WordPress released its Core Web Vitals (CWV) for 2023, and the platform has seen a spike. These numbers are not just good for the tools or the companies using the platform to build them but also for the entirety of the internet. WordPress set a new benchmark, and the significant improvement has a few essential implications for website owners and the evolving ecosystem. Let’s dive right into it.
What are Core Web Vitals (CWV)?
Core Web Vitals (CWV) are a set of metrics that are used to gauge the quality of user experience on a website. They also help in the ranking factor on Google searches. Since the launch of Google’s web vitals initiative, websites are expected to have certain standards for users who land and surf through them. The CWV has three major metrics underneath it – these include:
● Largest Contentful Paint (LCP): This determines the website’s performance while loading. The base standard for this is 2.5 seconds, which means a good user experience can be achieved within 2.5 seconds once the website begins to load.
● First Input Delay (FID): This metric gauges how interactive the website or the web page is. A good user experience is one where the FID is less than 100 milliseconds.
● Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS): The third metric is to find out how stable the page is when it comes to its User Interface (UI) or visuals. In this case, the norm is for the value to be 0.1 or less.
The three factors together determine how good or bad the user experience is in real-time. Besides these, there are a couple of other factors as well. However, these don’t fall under the CWVs because they do not directly impact the user experience and are indirectly connected with the above three metrics.
Core Web Vitals of WordPress in 2023
The CWVs of WordPress were released for mobile and desktop users. The platform has seen a rise across both mediums. The CWV passing rate on mobile phones increased from 28.31% to 36.44%, which denotes an increase of 8.13%. The CWV passing rate on desktops increased from 32.55% to 40.80%, which marks a rise of 8.25%.
The previous years’ passing rates for mobile and desktop were 6.99% and 6.25%, respectively. This means that the new passing rates are higher by 29% and 25%, respectively, which is a significant rise.
Here are the percentages for the various three CWV metrics on mobile and desktop:
Metric Mobile Mobile Rise Desktop Desktop Rise
LCP 34.48% – 43.37% 8.89% 49.22% – 55.81% 6.59%
FID 96.55% – 97.42% 0.87% 99.97% – 99.97% 0.00%
CLS 74.76% – 78.98% 4.22% 61.29% – 68.08% 6.79%
In the previous year, LCP had the lowest passing rate. As a result, in 2023, they focused on the metric and ensured it had the most critical change. In general, it has been quite an improvement for the platform and its websites, but it doesn’t stop there. If not addressed, several companies and attorneys such as a reported as deceased on credit report attorney are impacted.
The Release of WordPress Updates and Impact on the Web
The latest versions of WordPress – 6.2, 6.3, and 6.4 target better load time and LCP. The data of websites before and after the update was compiled and compared. It was deduced that the introduction of 6.2 improved the LCP by 0.01% on mobiles. The 6.3 version resulted in an improvement of 4.72% of the same metric, and 6.4 also made the LCP rate better.
When it comes to the overall web, the mobile and desktop CWV was 5.35% and 6.26%, respectively. In this, the non-WordPress improvement was 3.68% and 5.29%. It means that the impact of WordPress on the overall internet can be quantified to 1.67% and 0.97% for mobile and desktop, respectively. Furthermore, it is also interesting to see that while the WordPress CWV passing rate is 8.13%, the non-WordPress CWV passing rate is 3.68%.
Overall, WordPress has accomplished a critical milestone, and this trend now dictates that websites be more focused on the web vitals’ metrics. Websites should also focus on SEO, and it is reported that the platform must focus on Interaction with Next Paint (INP) as opposed to FID, as the former is a more comprehensive metric to gauge interactivity. It will be fascinating to see the steps the popular platform takes in the coming year to accomplish this.