In today's digital age, web users are very impatient and expect everything to work quickly and efficiently. With this mindset, many businesses may lose potential customers when their website does not perform as expected or loads too slowly, preventing users from achieving their desired goals. The end result is often losing customers. So, what are the key factors that create a fast and optimized website? Let's analyze them together.

How to Make Your Website Run Smoothly and Efficiently?

What Is Core Web Vitals?

Core Web Vitals are a set of standardized metrics from Google that help developers better understand the user experience on a webpage. Although Core Web Vitals were created for developers, these tools can also be used by all website owners because they help analyze the real user experience on a webpage.

Core Web Vitals identify user experience issues by providing metrics for three key aspects of user experience, including:

• Page loading performance
• Ease of interaction
• Visual stability of the page from the user's perspective

These metrics do not tell the whole story of user experience, but when combined, they help developers troubleshoot effectively and systematically.

Let’s dive into the three main metrics of Core Web Vitals to improve your website today!

1. Largest Contentful Paint (LCP)

LCP is a Core Web Vitals metric that website owners can use to assess user experience and see whether a page is useful based on the load time of the largest content blocks seen by the user.

Website owners need to ensure their pages load quickly to create a good user experience. Not only is fast loading important for user experience, but it also helps your page rank higher on Google. Additionally, faster load times positively impact engagement levels and conversion rates compared to pages with slower load times.

What Does LCP Measure?

LCP measures the load time of different content blocks in the user’s viewport (current screen). This metric only considers content visible on the screen, excluding content below the screen.

Elements measured by LCP include:

• Images
• Video poster images
• Background images
• Text blocks

Website owners should aim for an LCP of under 2.5 seconds from when the page starts loading.

2. Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS)

Website owners need to make interacting with links and buttons on the page as easy as possible to boost sales and conversion rates. CLS is a metric that identifies links or buttons that shift positions after the webpage has loaded, affecting the difficulty users face when trying to interact with elements on your page.

UX and UI design are crucial factors in user experience, and users can become frustrated if elements on the page shift while they are reading. CLS helps developers determine whether images or links shift positions on the page, thus improving usability and increasing click-through rates.

What Does CLS Measure?

CLS measures whether elements in the viewport shift from their original positions between two rendered frames. Simply put, this metric helps website owners understand if content like text, buttons, and banners are pushed away during the user's reading experience on the page.

Elements that shift positions can confuse users and disrupt their experience on the page, so ensuring all content remains in place after the page loads is crucial. CLS considers key metrics to determine the visual stability of the page from the user’s perspective by considering several factors:

• Layout shift
• Impact fraction
• Distance fraction

Website owners should maintain a CLS of 0.1 or lower.

3. First Input Delay (FID)

Online consumers want websites to be responsive and easy to interact with. FID measures input delay (the time it takes for the page to respond when a user performs an action) to identify pages that may frustrate your audience.

Modern websites use many advanced technologies and dynamic content widgets to deliver content to users. However, these elements can cause delays, requiring users to wait for the browser to respond when they interact.

Developers need to reduce the time users wait for the browser to respond to their input to improve interaction and usability across the website.

What Does FID Measure?

FID measures the responsiveness of the page when loading input elements from users. This means FID only records events like clicks and keystrokes.

Website owners should aim to provide a good user experience with FID under 100 milliseconds.

Other Performance Metrics

As discussed, Core Web Vitals provide many insights to help developers improve their websites. In addition to the main metrics mentioned above, developers can also understand how their code affects how users perceive content on the webpage.

While not considered user experience metrics, these metrics quantify delays or other technical factors that may negatively impact how online audiences interact with the website, so let’s review some additional metrics that can help you better understand your visitors' experience on the website.

1. First Contentful Paint (FCP)

FCP measures the time it takes for the user’s browser to render DOM elements (images, non-white elements, and SVGs). This metric identifies resources that hinder rendering and is measured in seconds, with the following ratings:

• 0–2 seconds: Green (fast)
• 2–4 seconds: Orange (moderate)
• Over 4 seconds: Red (slow)

2. Speed Index (SI)

Fast-loading websites provide a better online experience, and SI shows you the average time for content on the page to appear for users. This metric will identify excessive JavaScript on the page and is measured in milliseconds, with the following ratings:

• 0–4.3 seconds: Green (fast)
• 4.4–5.8 seconds: Orange (moderate)
• Over 5.8 seconds: Red (slow)

3. Time to Interactive (TTI)

TTI measures the time it takes for content on the page to become fully interactive. TTI helps you identify pages with unnecessary JavaScript and is measured in seconds, with the following ratings:

• 0–3.8 seconds: Green (fast)
• 3.9–7.3 seconds: Orange (moderate)
• Over 7.3 seconds: Red (slow)

4. Total Blocking Time (TBT)

TBT helps website owners assess the time a webpage takes to respond to user inputs. This metric will identify pages with unnecessary JavaScript and is measured in milliseconds, with the following ratings:

• 0–300 ms: Green (fast)
• 300–600 ms: Orange (moderate)
• Over 600 ms: Red (slow)

5. Page Performance Scores

Page Performance Score is a composite metric that considers all critical user experience metrics in Core Web Vitals. This score uses a cumulative rating system across all mobile and desktop visits. It calculates a weighted average score to provide a single overall score, helping you quickly understand which pages need closer examination. While these metrics are simplified in the Page Performance Score, developers can refer to scores in each category based on the following specific scale:

• 90 and above: Good
• 50–90: Needs improvement
• Below 50: Poor

With all these factors, where does your current website stand? Do you think it can be optimized further? Of course, this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to owning a top-performing website capable of generating more leads and increasing customer volume. Design and user experience elements also play a crucial role in how people interact with your website. CTAs (Call-to-Actions) and guiding users to where they need to go are prime examples. Not to mention SEO, but checking Core Web Vitals and performance metrics is a good starting point.

Contact AMIT now for more detailed information!