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Subtitle:

Core metrics for measuring and improving real-world user experience on the web

Core Idea:

Web Vitals is an initiative by Google that identifies a set of specific quality metrics designed to measure essential aspects of web user experience, focusing on loading performance, interactivity, and visual stability.

Key Principles:

1. User-Centric Measurement:
   • Prioritizes metrics that reflect actual user experience rather than technical implementation details.
2. Holistic Performance View:
   • Covers multiple dimensions of performance including loading speed, responsiveness, and visual stability.
3. Field Data Relevance:
   • Designed to be measurable both in lab testing and real-world usage conditions with actual users.

Why It Matters:

• SEO Impact:
  • Core Web Vitals are official Google ranking factors, directly affecting search visibility.
• Business Outcomes:
  • Improvements in these metrics correlate with reduced bounce rates, increased conversions, and longer sessions.
• Standardized Benchmarking:
  • Provides consistent metrics for comparing performance across different sites and technologies.

How to Implement:

1. Measure Current Performance:
   • Use tools like Lighthouse, PageSpeed Insights, or Chrome UX Report to establish baseline metrics.
2. Prioritize Critical Issues:
   • Focus first on improving pages with the most traffic and poorest scores for maximum impact.
3. Implement Targeted Optimizations:
   • Apply specific optimizations for each metric (LCP, CLS, INP) based on identified bottlenecks.

Example:

• Scenario:

  • An online publication sees declining engagement and search visibility.

• Application:

  • Using Web Vitals as an optimization framework:

  1. Audit reveals poor LCP (3.5s) due to unoptimized hero images
  2. High CLS (0.25) caused by ad insertions and unspecified image dimensions
  3. Slow INP (450ms) resulting from heavy JavaScript execution in article interactive elements
  
  Optimization plan:
  - Implement image optimization pipeline with WebP/AVIF formats
  - Add width/height attributes to all images and reserve space for ads
  - Move non-critical JavaScript off the main thread using Web Workers
  

• Result:

  • After implementing changes, the site achieves "good" scores across all Core Web Vitals, with a 22% increase in organic traffic and 15% longer average session duration.

Connections:

• Related Concepts:
  • Largest Contentful Paint (LCP): A Core Web Vital measuring loading performance.
  • Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS): A Core Web Vital measuring visual stability.
  • Interaction to Next Paint (INP): A Core Web Vital measuring interactivity.
• Broader Concepts:
  • User Experience Design: Web Vitals provide quantitative measurements for UX quality.
  • Technical SEO: Performance metrics that directly impact search rankings.

References:

1. Primary Source:
   • Google Web Vitals official documentation: https://web.dev/articles/vitals
2. Additional Resources:
   • Chrome User Experience Report (CrUX) for real-world Web Vitals data
   • web-vitals.js library for measuring metrics in JavaScript

Tags:

#web-performance #google #core-web-vitals #user-experience #seo #frontend #metrics

Connections:

Sources:

• From: Syntax - Explicación de Web Vitals