Improve Page Experience with Pixelboxx
In May, the time has come: the new Google Core Update will be published. Google will implement new ranking factors for websites under the Core Web Vitals as part of the Page Experience. In the following, you can read which metrics make up the Core Web Vitals, which Page Experience factors are additionally still relevant and where Pixelboxx can support you in optimising the user experience of your website.
Page Experience is the new heavyweight of ranking factors
With the aim of improving the user-friendliness of pages in Google Search, Google includes various signals in the ranking of websites under the term Page Experience. In this way, signals are to be measured that provide information about how users perceive the interaction with a website. According to Google, the strong increase in interest in Lighthouse and PageSpeed Insights in recent months is an indicator of the heightened interest of website owners in recognising and implementing ways to improve the user experience. The Core Web Vitals are an addition to the previous parameters.
With the aim of improving the user-friendliness of pages in Google Search, Google includes various signals in the ranking of websites under the term Page Experience. In this way, signals are to be measured that provide information about how users perceive the interaction with a website. According to Google, the strong increase in interest in Lighthouse and PageSpeed Insights in recent months is an indicator of the heightened interest of website owners in recognising and implementing ways to improve the user experience. The Core Web Vitals are an addition to the previous parameters.
LCP, FID & CLS: The Importance of Core Web Vitals
Under the Core Web Vitals, additional signals of user-friendliness will be summarised and incorporated into the ranking of pages as of the upcoming Google Core Update. These will be divided into the following categories and metrics:
- Loading: Largest Contentful Paint (LCP)
- Interactivity: First Input Delay (FID)
- Visual Stability: Cumulative Layout Shift (CSL)
Loading: The key figure Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) falls under loading. This measures the time it takes to render the largest object in the visible area. It thus refers to the loading time of the page's content. According to Google, a good page speed is under 2.5 seconds, an upgradeable one is up to 4 seconds and a poor one is over 4 seconds. A common factor for slow page speed is slow-loading resources such as images and videos.
Under the Core Web Vitals, additional signals of user-friendliness will be summarised and incorporated into the ranking of pages as of the upcoming Google Core Update. These will be divided into the following categories and metrics:
- Loading: Largest Contentful Paint (LCP)
- Interactivity: First Input Delay (FID)
- Visual Stability: Cumulative Layout Shift (CSL)
Loading: The key figure Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) falls under loading. This measures the time it takes to render the largest object in the visible area. It thus refers to the loading time of the page's content. According to Google, a good page speed is under 2.5 seconds, an upgradeable one is up to 4 seconds and a poor one is over 4 seconds. A common factor for slow page speed is slow-loading resources such as images and videos.
Offload your site and optimise PageSpeed with Pixelbridge
The Pixelbridge framework is a dynamic image publishing software that optimises your images and automatically delivers them to third party systems. Based on a master asset, Pixelbridge automatically renders derivatives for any application. By generating target-optimised variants of the original image on-the-fly in Pixelbridge, all variants are kept up-to-date in all channels by versioning the original image in the DAM. While the Pixelbridge enables freely configurable, automatic and channel-appropriate image delivery, the intelligent cache ensures lightning-fast delivery. As a "one source - multi-channel" framework, the Pixelbridge not only saves time in the processing and delivery of images, but also conserves the resources of your website and optimises PageSpeed.
Interactivity: The First Input Delay (FID) measures the time between the first user activity and the browser's reaction. The decisive factor here is the time that elapses, for example, between the click on a button and the execution of the action. Google rates FID values below 100 ms as good, values between 100 ms and 300 ms as needing improvement and above 300 ms as poor.
Visual Stability: Cumulative Layout Shift (CIS) is the key figure of the visual stability of a website and measures how often unexpected page element shifts occur. These can be asynchronously loaded page elements that suddenly change the layout of a text. Buttons that change after clicking are also taken into account under this indicator. The CLS is the product of two values: the impact fraction and the distance fraction. All values greater than 0.1 are considered by Google to be in need of improvement.
The Core Web Vitals are then rated according to a traffic light system (green > yellow > red). Website operators can use Google's familiar tools to check their site with regard to its Core Web Vital result. In addition to the Core Web Vitals, already known Page Experience factors continue to play an important role:
- Is the page optimised for use on mobile devices?
- Is safe browsing guaranteed?
- Is there an HTTPS connection to the website?
- Are guidelines for avoiding disruptive influences in the mobile experience adhered to?
The range of functions of the Pixelboxx Suite offers numerous advantages for website operators. For example, the automatic scaling of images can save manual work steps. Our publishing framework in combination with a CDN ensures the highest availability of content even during peak loads. Websites are thus supplied with optimised image material in the best possible way. This reduces traffic costs and improves SEO. The integrated import validation guarantees high quality images. The Pixelboxx Suite helps website operators to achieve lean and fast loading pages, reduces time to market, lowers costs, simplifies the provision of high-quality images and is scalable, performant and secure.
From May 2021, these factors together will form the user-friendliness signals for the ranking of websites. The importance of high-quality content for Google ranking remains essential.
Each core update brings marketers new possibilities and opportunities to make improvements to their own site. However, they also mean constant work on one's own website. How exactly the Core Web Vitals have to be adhered to and to what extent they have an effect on the ranking of pages, is something Google, as always, keeps under wraps. With the Pixelbridge from Pixelboxx, slow-loading images are a thing of the past. So you can fully concentrate on the page experience of your site. Contact us to find out what else Pixelboxx products can do for you.