By Shad Super in Questions —

How Does Prioritizing the Main Content Improve Core Web Vitals, and What Steps Can I Take to Ensure It Loads First?

Summary

Prioritizing the main content improves Core Web Vitals by reducing the Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), one of the metrics of Google's Core Web Vitals. LCP measures loading performance and prioritizing main content ensures it loads quickly, which effects overall site performance positively. Here are steps you can take to ensure the main content loads first.

Optimization Techniques

Inline Critical CSS

To avoid render-blocking issues, it's advisable to inline critical CSS. This technique includes inlining CSS keys that are necessary to render above-the-fold content directly into your HTML document [Extract Critical CSS, 2020].

Defer Loading of Non-critical CSS and JavaScript

Loading of non-critical CSS and JavaScript should be deferred until after the first paint, ensuring the critical content loads as quickly as possible [Defer Non-Critical CSS, 2020].

Utilize Browser Caching

Browser caching can be leveraged to store parts of your site so that repeat visitors do not need to download the same information again. This increases speed and ensures quicker loading times on subsequent visits [Uses Long Cache TTL, 2022].

Enable Compression

Enabling file compression reduces the size of your HTML, CSS, and JavaScript files which speeds up their download times. This can be done through techniques like Gzip or Brotli compression [Reduce Network Payloads Using Text Compression, 2020].

Reduce Server Response Time (TTFB)

Reducing the Time to First Byte (TTFB) is essential as it is the amount of time a browser waits to receive a response from your server after a request. Reducing this time helps to prioritize and accelerate the loading of the main content [Time to First Byte, 2020].

Use a Content Delivery Network (CDN)

A CDN can also be employed to host and serve your site’s files from a global network of servers. This reduces the physical distance between the user and server, increasing site speed [Content Delivery Networks, 2020].

Conclusion

Optimizing the loading sequence of your main content enhances the Core Web Vitals of your webpage, resulting in a better user experience, increased engagement, and potentially higher search rankings.

References