We all knew it was going to happen, but Google just announced the exact date that Interaction to Next Paint will become a Core Web Vital. Here are the key dates and steps to pass by March 12, 2024!
Back in June 2021, Google publicly started exploring ways to give site owners a better idea of how their website was reacting on user interaction. For example during navigation clicks, add-to-cart buttons and other interactive elements.
Google illustrated the timeline and lifecycle phases of INP in the following way:
- May 2022 - Experimental
- Chrome announced experimental support for INP
- May 2023 - Pending
Chrome is announcing that INP will become a Core Web Vital metric - March 2024 - Stable
INP becomes a stable Core Web Vital metric, replacing FID
And today, Google announced the exact date of FID being replaced by INP: March 12, 2024.
This means that the Core Web Vitals now consist of:
Now that we have the date, we can do some calculations. Core Web Vitals for your website, and possibly individual webpages, are based on a 28-day rolling period. Therefore, you'll want your website to pass the INP assessment starting from February 13, 2024.
What you should do now
While the INP metric is relatively new, its impact on real user experience has existed all along. Google has made it accessible to site owners through public tools (PageSpeed Insights), Google Search Console, APIs, and JavaScript libraries.
CrUX and Goole Search Console
On a higher level, you can start examining historical CrUX data of your site to determine its trend over the past month.
After that, analyze your INP data in Google Search Console to identify the approximate number of impacted URLs on both mobile and desktop. This will help you pinpoint which pages are being affected the most.
Start collecting detailed info
Once you've identified the pages most affected, you'll have a starting point for improving your INP scores quickly.
But most tools stop at showing INP scores per URL, or maybe even template. To gain a more comprehensive understanding, you have two options:
- Set up Google Analytics 4 (GA4) to measure site speed, but be prepared to add additional tracking for deeper insights.
- Implement a dedicated RUM (Real User Monitoring) solution that collects detailed information automatically.
How RUMvision can help you with passing the INP
Now that we know that INP's deadline is March 12 2024, we changed tooltip information of INP and FID labels across our monitoring interfaces.
More importantly, here's how RUMvision is currently assisting site owners and stakeholders looking to improve INP on their sites or clients' sites.
Insights we offer to help you pass Interaction to Next Paint (INP)
RUMvision offers INP insights in different ways:
- RUMvision can gather additional information using Chrome's Long Animation Frame API.
- To simplify matters, we provide site owners with easy-to-understand 1st vs. 3rd party JavaScript impact scores through our our Third Party dashboard.
- RUMvision actively participates in public events where INP discussions take place.
Have you already taken these steps and still failing Core Web Vitals and Google Search Console showing INP issues detected on your site? Our consultants are available to assist site owners who are struggling with INP.
Upcoming INP events
If INP is quite new to you, you can read up on INP in our glossary. Or visit one of the upcoming events we'll be co-organizing or speaking:
- Meet performance NL
Thursday February 8th, Breda (NL)
Starting at 6PM CET - 301 Groningen redirected
Thursday March 21st, Groningen (NL)
Starting at 5:15PM CET
RUMvision is speaking at both events.
Got an event coming up yourselves and would like to invite one of our Google Developer Experts to talk about pagespeed, Core Web Vitals or a specific metric? Don't hesitate to reach out!
