Optimizing your website for UX (User Experience) & SEO are vital elements for converting your website traffic online. Providing a great UX & SEO platform for users, ensures once they land on your pages, they will be inclined to complete actions & become a newly found prospect/lead. The CLS vital is key to sending the proper signals to Google, ensuring them you are proactively working on providing your users with great experiences on your website. Why does CLS matter for both user experience & SEO? In this article we will examine the reasons you should focus on the CLS core web vitals. How it effects search engine optimization & the effects CLS has on user experiences. Read more!
Does the core website performance of your web pages really matter? CLS or Cumulative Layout Shift is a core web vital initiative provided by Google to help you understand the overall performance of your website as seen by your real website traffic users. The Google core web vitals report VIA Google console, reports how your pages are performing by harnessing real world usage data. These reports help you understand your website performance & provide the knowledge graphs for you to be able to fix poor user experiences directly on your website.
View this demonstration video from Google to better understand CLS:
Once you have repaired your bad core web vital signals reported by Google. They then give you the opportunity to report back, asking Google for a recheck & confirmation from you that the core web vital problems have been rectified. So, why should you focus on CLS for UX & SEO? Let’s analyze the most important reasons for utilizing the Google web vitals report (A free report generated by the Google Console).
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The benefits of providing the best UX (User Experiences).
- Improving your overall conversion rates. Most users will decide whether or not to complete an action on your website within the 7 to 9 second mark. If you are providing a great user experience. Users are more inclined to complete an action on your website such as filling out a form.
- Reducing your website bounce rates. Some believe google uses bounce rate detection as a SEO ranking factor. Others just use the metric to determine how their UX & website traffic is performing. Either way reducing your bounce rates will help your overall website success. Learn more about bounce rates.
- Help users find what they are looking for. Have you ever gone to a website and had no clue why you were there? This problem typically happens, not because the users are dummies. But typically, because the website is not organized and most of the content is just through around and users do not know how to navigate to find what they are looking for. Or in the case of CLS, they try to click a button and the CTA (Call to Action Button) & it moves out of the way and they end up performing the action they did not want.
Why CLS is vital for better Search Engine Optimization results.
- Google announced in the spring of 2021, that a major algorithmic change would roll out. They call this the “Page Experience” update. The “PE” update introduces a new set of ranking factors that measures your websites “Core Web Vitals” including FCP (First Contentful Paint), LCP (Largest Contentful Paint), FID (First Input Delay – NOTE: FID is essentially being replaced with TBD – Total Blocking Time). But of course, CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift). The CLS metric is measured by Google and taken into account in regard to their ranking factors. Therefore, reducing CLS metrics and reporting them to Google shows good faith. This in turn is an organic measurement and repair. Meaning, you are providing your users a better experience on your website. Google sees this as proactive and since the user came from their search engine, trust must be built. Essentially you are getting both Google & your users to trust you!
In conclusion, CLS is a new ranking factor in the Google algorithm. Not to mention the fact that your website traffic/users deserve a great user experience when visiting. Utilize the Google console “Core Web Vitals” tool to measure CLS. Build trust with your users & the Google search engine by working on your websites CLS core web vitals today. If you need help with your core web vitals & setting up the Google Console tool? Ciphers Digital Marketing Agency Can Help!