Core Web Vital Updates VS. Core Updates – What’s The Difference? 

The global pandemic has forced uncertainty, stress, and confusion upon everyone these past 12 months, but now as restrictions ease and normality returns, the general population can breathe a sigh of relief. Unfortunately for us marketers, however, the nightmare that is 2021 still has plenty more stress for us to contend with as Google rolls out some major changes to its algorithm, some of which are having a big impact on organic rankings. 

The changes Google is implementing to their algorithm can be categorized into 2 separate updates – Named Algorithm Updates and Broad Core Updates.

Named Algorithm Updates 

Some of the updates implemented by Google are put in place to address specific issues with the algorithm. These changes include the Panda, Penguin, Medic, Mobilegeddon updates, updates implemented to address:

• Black-Hat link building tactics
• User experience for those searching on mobile devices
• Poorly constructed and repetitive content 
• Sites with no Expertise, Authority, or Trust (E-A-T)
• Equal opportunity for big brands and small brands in search results

These updates all have a specific purpose and Google reveals to us beforehand what they’re looking to accomplish with the change. 

The Core Web Vitals Update we saw introduced in June can be categorized as a Named Algorithm Update.

Core Web Vitals Update 

The Google Core Web Vitals Update is an introduction of measurable user experience metrics that affect a site’s overall ranking. 

Core Web Vitals are metrics Google considers important for measuring a user’s overall experience on a website. Although the metrics that makeup Core Web Vitals are constantly evolving, the current set for is:

• Loading
• Interactivity 
• Visual Stability. 

What are Google’s Core Web Vitals?

Ask any Webmaster worth their salt “What exactly is Google’s mission?” and they’ll tell you it’s presenting its searchers with the most relevant and authoritative results based on their queries. Google is largely secretive on its criteria for determining how relevant a page is to deter black hat SEO tactics we now have a set of metrics we can work on to improve our organic ranking.

Loading (Largest Contentful Paint) 

LCP measures how long a page takes to load from a user’s perspective. 

Simply put: it’s the time it takes for the majority of the on-screen content to appear after you click on a link. There are other metrics employed by Google to measure a site’s speed (like TTFB and Speed Index) but they aren’t representative of what it’s like for a user opening a webpage.

Google’s guidelines state that an LCP should occur within 2.5 seconds of the page’s first loading. 

Interactivity (FID)

FID measures the time it takes for a user to interact with your page once they’ve landed on it.

Some examples of the interactions include:

• Selecting a link from the site’s navigation
• Choosing a menu option 
• Inputting your email into a field 

Google considers FID to be important as it takes into account how long it takes for users to actually do something on a website.

In order to provide users with a good on-page experience, Google says your site should have an FID of 100 milliseconds or less.

Visual Stability (CLS)

CLS is a measurement of how stable your site is as pages load.

Essentially, if a page moves a user around as it loads you’re likely going to have a high CLS score. Some things that help CLS include:

• Setting size attribute dimensions for media on your site 
• Giving your ad elements reserved space 
• Adding UI elements below the fold 

Google states that your CLS score should score below 0.1 to provide users with a good site experience. 

What’s Changed With The Core Web Vitals Update? 

That’s all well and good but what’s actually new with this update? Simply put, with this update Google’s now slowly rolling out 3 definitive metrics to focus our efforts on in order to improve our rankings. In the coming months, it’s crucial we Webmasters keep a close eye on the impact of the Core Web Vitals update and adjust our content accordingly to make the most of Google’s newest, nail-biting algorithm change.

Diagnose and improve the user experience on your site with Google Page Speed Insights.

What Is A Broad Core Update?

A Broad Core Update is where Google makes unspecified tweaks to the order, weight, and importance of the factors and signals that determine its rankings. Google rolled out one of these updates in 2 parts throughout June and July this year.

One of the reasons behind Google’s position as the most used search engine on the internet is the accuracy of its search results. These search results are determined by a set of complex variables put in place to best understand what a searcher’s looking for and to then provide them with an answer. 

To retain its position as the leading search engine, Google’s constantly updating its algorithm to ensure it’s providing users with the most accurate search results, the majority of which go unnoticed as they don’t have any discernible impact on rankings. 

However, some of the updates made by Google have such a big effect on websites they warrant a public announcement ahead of time, these are known as Google Broad Core Updates.

This is the fundamental difference between Broad Core Updates and the Named Algorithm Updates. 

The Broad Core Update takes into account all the aspects of a site as opposed to Named Algorithm updates that target specific areas in the algorithm. 

Any veteran Webmaster will tell you how much of a headache the ambiguity of these Broad Core Updates can be as identifying a definitive cause behind a drop in rankings is often not possible. In the case of a Google Broad Core Update, the likelihood is there’s a number of areas on your site that have been affected by the algorithm change that put together have had a big impact on your overall ranking. 

How Can I Combat The June 2021 Broad Core Update?

• Take a step back and avoid making any drastic changes to your site
• Don’t make any final assessments to your site until the second update’s rolled out
• Continue posting regular, relevant content 
• Don’t panic!

It’s important to bear in mind that the irregular nature of the June Update’s 2 part rollout means that you shouldn’t get disheartened about any initial changes to your ranking, fluctuations are normal and there’s a very real possibility of any changes being reversed in the second half of the update. 

For now, keep calm and continue adhering to the Google Guidelines we Webmasters swear by.