The Definitive Guide To SEO In 2021 - Core Web Vitals

This is the ultimate guide to search engine optimization in 2021.

And let me be clear about something:

This is NOT your average “SEO in 2021” predictions post.

Yes, I’ll cover the most important SEO trends this year.

But you’re also going to see new strategies that are working great right now.

So if you’re looking to improve your SEO next year, you’ll love this updated guide.

The Definitive Guide To SEO In 2021 - Core Web Vitals

According to Google, core web vitals are going to become a ranking factor in May 2021.

And in this chapter, I’m going to show you exactly how to get your site ready for this upcoming Google update.

(Including a real-life example of how I dramatically improved Backlinko’s core web vital scores.)

Let’s dive in.


Core Web Vitals: What You Need to Know

Core web vitals are a set of three specific web page experience metrics that Google considers super important:

  • √ Largest contentful paint

  • √ First input delay

  • √ Cumulative layout shift
The Definitive Guide To SEO In 2021 - Core Web Vitals

According to Google, core web vitals will directly impact rankings.

The Definitive Guide To SEO In 2021 In Oman - Core Web Vitals

That said, they also point out that core web vitals aren’t a make or break ranking factor. In other words, you can still rank with poor core web vitals scores.

The Definitive Guide To Digital Marketing In 2021 In Oman - Core Web Vitals


That said, there’s really no reason NOT to optimize your site’s core web vitals.

So it makes sense to set some time aside to work on them.

Here’s how.

How To Improve Your Core Web Vital Scores

To be clear:

The exact steps you take to improve your core web vitals depends on your site.

For example, a site that runs on Shopify will be different compared to one that runs on WordPress.

That said, here’s the process you can use to figure out what you need to fix.

First, pop open the Google Search Console and click on “Core Web Vitals”.

The Definitive Guide To SEO In Oman in 2021 - Google Search Console 1

Then, take a look at how the pages on your site stack up.

The Definitive Guide To Digital Marketing In Oman in 2021 - Google Search Console 1


(I basically ignore the desktop scores. Google’s mobile-first index means that mobile scores are what really matter).

You want to really zero-in on “poor URLs”.

The Definitive Guide To Search Engine Optimization In Oman in 2021 - Google Search Console 1


In my opinion, Google is going to punish poor URLs more than boost up good URLs. So you want to prioritize getting your URLs out of the red.

Again, how you tackle this depends a lot on the core web vital that you’re struggling with.

For example, a bunch of my pages had a poor CLS score.

The Definitive Guide To Digital Content in Oman In 2021 - Google Search Console

So we worked on improving the stability of pages as they loaded.


How We Improved Backlinko’s Core Web Vitals

When Google announced their upcoming page experience update, I realized that we needed to make a change.

You see, Backlinko’s load times were slow. Very slow.

Digital media in Oman


It wasn’t for lack of trying. We used a lightweight WordPress theme. Compressed our images. And more.

But the fact was: Backlinko’s pages were HUGE. Some of our posts had 40+ high-res screenshots. Plus visuals, embedded videos and animated images.

The thing was, this didn’t seem to hurt our rankings at all. Which makes sense considering that our search engine ranking factors analysis found no correlation between page speed and rankings.

Content Marketing in Oman


But this update was different. Google wasn’t just looking at page loading speed. They were going to try to directly measure user experience.

In other words: this time they weren’t messing around.

So I got to work.

Specifically, I hired an agency to overhaul Backlinko’s code. It now runs on Next.js.

It wasn’t cheap. Or easy.

But in the end, this significantly improved our core web vital scores.

Content Marketing in Oman

And our overall load times.

Content Solutions for SMEs in Oman


Fortunately, you probably don’t have to completely overhaul your site’s code. Backlinko was kind of in a unique situation. This is why we had to take drastic measures.

But 9 times out of 10, you can improve your core web vital scores using the tips that I outlined above.


Once you've mastered this you can move to next chapters




*** This series of articles was taken from Backlinko, who we thank for the great work and tips on SEO shared.***
Labels

Worth a read?

Image

Content Marketing Strategy Checklist

To help you get started, here's a content marketing strategy checklist:   Keyword Research: make sure you have a long list of keywords linked to your products, services, or brand. This list should be updated on a regular basis to incorporate new keyword ideas so that you never run out of material. Content Objectives: what are your goals for publishing content? Each piece of material might have its own objective. One goal could be to develop topic authority, while another could be to convert leads. Content Length: what is the expected length of your articles? Long-form material is highly regarded and often obtains higher traction in the SERPs. Keep the text shorter if the topic does not require 5,000 words. Style Guide:  create a style guide to ensure that each piece of content has the same voice, tone, and appearance. Include specifics such as brand words' spelling and capitalization, the number of photos to use for each piece, and the number of subheadings to use. Pillar Pa
Read more
Image

Free E-mail Marketing sites

Email marketing allows a brand to connect with its users in a personalized way through email. Brands can advertise specific products, events, or simply company news, and vary the tone and content of an email depending on which target audience or persona type the email is being sent to. Marketing innovations also allow for timed email sends based on past activity from a user on a website enhancing the probability for conversions. If you're looking at using email marketing as part of your strategy we have put together a list of free but reliable sites that allow you to reach huge number of contacts (some of them offer SMS services too). Here we go! MailKitchen 20,000 Emails per month Mailrelay 15,000 Emails per month Mailgun 10,000 Emails per month Vtiger 10,000 Emails per month Enflyer 10,000 Emails per month JangoMail 10,000 Emails per month Sendinblue 9,000 Emails per month Mailjet 6,000 Emails per month SendPulse 2,500 Emails per month Campayn 2,000 Emails pe
Read more
Image

101 Blog Titles You Need to Know

  A super list of blog titles (and blogging ideas) for when you're stuck! As these are used and abused I’d be careful not to copy paste but try to customise these titles. They do work in getting attention, give it a try, but then your content ( Content? What's that?? ) will need to be just as good. How to ____. How to ____ in X Steps. X Secrets You Didn't Know About ____. What ____ Doesn't Want You to Know. X Lies You've Been Told About ____. X Myths About ____ You Probably Still Believe. X Things We Learned From _____. X Predictions About the Future of ____. X Quotes About the Future of ____. X Inspirational Quotes to Help You ____. The One Thing You've Been Missing to ____. The Worst Advice You Can Hear About ____. The Best Advice You Can Hear About ____. Read What These X Experts Have to Say About ____. Why We Love ____ (and You Should Too!) ____ 101: All the Basics You Need to Know. The Beginner's Guide to ____. The Intermediate Guide to ____. The Expert
Read more
Image

23 Nonprofit Marketing Resources and Tools to Scale Your Mission

These nonprofit marketing resources and tools listed are here to help new and growing nonprofits set up their tech and tool stack appropriately to help scale their mission. Many of these nonprofit marketing resources and tools have free plans or heavily discounted plans for organizations. Design Canva – Free nonprofit marketing design tools The design tool made with nonprofits in mind. Discover the easy way to create high-impact social media graphics and nonprofit marketing materials. Register now to get Canva’s premium features for free. As a nonprofit, you know the importance – and challenges – of spreading the word. With the free Canva for Nonprofits program, you get access to premium design tools to help you create impactful nonprofit marketing and campaign materials. Canva is easy to use, so your whole team can use it. Canva for Nonprofits has everything you need to create powerful marketing campaigns. Create social media posts, presentations, infographics, websites, reports
Read more
Image

The Definitive Guide To SEO In 2021 - The Rise of Visual Search

  This is the ultimate guide to  search engine optimization  in 2021. And let me be clear about something: This is NOT your average “SEO in 2021” predictions post. Yes, I’ll cover the most important SEO trends this year. But you’re also going to see new strategies that are working great right now. So if you’re looking to improve your SEO next year, you’ll love this updated guide. Is Visual Search an SEO game-changer? Not yet. But based on how things are trending, visual search is poised to take off in 2021. Here’s what you need to know. Visual Search is Taking Off More people are conducting more visual searches than ever before. Just take a look at these stats: Google Lens has already been used 1 billion times ( source ). Pinterest gets 600 million visual searches per month ( source ). 36% of American consumers have already used visual search ( source ). Visual Search Technology is Insanely Good Visual search is still in its infancy. And it already works REALLY well. Don’t believe me?
Read more