In case you missed the news, Google announced last year that they will be implementing a new update to the search algorithm. There are normally around 1500 updates to Google every year, mostly making small tweaks you probably wouldn’t even notice. This one, however, is quite a big change which is why we were given so much notice. Essentially they are making some changes to the rankings of websites in google search but let me let the experts explain. 

Supercharged Commerce, one of our ecommerce agency partners, has cut through the jargon that’s been floating around since google announced the impending update last year, with a clear explanation of what the update actually means. They have also created some fantastic resources to help you wrap your head around it.

The interactive dashboard, analyses how the top 100 retailers (according to the annual report by Internet Retailing ) stack up against the new criteria. And their ebook, which you can download from the website, takes a deep dive into what the update means for ecommerce and specific tips for improving your core web vitals scores on Magento. 

So what exactly are Core Web Vitals? 

Supercharged Commerce explain the Core Web Vitals update will change how search rankings are calculated, prioritising three pre-existing vitals within the Google page speed report: 

– Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) – How much page moves about as it loads. 

– Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) – How long it takes the visually largest piece of content to load (not file size).  

– First Input Delay (FID) How long it takes the page to react to something a user does.    

And how are the top 100 retailers doing on these criteria?

The short answer is they won’t knock your socks off, with average scores between “needs improvement” and “poor”. Does this mean smaller businesses might be able to climb up the google search rankings? You’ll have to go and ask our friends over at Supercharged Commerce about what you can do to improve your rankings. We just make sure you collect accurate customer data at checkout and get your deliveries to the right place!

But while we’re on the subject, this new update by Google is clearly shifting the focus towards mobile first websites and, above all, prioritising better visitor experiences on your website. While the speed of API calls is not currently under scrutiny, the average time it takes to return your address data is just a couple of milliseconds, practically instantaneous compared to the core web vitals criteria. Not to mention, our tools are just as slick on mobile as desktop sites, so we’ve got your back whatever the future of search algorithms may hold.