Avoid turning off potential site visitors. Take advantage of the Chrome UX Reports to ensure your site's peak performance with this guide.
Measuring success in website performance is a tricky task for small business owners.
It can be easy to apply the same approach that works when evaluating viability throughout a company.
Black and white, hard and fast numbers. Results.
The truth of website performance is more of a multilayered exploration of RUM (Real User Measurements) within the context of the web at large.
Looking at RUM such as performance, page load, and page views gives a detailed picture of hard data.
However, RUM data is only part of a bigger equation to measure a website’s impact and success.
The CrUX Of The Matter: The State Of The Web As Experienced By Real Users
To be truly informative and deliver actionable data, you must balance users’ experiences on your site within the scope of user experience across the internet.
Stepping back lets businesses understand their site’s performance and know where those metrics land within a vast array of parameters.
This is where the Chrome UX Report enters the fray.
Making Web Performance Data On A Broad Scale Accessible To The Masses
First established by Google in 2017, the Chrome UX Report is a publicly available dataset of real user measurements.
Also known as the CrUX report, it gathers website performance data for Chrome users from millions of websites.
If that data were only compiled, it would be an incredible – but difficult to utilize – resource. When paired with the right program, however, the data is transformed.
When put to use correctly, the CrUX Report transforms an immense collection of web performance data into a clear and accessible resource.
To better understand the data compiled in the CrUX Report and how best to utilize it, we need to step back.
It’s time to review Chrome’s Core Web Vitals.
Page Experience And User Experience Are A Direct Result Of The Health Of A Website
Google is always seeking innovative and cutting-edge ways to provide users with a smooth, crisp online experience.
A significant cornerstone of that effort is Google’s work empowering website owners to maximize their sites.
When website owners deliver user-friendly, beneficial sites effectively, everyone wins.
The only way to achieve success in an endeavor, though, is to know what the rules and standards are.
In May 2020, Google released a new set of metrics to help evaluate website performance as it impacted user experience.
These were its Core Web Vitals.
The goal was to clear away minor and arbitrary details muddying up the water.
To do so, Google narrowed down a website’s user experience score to three core measurements:
LCP (Largest Contentful Paint).
FID (First Input Delay).
CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift).
Core Web Vitals are anchored on the crucial role of page experience in the more extensive user experience.
How does Google define page experience?
For its purposes, page experience measures how users perceive their experience interacting with an individual web page.
Building off of that, they define CWV as:
“A set of real-world, user-centered metrics that quantify key aspects of the user experience. They measure dimensions of web usability such as load time, interactivity, and the stability of content as it loads.”
When merged, the three elements of Core Web Vitals – LCP, FID, and CLS – deliver powerful insight.
As a whole, CWV results provide a precise picture of a user’s page experience on an individual website.
This page experience ultimately defines their user experience as a whole when utilizing the Google search engine.
A year after the initial announcement, it was made permanent.
Google finalized the integration of the new metrics with the permanent inclusion of Core Web Vitals into its algorithm.
Core Web Vitals zero in on website speed, responsiveness, and visual stability. However, it should be noted that they are part of a vast picture.
The Google search algorithm is always evolving, a challenge that demands vigilance on the part of professional SEO operators.
There were once reportedly more than 200 ranking factors.
Nowadays, some are weighted far more heavily and studied throughout the industry.
These factors continue to evolve as Google adapts to new data and user behavior.
The best practice is to review its ranking factors on a year-to-year basis.
Breaking Down The Google Search Algorithm
Despite the blanket of lore that has covered it over the years, the Google search algorithm has a definitive foundation.
It is anchored by the company’s commitment to ensuring a smooth and efficient search experience for all users.
Google continuously molds its search algorithm year-round to best meet the present and future demands of the global population.
The Google search algorithm focuses on a litany of factors that perpetually fluctuates.
In response, the SEO industry has consistently honed in on the key elements to focus on every year.
Knowing where to prioritize your focus when designing your website empowers you to achieve an optimal presence in the rankings.
These can include, but are not limited to:
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