Preparing for Google’s Core Web Vitals Update, Part 1

A big role of any SEO professional or online marketing pro is keeping an eye on important changes made by Google and other search engines, and one big such change is on the horizon: The input of Core Web Vitals as a major ranking factor. While this update to Google algorithms is not expected until 2021, it promises to be extremely significant and has SEO pros everywhere looking to prepare for it in advance.

At SEO Werkz, one of the top features of our team of SEO professionals is our ability to quickly translate and optimize for major Google algorithm updates, a process that involves significant advanced research for future updates like this one. In this two-part blog series, we’ll dig into the basics on what this update is expected to include, how it may impact your rankings, plus some specifics on timing and how this area impacts SEO on the whole.

Core Web Vital Basics

Core Web Vitals have existed within Google for some time, and their purpose is to answer simple questions you may have about your pages. How fast does a given page load? How quickly does it become stable or begin interactive properties? Core Web Vitals provide answers to these queries and similar ones.

For this update, however, they will be joining metrics known as Page Experience signals, which provide info on things like mobile friendliness, HTTPS and interstitial pop-ups, among others. These will combine to form a major rankings factor based on user experience, how convenient and useful the page is, and similar inputs.

Potential Rankings Impact

So how will this impact your pages and how they rank on Google? Somewhat widely, and within areas of both mobile and desktop use.

One of the most significant expectations here is that Core Web Vitals will become part of the criteria for appearing in Google Top Stories at the top of search queries. This was an area previously reserved for AMP, which will be disappearing in favor of this new metric. Instead, pages will have to meet a minimum threshold of Core Web Vitals to be considered for placement in these areas. As such, it’s possible and even likely that this upgrade will impact a large number of pages.

Timing of Changes

Google is never great about providing precise timing updates on these kinds of algorithm changes, but they have told SEO pros that the Core Web Vitals update is coming sometime in 2021. They’ve also promised to give at least six months’ notice upon the official determination of the rollout date. COVID-19 impact around the country may push back the release somewhat, as it has already reportedly done, and as of this writing no six-month notice has been given. Keep an eye out, however.

For more on the new Core Web Vitals update from Google expected in 2021, or to learn about any of our SEO, PPC or social media marketing services, speak to the staff at SEO Werkz today.