It's time to talk about something that scares many SEO professionals website optimization . User interactivity with your website , First page load responsiveness , as it quantifies the experience users have when trying to interact with unresponsive pages .

Why is technical SEO important in SEO?

SEO , the vast majority of people with some knowledge of marketing know that we're talking about things like keyword research , meta description optimization, and other techniques.

Some people understand SEO as a job that combines elements of digital project development, design, copywriting, and content , but beyond that, there are on-page of SEO techniques that are left for later or never addressed.

Therefore, it's important to talk about:

The new technical guidelines for website optimization.

search , as we know it today, is much more than just being present on the first page of search engines .

Maintaining top search engine rankings (and not just first place), through long-term work, and outperforming other websites not only in search engine rankings but also in post-click aspects (retention in top positions, navigation depth, and especially profitability) are increasingly important aspects of SEO integrated with marketing for any business.

Learn more: Google's new search algorithm: BERT

So, is SEO becoming increasingly technical?

No, but if a website is a technological device, and each page is developed using specific techniques, then everyone involved in the process needs to have at least a minimum of technical knowledge to know how to deal with the challenges that search engines present to us.

Perhaps it is because of this that Google launched a report Web.dev Web Vitals . This document shows technical aspects defined by Google with essential metrics for a healthy website, focusing mainly on mobile devices.

Web Vitals is a Google initiative to provide unified guidance on quality signals, essential for delivering an optimal user experience on the web.

Google , or developers measure, track, and take action based on the performance of their online .

While some developers specialize in using these tools, most professionals face all sorts of problems using them, tracking their metrics, and drawing conclusions from their reports.

Learn more: The power of the Knowledge Graph

Simplifying website optimization?

According to Google, the Web Vitals initiative was created to " simplify the landscape and help websites focus on the most important metrics, the Core Web Vitals ," which is a commendable move and one I hope works out.

In my work as an SEO specialist, I encounter many projects that face problems simply because those who developed them lacked knowledge of SEO .

Sometimes, the website wouldn't even need my intervention if it had been developed with this perspective from the beginning. That's why I always tell my clients: for your next website, call me before you call anyone else.

Vital Principles of the Web

The Core Web Vitals are a subset of the Web Vitals that apply to all web pages and should be considered and measured by all website owners.

Due to their importance, all Google tools will use these vital principles, which will greatly facilitate everyone's understanding of the aspects of the reports and information extracted from these tools.

Each of the Core Web Vitals “ represents a distinct facet of the user experience ,” is centered on the user experience, and reflects an aspect of that individual's real life.

The technical evolution of SEO.

The metrics that make up the Vital Web Principles will evolve as Google's engineers work on them and promise to contribute significantly to website optimization to a new level.

According to the post, the current set of definitions (in 2020) focuses on three aspects of user experience:

• Loading;
• Interactivity;
• Visual stability.

Learn more: Semantic Optimization: a case study

Your website loading speed

Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) can be understood as a large portion of the content that was printed on the screen. It is an important metric because it measures the loading speed perceived by the user when accessing your website. LCP marks a point in the page load timeline when the main content of the page has likely been loaded.

A good Largest Contentful Paint helps assure your user that the page they are trying to access is lightweight and will load quickly, making it useful in no time.

According to the Vital Principles of the Web, LCP (Last Click Progress) should occur within 2.5 seconds of the page starting to load, in order to provide a good user experience.

Therefore, speed matters more and more. So, optimize your website for LCP !

User interactivity with your website

First Input Delay (FID) is a very important technical metric used to measure page load responsiveness, as it quantifies the experience users have when trying to interact with unresponsive pages.

A low FID ensures that your visitor can use the page almost instantly. Current FID requirements stipulate that it should be equal to or less than 100 milliseconds .

Don't waste time, optimize the First Input Delay of your pages .

The visual stability of your website.

Shift (CLS) is another user-centric metric.

CLS measures visual stability, as it helps quantify how often users experience unexpected changes in layout – a low CLS helps ensure that the page is visually pleasing and stable, especially for people sensitive to color and abrupt screen movements.

This metric measures the visual stability and technical requirements of Core Web Vitals; your page's CLS should be less than 0.1 .

Don't let problems accumulate in your project; improve the Cumulative Layout Shift functionality of your projects now .

Learn more: Ontology for Business Analysis

Tools for measuring and reporting on the Vital Principles of the Web

Chrome User Experience Report

The Chrome User Experience Report collects real, anonymized user data Web Vital Principles .

This data allows website owners to quickly assess their performance without requiring them to manually generate analytics on their pages.

Using tools like PageSpeed ​​Insights and the Search Console Speed ​​Report complements the arsenal of information available to you, allowing you to obtain the data you need to take action quickly.

Learn more: How to rank on Google?

The new technical guidelines for optimizing websites.

SEO changes constantly. After I wrote that last paragraph and clicked "post" on that short text, I'm sure something changed in the Google or Bing algorithm.

We, as professionals who optimize websites, need to be constantly updated and connected to everything surrounding our industry. Having technical knowledge is only one aspect of this challenging and wonderful profession.

Frequently Asked Questions