What are Core Web Vitals, Really?

Core Web Vitals, a term that gives developers sleepless nights. But really, what are core web vitals?
If you’re looking for a definition, please find your way to the official documentation link: Web Vitals , whereas if you’re looking for a deeper definition of it, from a technical point of view, this one is for you.

Backstory

I was assigned back in the days to optimize the corporate’s website speed and performance claiming that this will boost organic traffic and search engine visibility (will it?). So what I have done is put my head into it and started researching all methods to do so, leading me to the realm of Core Web Vitals.

How simple they make it seem?

According to the documentation, it is the most straightforward thing to do, just find the core web vital you’re trying to optimize, and follow some technical recommendations mentioned in there, but is it really that simple?

VS the bitter truth!

I will present an example of the website where its metrics nearly skyrocketed but still no breakthroughs in Core Web Vitals. I was happy but were the stakeholders happy?

Speed test - Core Web Pro

Where to go from here?

You have optimized your core web vitals and there is nothing you can further do to reflect that on Google Search Console BUT there is! Introducing the term CrUX (Chrome User Experience Report) where you will find all the unanswered questions.
Instead of relying on lab based results, CrUX gathers real-world data where different variables come in play and you will get beaten up by the 75th percentile.
In simpler terms, no metric will pass on unless you have passed the 75th percentile for it.



You can make use of the CrUX API to retrieve the data, and find new ways to overcome this.

Things we tried and worked!

Is there a happy ending?

What you need to know is that it’s not a click of a button, instead months of research and work. Experimenting and simulating what real users are experiencing on the website is the best way forward.
So, you can say here we got our happy ending:

Optimized Core Web Vitals - Core Web PRO


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Reach out today so we can start optimizing your Core Web Vitals.