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How will Core Web Vitals affect small businesses?

Marketing has become more challenging in today’s digital age as more businesses enter the online space. One of the notable differences between traditional marketing and digital marketing is that the latter allows small businesses to compete with larger businesses. With a responsive web design that offers the optimal user experience, you can certainly make a name for your brand even if you were new to the industry.

If you want to stay ahead of the game, it is important to familiarize yourself with web design for small business and know what metrics you must track. If you are unsure where to begin, it may help to start with an upcoming update in Google’s algorithm.

In 2020, Google announced that it would be implementing Core Web Vitals this May 2021 to add to their page experience metrics list. New site owners are often confused about the most important metrics in determining a great page experience, so the upcoming Core Web Vitals helps clarify this.

You may be wondering: how exactly do Core Web Vitals affect SEO and web design for small business? Get to know more about these ranking factors and why it is important to maintain high scores once they start to take effect. As you learn more about these new signals, you will also understand how web design for small business and SEO relate to each other.

What are Core Web Vitals?

Core Web Vitals consist of three metrics that relate to page experience:

Largest Contentful Paint (LCP)

LCP examines load times, one of the most important factors affecting bounce rates. It measures how long it takes to load the most significant content elements after a user clicks on your page. Your LCP score can be a game-changer as it considers the loading time for the majority of content on a page. It differs from First Contentful Paint (FCP), which only measures how long it takes to load the first element and can thus provide better insights into your page speed.

An LCP score of below 2.5 seconds is classified as good, while 2.5 to 4 seconds means your LCP needs improvement. Loading times of over 4 seconds are considered poor, so if your score falls in this range, you will need to work to improve your score in this metric.

First Input Delay (FID)

The second metric is FID, which measures interactivity by checking how long it takes your site to respond to a user’s interaction, such as clicking a link or using the search feature. The goal is to get an FID of less than 100 milliseconds to maintain your visitors’ interest. This quick responsiveness is particularly important for call-to-action (CTA) buttons or other similar requests that can lead to conversions. In most cases, large JavaScript codes could significantly delay your FID time.

Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS)

Finally, CLS measures how stable the elements are in your web pages as distracting layout shifts that can make the viewing experience inconvenient. Your CLS score is calculated based on distance and impact fraction, which you can minimize by reducing the likelihood of unexpected shifts while your pages are loading. As with the other Core Web Vitals, the lower your CLS, the better. Based on Google’s standards, a CLS of less than 0.1 is considered good.

If you want to learn about your Core Web Vitals scores, you can use Google PageSpeed Insights to check an individual URL or Google Search Console to get a site overview. Google has also updated its development tools like Chrome DevTools and Lighthouse to show your Core Web Vitals scores if needed.

How Does Web Design Affect Core Web Vitals?

Now that you understand how Core Web Vitals can help improve your search ranks, your next question will likely be: How? To improve your core web, you must review your web design and technical SEO practices. A common misconception about web design for small business is that it only focuses on your website’s visual appeal and aesthetics. While this is certainly important in attracting customers, it is not the only aspect to consider.

Web design also examines the user experience (UX) as you want to make sure you design with your users in mind. Nowadays, you may have heard of UX design becoming more popular, and it is precisely because this process considers how your users navigate your site and what pain points they may have.

For example, mobile friendliness is slowly growing into one of the most important web elements since mobile users comprise the majority of Internet users today. Google has also shifted to a mobile-first indexing policy, thus prioritizing the mobile version of your site for ranking and indexing. Another example is your page layout–how you lay out different elements can affect all three metrics of your Core Web Vitals, so it is important to consider them when planning or redesigning your layout.

There are many ways to raise your vital scores, depending on what areas need work and improvement. As a small business owner, it may help to get a free marketing assessment from a professional agency to get a clear picture of what steps you can take. When doing web design for small business, it is crucial to be strategic as you want to maximize your limited resources and use them in the best possible way.

The upcoming change in Google’s page experience metrics can help you track the right metrics to improve your site’s page experience. While the update has not yet taken effect, it will be a good time to work on the vitals where you score low, as this will also help make your site more appealing to users. Likewise, do not forget that Core Web Vitals are only one out of the many ranking factors that Google uses. Thus, you must also continue refining your content marketing and branding strategies.

Plan Your Marketing Strategy Today

If you need assistance planning your marketing strategy for your small business, you can give us a call at 800-515-9422. P3 Agency specializes in crafting marketing solutions for any and every business, so no matter what your objectives are, we can help you turn them into a reality. Whether you intend to review your site and improve your Core Web Vitals or redesign your website to generate better results, our team can help you find the right services.

Schedule a free and no-obligation consultation with our experts today to learn more about what we can do to transform and grow your business.

 

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