(Untitled)

This article was written by Cody Landefeld. Partner and co-founder at Mode Effect, a true E-commerce consultancy firm that is specialized in marketing and development services for retailers using Woo. Father of four, husband to and a fervent sporting and music enthusiast. I'm usually on the field at an Suns or Diamondbacks game in the sun of Phoenix, AZ.

In the age of online shopping, every second counts. That's why Google has placed a spotlight upon Core Web Vitals, a collection of measures that assess how quickly and smoothly your site loads and communicates with visitors. We'll be honest with ourselves that as Woo store managers, we know that a good user experience can lead to increased revenues.

So, what is Core Web Vitals, and why is it important to be aware?

Great content that helps readers is the main element behind Google's page rank. When online retailers get heavy with new pages as well as ad-channels, the reader's experience can sometimes plunge lower than expected. That's why Google has rolled out an array of measures called "web vitals" to put the focus back on the customer experience (UX).

The three core components of your Core Web Vitals are:

• Largest Contentful Paint (LCP): This measures how long it takes the biggest part of your website to load. Think of it as an impression that your website makes "first impression" your site's page makes on the visitors. Try to create an LCP that is 2.5 minutes or less.
• Initial Input Delay (FID) The FID is a measure of the responsiveness of your website to interaction from users, such as pressing a button or clicking the hyperlink. An ideal FID should be less than 100 milliseconds.
• Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS): This measures the extent to which your layout alters as content loads. Think of it as the "jiggly screen" impact that could frustrate users. Maintain your CLS below 0.1 for a smooth experience.

If this is something new to you, then your mind may be spinning already as you learn about the forthcoming change to the Google Core Web Vitals' intent to replace FID with Interactive to Next Paint (INP) early in 2024.

Google describes INP as "a metric that assesses the overall responsiveness of a web page to user inputs by measuring the delay of each clicking, tapping or keyboard movements that occur throughout the lifespan of a visitor's experience on the webpage. The value at the end of INP is the longest interaction observed without excluding outliers." (Source: web.dev)

It is essential to remain up on the evolving Web standards landscape which our webmasters at Google will continue to utilize as metrics to inform us of how well Woo websites are working.

Indeed, the Google core vitals form the base of what is likely to become a crucial shift in SEO (SEO) strategies that are applicable to all of us. While the principles are mostly for developers but it's crucial for you as a retailer to know about them, because you want your site to be ranked highly on the search results page (SERPs).

Why Core Web Essentials are important for Woo

Google has declared it essential to improve your Core Web Vitals and it now has a direct impact on your profits. Research shows that websites with faster speeds are more likely to convert as well as lower bounce rates and also improved SEO. That's why happy customers are more likely to be paid-for customers.

 What does your Woo store measure against Core Web Vitals?

Are you or someone in your group felt or are saying these things?

• "Our traffic is slowing down."
• "Our website isn't functioning as efficiently as it did previously."
• "Our site is slow!"

Don't panic! Your next step is to contact the team or developer of your site to help you and your Woo store grow, however if your team is not as experienced working with Woo or speed optimization, they likely might not know where to begin looking.

What you are looking for, but may not always be able to comprehend in terms of technical terminology it's an inspection of the website to find out which aspects of your website relate to your core Web Vitals. Once you "look at the underside" of an eCommerce site, you'll often find problems that require to be addressed in addition to Core Web Vitals.

It is important to use other tools during an audit, such as an SEO keyword tool, such as Moz, Ahrefs or SEMrush as well as, of course, Google's suite of tools:

• Page Speed Insights  The program diagnoses problems in the field and lab on mobile and desktop pages.
• Google Search Console  It allows the identification of how each page ranks as well as the pages that need optimization.
• Chrome UX Report  Reports on Chrome UX customized reports on your website's performance.
• Chrome Dev Tools and Lighthouse Examines and evaluates improvements to pages and page content locally in a lab setting.
• Web Vitals Chrome Extension  measures essential Web Vitals data on a web page in real time on Google Chrome.

I'm sure I've not lost you! I know I am throwing a lot into the mix. Therefore, do not worry or get stressed. Use Google's tools to study in your own time You can also employ an expert team of experts to resolve these issues for your shop. At my company, Mode Effect, we aid e-commerce stores similar to yours daily with these types of challenges and we often look at Core Web Vitals as a first step.

This is especially important for interacting with a prospective Woo customer who isn't sure what to do to identify the crucial issues they're experiencing with their site. Although it's commonly described as "slow," that isn't an exact way to show the ways third-party scripts cause destruction on the speed of loading pages (for instance). ).

Getting started with Core Web Vitals

Don't worry, you don't have to be a technical wizard to boost your web vitals Core. Here are some simple ways to improve your Core Web Vitals:

• Use a website speed testing tool: There are many internet-based tools, free of charge, like Google PageSpeed Insights, that can analyze your website and provide specific recommendations for improvement. (see above in the last section)
• Make sure your images are optimized: large images may slow down your site. Utilize compression tools or reduce the images prior to uploading.
• Reduce the use of third-party scripts. Every extra script on your page adds to the loading time. Only use the essential ones. For example, it's a best practice to put GA4 and Microsoft Clarity scripts in Google Tag Manager and ensure the chat feature is optimized as well as other features.
• Utilize caching to increase speed: Caching stores website data in order to make it available quicker to the user.

Remember, even small improvements to your website can make huge differences. If you focus upon Core Web Vitals, you will be able to create a quicker fluid, more smooth, and efficient experience for customers on your Woo site.

Utilizing Google PageSpeed Insights for Webpages, information may be collected from two different contexts:

• Field information: This is data gathered from real users through the Chrome User Experience Report (CrUX).
• Lab data: This is data that is gathered inside a monitored environment without any involvement from real users.

Exploring Lighthouse slightly further, which is a tool which Mode Effect finds particularly valuable Also, we take a look at two more measurement methods:

• Time to Interactive (TTI): This measures how quickly the interactive elements of the site become fully available and functional.
• Total Blocking Time (TBT): This is the total time before the browser is able to render. If the TBT performance is too slow, then we must determine if the web browser is blocking it or if there are too many support resources that are being called from other servers.

We've covered a lot of aspects and metrics that affect the technical side of useability. We hope this article has given you a better insight into the difficulties of managing a website that's usable in the eyes of Google. It's crucial to remember that (just as keeping up with WordPress) it's not an easy process to do.

Google constantly alters the factors that matter most (fun you think?). As of now, this is how the weighting works with Google however, the way they weigh things might change within the next few years! So be sure you have a strong grasp of these fundamentals and are able to keep these principles or let your team manage the process.

At Mode Effect, we always start by looking at Core Web Vitals, but there are many other aspects to consider in addition to just looking at your website vitals. Our process for engaging with a new customer breaks down in this way:

1. An Asset Audit: Are the proper tracking software instruments in place? If not, we'll work with our clients to set them up and gain access to these tools.
2. Full audit and recommendations report as also prioritizing tasks.
3. Implementation of recommendations to improve efficiency and conformity in line with Core Web Vitals.

In case you're wondering about WordPress plugins to Core Web Vitals.

They exist, but in my observations, they don't work and break a site in more ways than one. Yes, I realize that every person loves a great plugin to solve a challenge, but in the case of plugins that are for Core Web Vitals, just mention "no !"

Additional Tips for Woo Store Owners:

• Concentrate on mobiles: More and more people shop online from their phones. Check that your website is mobile-friendly. Make use of your website vitals data to key in loading times on mobile and then dig deeper into engagement of users on specific devices to see where bright spots might be for making the necessary adjustments that be most effective.
• Personalize the experience: Use data and analytics to personalize the shopping experience for each visitor. This will result in higher customer engagement as well as sales. In this case, for example, you could want to look at which products bundle well together and put them all together at checkout
• Stay up-to-date: Google's algorithm changes constantly. Make sure you are aware of the latest Core Web Vitals best practices to ensure your site stays in the forefront of technology.

If you follow these guidelines to ensure your Woo shop is friendly for users but also for search engines. With the current increasingly competitive market, that's an ideal recipe for success. For a business that relies on e-commerce it's impossible to overlook Core Web Vitals. Although it's not the only measurement to consider in relation to your website presence, it is a very significant one that you should not ignore.

Mode Effect is a company that Mode Effect, We EXIST to help Woo store owners with their marketing and technical issues. Our team of experts includes top web developers and designers and copywriters as well as web optimization specialists, and web strategists. We truly love what we do and enjoy helping our clients transform their businesses.