Core Web Vitals as a ranking factor in 2021

In 2021, Google is introducing new ranking factors: Core Web Vitals. These are scores for factors relating to user-friendliness. Examples include laadtijden, interactiviteit and visual stability from the web page. Also, mobielvriendelijkheid, veiligheid, dataversleuteling (HTTPS) and no intrusive features.

Testing Core Web Vitals

Go to Google PageSpeed and enter the URL of your website there.

Example of a Google PageSpeed score

Why these new factors?

Google wants end users to continue using its search engine. When we started out in 2004, Google’s focus was on technical aspects (read: spamming the meta tags). Then came the rise of high-quality content (read: SEO texts crammed with unhealthy amounts of keywords). In recent years, we’ve seen the power of machine learning, and with the rise of structured data, search engines are becoming smarter. Technical aspects and content need to be in balance, but speed leads to positive user experiences. That’s why Google prefers to direct its visitors to high-quality websites that provide people with quick answers to their questions.

Striking a balance between aesthetics and functionality

Core Web Vitals require a delicate balance between text, images, video, layout and animations. This is always where the problem lies with creative developers, who tend to favour large, attractive images or heavy effects. Developers often see no need for all that fuss, but ultimately, a well-designed website with fast loading times is what convinces visitors to convert. Core Web Vitals certainly makes this possible, but both the creative and the techie need to work with the online marketer to find the right solution. Ultimately, it’s not ego that counts, but the number of conversions. The customer’s interests always come first!