Keeping up with the latest factors effecting search engine rankings can be a challenge. One I think everyone should pay attention to concerns Core Web Vitals. This refers specifically to Google page speed.

Clearly, the subject of page speed, referring to how quickly your site loads for visitors, is going to be a powerhouse in the world of search engine rankings. At least, for the foreseeable future.

I would implore you to get on the ground floor of this concept now. As it is, this is a relatively new trend in the world of search engine optimization. The more you understand now, the better prepared you’re going to be to optimize your Core Web Vitals.

How Important Is Page Load Speed For My Website?

What fascinates me about Google speed is the fact that a lot of people, myself included, sometimes forget just how important this component is. In the age of wireless internet, 5G, and all other manner of high-speed connections, we’ve gotten to the point where everything just seems fast.

What differences does a few seconds make at this point? Does it really influence whether or not people are going to find and spend meaningful time on your website?

As you’re going to find, the difference between two websites, as far as speed is concerned, is well worth taking seriously.

Let’s take a closer look at Google’s recommendations for how long your page should take to load.

What Is Google Recommended Page Load Time?

Let’s be clear: The quality of your content still needs to be on point. It still needs to provide legitimate value to your visitors. Page load speeds are not really influenced by the specifics of your content. What it comes down to is how all of those things are being brought together.

How long does Google think your website should take to load?
Three seconds. Or less.

When you learn that many websites are taking as long to load as 22 seconds on mobile devices, the problem becomes clear. This is something that impacts many small-to-medium businesses. Larger businesses are already prepared for this. What can you do to ensure your Google site speed is optimal?

A Quick Guide To Core Web Vitals

Everything I have been talking to you about so far brings us back to my earlier introduction of Core Web Vitals. Google has made it clear that they are going to be taking user loading / browsing speeds into consideration, when it comes to search engine authority.

While this may sound like yet another hurdle for your content, which is already powered with plenty of backlinks and other proven SEO measures, it really isn’t that big of a deal.

Let’s start with a quick look at what we’re talking about, when we’re talking about Core Web Vitals in the first place:

Largest Contentful Paint (LCP): This is specifically in regards to how long it takes for someone’s device to download the largest content portion on your website.
Cumulative Layout Shifts (CLS): This metric refers to how stable your page remains as it loads.
Onload: Dependent resources, as they are currently being loaded up.
First Input Delay (FID): This site speed metric refers to how long it takes for users to interact properly with your website.

Those seem to be the most important ones as this point.

How To Test Your Core Web Vitals

Very quickly, I want to discuss how you can quickly and easily test your core web vitals. With this information in hand, you’re going to be in a much better position to hit Google’s recommendation for page loading times.

These are the two best tools for testing Core Web Vitals for your site:

Google Search Console: This is where you’re going to want to start. After following some very straightforward directions, you’re going to be left with a complete URL list. This information can then be run through the Page Speed Insights tool.
Page Speed Insights Tool: This is another very helpful site speed tool that comes to use from Google.

At this point, we can discuss the most important areas to hit, where it concerns Web Core Vital improvement.

3 Ways To Reach Google’s Recommended Page Load Time

Here are 3 things you can work on to improve your website loading speed almost immediately.

Consider Swapping Your Current Host

This is the first step. I understand that this is sometimes easier said than done for people. Nonetheless, doing your homework on the best hosting site for your needs can go a long way towards to improving your score.

Optimize Your Website With Lazy Loading

Lazy loading offers a proven way to keep your Core Web Vital score down, as well as your UX. This means any image on your website, if the user is browsing with their mobile device, is going to load at the exact moment they are scrolling. This means a dramatic improvement to not only how your website perform, but it can also enhance your SEO, and cut down on your bandwidth usage.

If you want to cut down on bounce rates by keeping people on your site, this is something you need to consider.

Making Sure Your embeds / images Have The Proper Dimensions

This final tip for improving page load speed couldn’t be simpler. Proper dimensions means the proper resources are being delegated, which avoids overwhelming things.

After making it a point to set your proper dimensions earlier in the reserving of the space, you can make sure your YouTube embeds are properly embedded.

This should cover the basics of everything you need to know about how important the recommended load time really is for Google.