Google Core Web Vitals: Desktop rollout

Google rolled out the Google Core Web Vitals update on mobile between June and August 2021. What is next? Google said they would roll out the same page experience update on desktop.

We can assume it will work the same way as on mobile. Therefore, it is vital to check the Page Insights from Google for your e-commerce environment. Prevent your sites from performing poorly, drop in ranking, or be one step behind your competitors.

What else to expect?

Expect an increased impact on page experience update for desktops. After Google launched the Core Web Vitals, it took some time for very mobile unfriendly sites to perform poorly in search. Slower websites will experience a more significant impact over time. As a result, a website that does not pass the LCP, CLS, and FID will perform very poorly within a couple of years.

New metrics might also get into play. Recently, Google talked about a couple of new metrics. For example, smoothness and responsiveness. Smoothness has to do with the sort of frames per second of animations on the page. So when a visitor scrolls up and down the page, is it more like a slideshow or a sort of fluid video? Responsiveness is how quickly the page interacts or responds to visitors’ interactions.

Do not over-focus on the three metrics. If your page currently offers a terrible user experience but is somehow wiggling its way through these three metrics, it will only punish you in the long run. So instead, aim for a genuinely good user experience.