Understanding Core Web Vitals: What You Need to Know
Have you ever clicked on a website and then waited - and waited - for it to load. Itâs annoying. And I think most people donât really have time for that anymore.
It seems like the truth is that loading speed can actually make or break a website, and google does pay attention. The way I see it, thatâs why if you want your site to rank, the best place to start is seemingly with web vitals. Core web vitals are, as the name implies, metrics that matter the most.
They determine how well your store is performing and how accessible it is. In my experience, they also help understand how well users can access your pages and interact with your content.
This is quite important when youâre running an ecommerce store because the aim is to have more people on your website so you can generate more sales. There are three important factors to look out for when thinking about core web vitals. First Contentful Paint (FCP) refers to the amount of time it takes for content to start loading as soon as a user opens the page.
Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) measures how long it takes for a pageâs largest piece of content to load - this could be text, an image, or even a video. Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) looks at how much content shifts as a page loads while Interaction to Next Paint (INP) determines how quickly a page responds when someone interacts with it by clicking, tapping or pressing a key. In essence, core web vitals offer a lot of insight into whatâs working and whatâs not, giving you the chance to fix things before they become an issue. That being said, it also pays off to constantly keep track of your website performance so youâre always aware of what needs changing or improving.
At the end of the day, it just makes sense if you want your website visitors and customers to have a good experience every time they land on your store.
Key Metrics for Measuring Store Speed
How long do you think it takes for a person to lose interest when a website doesnât load. Itâs something like two seconds, and then theyâre on their phones, checking the weather or replying to work emails. Their attention span is just as short as yours is.
And that means that if you have an e-commerce store, keeping it up and running is important - but so is speed. So how do you know if your site loads quickly. How fast is fast enough. Thatâs why companies came up with Core Web Vitals and metrics.
Sort of. These arenât long, elaborate numbers that need a maths degree to decipher - theyâre plain English numbers, based on what you see. Like Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), which measures how long it takes for the biggest thing on your site to load - and be visible to everyone. Or First Input Delay (FID), which measures how long before the site reacts to any button or menu being clicked.
Thereâs also Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS), which measures whether things jump around as they're loading. But before anyone asks: No, you donât have to remember all of these terms. Use them as reference points when figuring out how fast your site can be.
These numbers are measurable with tools like PageSpeed Insights and Google Search Console, so even if you donât know exactly what each metric means, you can look at the number and know when it feels right. Now that youâve got some jargon under your belt, donât rush into trying to fix every metric on your site in one go. Most people tend to focus on LCP because itâs the first thing customers will see. Even if everything else loads well but someone goes blank at first sight - would that be considered a win.
Itâs down to personal choice - and the kind of business you run.
Top Strategies to Improve Loading Times
How long does it take for you to abandon a website. For a fair few of us, itâs about 5-6 seconds. And weâre busy these days - so anything slower than that and weâre ready to click away from sluggish landing pages. If you find your bounce rates have been shooting up recently, some people might say itâs because thereâs something lacking in your content or products.
Thatâs not true. It could be something as elementary as poor loading times. You see, customers have almost zero patience now when it comes to using the internet. Weâve all collectively decided that if someone else is able to pull up their website in a second or less, everyone should be able to do that as well.
And if they canât, they donât deserve our attention (or money) anymore. And hereâs the thing - Iâm not sure that is entirely fair but that is how things are now. Most eCommerce platforms like Shopify already offer optimised load speeds but if youâre using plug-ins and tools that are fairly slowing down your store, then you need to change how your site behaves as soon as possible.
Something that works wonders is allegedly having an image CDN (content delivery network) provider and compressing images without losing their quality. Donât overlook caching on your site either - this holds your resources in place for repeat visits and cuts down on load times by quite a margin. There are many other options but at the end of the day, what matters is constantly testing and reviewing your core web vitals so you never lose out on sales again.
If youâre finding it hard to get the hang of things, thereâs no shame in getting help from an expert who knows exactly what will work best for your online store and products.
Enhancing Interactivity for Better User Experience
Have you ever been so engrossed in an online store that you lose track of time. A big part of what keeps us coming back to our favourite online shops is typically how easy they are to use. Sort of. Itâs more than just about how good they look - itâs about their interactivity too.
Websites that encourage users to take action tend to make a better impression. We like sites that are fun, easy to navigate, and intuitive, not ones that make us run around in circles trying to figure out whatâs where. When everything works together seamlessly, shopping can feel like being in a really great store - online.
Youâre able to browse all the aisles (or pages), take a good look at things, and have all your questions answered by helpful salespeople (or chatbots). Thatâs probably why online stores with interactive features see much higher levels of engagement. A huge reason for this is because being able to interact with a site makes it more memorable and enjoyable.
People often find themselves adding things to their cart or signing up for mailing lists or even telling their friends about the shop. Even if they donât end up making a purchase at the time, thereâs an increased chance that theyâll come back another day. But when there are issues with performance and responsiveness, people can get annoyed or frustrated with having to wait.
What ends up happening instead is that theyâll just leave. And this isnât a good sign for anyone - not them or the store. Thatâs why every second matters when weâre talking about load times. And why optimising your siteâs speed is sometimes essential for anyone looking to create an interactive experience for their customers.
Reducing Cumulative Layout Shift for Stability
Ever wondered why some pages seem to jump all over the place just as youâre about to click. Or how fast-moving banners and suddenly-appearing buttons on your storeâs website can pretty much make customers want to run away. Thatâs Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) in action.
And if your website is making them chase after buttons, you might want to do something about it. What you want is a stable site - one that doesnât leave users feeling like they're chasing a moving target. The best thing you could do for stability is seemingly define dimensions for images, videos, and embeds.
This simple act of telling browsers what space these elements will take up helps browsers avoid reshuffling content when your site starts loading. If you think about it, it seems obvious that setting size attributes for visuals isnât just handy for browsing but also for clarity. CLS can also be caused by late-loading elements like fonts, ads, or pop-ups. When these load after a visitor has already started interacting with your page, itâs rather disorienting to experience content being pushed around.
More or less. Avoid this by preloading fonts and reserving space for pop-ups and banners using CSS or HTML. Some platforms like Shopify have built-in fixes for these issues - check if thereâs an automated way of optimising this because it saves you valuable time.
If youâre unsure whether content on your page moves around during load time, try clicking through your store pages on a different device or browser than the one you use most often. There are endless tools out there that can help you test things out but sometimes, good old physical testing works best - especially if youâre new to all this talk of optimising web vitals.
Tools and Resources for Monitoring Performance
Ever wished you could channel your inner Big Brother to see how your online store is really performing. Tracking things can be a bit of a drama - no one tells you how much time goes into all that number crunching, way after launch day. Sort of.
There are a few tools out there that make it less painful, though. Now, itâs not like catching the perfect wave every single day â but site monitoring tools are sort of the closest weâll get to a magic wand in the digital world. Google Lighthouse and PageSpeed Insights are the go-toâs for store performance tracking.
Tackle Core Web Vitals - these are a set of three key metrics: Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), First Input Delay (FID), and Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) â to keep an eye on your overall speed and user experience. Then thereâs Hotjar and Crazy Egg for behaviour analytics that give valuable insight into how users interact with web pages. Something I realised fairly early on is usually that using more than one tool is always a good idea if you want to pick up every little detail; thereâs no such thing as too many numbers. It appears to be very much a case of throwing resources at the wall and seeing what sticks - with good reason.
Tools like Hotjar allow you to spot pain points by tracking something simple, like mouse movements or clicks. Even heatmaps on websites have their use in understanding what features customers love interacting with, so you can leave those alone, and improve the ones theyâre not drawn to right away. Donât forget about regular audits. Pop over to Google Search Console regularly and see if users have reported issues on mobile or desktop devices.
More or less. Google treats website trouble reports in earnest, so keep crawling errors down by fixing all user-reported issues before they snowball into bigger trouble later on. As far as resources go, performance monitoring seems like another checklist item but can make a massive difference to customer journeys if done right.
More or less.