Core Web Vitals Update
On January 29, 2021, Google announced that there will be changes made to how Core Web Vitals function. The update is of significance because it requires all three Core Web Vitals benchmarks to be met in order to qualify for the new ranking signal boost, which is scheduled to roll out in May 2021. If you need a refresher, Core Web Vitals are the standards for which Google judges whether or not a webpage provides quality user experience.
The three metrics that website owners must now all meet include Largest Contentful Paint, First Input Delay, and Cumulative Layout Shift.
Largest Contentful Paint
This metric covers the speed at which a page’s content is loaded. In order for a webpage to qualify under this metric, the content must be loaded within 2.5 seconds.
Input Delay
In order to meet this benchmark, users must be able to engage or interact with a webpage 100 milliseconds after arriving. The specific metric measures how long it takes for users to achieve this.
Cumulative Layout Shift
If users experience layout shifts or interruptions, this metric is going to measure how often this happens. In order to pass this benchmark, your webpage has to maintain a cumulative layout shift (CLS) of less than 0.1.
If all three benchmarks are met, then your webpage will benefit from the ranking signal boost. In order to test your website to see if it’s up to standard, Google offers six different ways to ensure you measure up. You can measure your Core Web Vitals by using such tools as Lighthouse, Search Console, Web Vitals Extension, or PageSpeed Insights, among others.
Price Drop Rich Results
In other news, Google has added what’s called a “Price Drop Appearance” section to its search rich results for US users. The update means that Google has added a new form of rich results to its Products Structured Data page. When people search for a product, they can now potentially see how much the original price has dropped. The update could incentivise people to make a purchase, as they’d be taking advantage of savings.
In order to be eligible for this update, the publisher of the content must use the “offer” structured data and include a specific price, not a range. By taking advantage of this update, you can make your products and offers pop in the search results, potentially leading to more sales.
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