rate (assuming UX/speed affects your conversion rate, which it usually does)."
Getting more out of Core Web Vitals than just SEO? Contact us to discuss the possibilities for your business.
