Google's Core Web Vitals provides unified guidance for website performance related to user experience, and will redefine how websites are measured. This summer, Google will begin to use Core Web Vitals as a new signal that will impact how sites are ranked on Google search. New Relic's browser, available on WP Engine, gives users a real world view of your actual score, and gives you peace of mind that you’ll be in control of how Google is scoring your website user experience and users’ ability to find your site on the Internet. In 2021, WP Engine’s own Web Marketing team undertook the major project of understanding and achieving >90% scores across the board in Google’s CWV scoring system. Ryan Hoover from WP Engine and Lindsy Farina from New Relic will explain how to use real user data to overcome the limitations of synthetic tests. Understand the impact that Core Web Vitals will have on your business in 2021, and how to understand your scores using tools like New Relic Browser.

2. Improve Your Site with a Real-
time Core Web Vitals View
Lindsy Farina
SENIOR PRODUCT MANAGER,
NEW RELIC
LFARINA@NEWRELIC.COM
Ryan Hoover
WEB DEVELOPMENT
MANAGER, WP ENGINE
RYAN.HOOVER@WPENGINE.COM

3. Agenda
What are Core Web Vitals?
How do we measure them?
A Look at New Relic’s Browser
Time to Get Real

4. Core Web Vitals
GOOGLE’S NEW MEASURE OF A GOOD PAGE EXPERIENCE
Google released new “page experience”
guidelines in Summer ‘20
Core Web Vitals will now factor into Google’s
search ranking
 Organic search ranking
 Paid search effectiveness
 “Fast badge” for good sites

5. What Are The Core Web Vitals?
It’s the point when the largest
element “above the fold” has
fully loaded.
When the user first clicks, scrolls
or types, how long does the page
take to respond?
As the page loads, how much
does content “above the fold”
move around?

6. Tools Available

7. Google’s Tools Identify Trends
...BUT AREN’T USEFUL FOR ACTIVE FIXES
Chrome User Experience (CrUX) database
 Provides historical data for any domain
 2-6 weeks old + no page-specific content
Search Console
 Provides trends on your owned domains
 Slow to update + no detailed reporting

8. Synthetic Tools For Real-time Optimizations
WebPageTest
 Been around for years, useful for waterfall
tracking
 It’s updated to include web vitals, but doesn’t
have the insight of newer tools
Lighthouse
 Google’s tool for measuring core web vitals,
available in many systems
 It’s the gold standard for synthetic testing of
Core Web Vitals

9. But There’s A Problem
With Synthetic Tests
SYNTHETIC TESTS CAN GIVE A FALSE
SENSE OF SUCCESS
Synthetic tests run once on the homepage.
It’s a single piece of a 500-piece jigsaw
puzzle.

10. New Relic’s Browser
is the Answer

11. Browser Gives You All
The Data You Need To
Optimize Your Site!
INTRODUCTION TO BROWSER
 Track your Core Web Vitals progress right from the
Summary screen
 Keep your JS Errors in check
 Explore how your Ajax requests flow through your
stack with Distributed Tracing
 Understand your customers every step of the way
 Find trends and move from reactive to proactive

12. That’s Great, But
Where Do I Start With
CWV?
STEP 1: DON’T PANIC
The key to success with the Core Web Vitals is
prioritization.
Who are your customers and what do they
consider to be a “good” experience?
What type of site do you manage, do you
expect faster content load or better
responsiveness on click?
Where are you starting? Understand your
baseline and create goals.
Let New Relic Browser help you answer
those questions!

13. Know your
customer

14. Demo and Dashboards

15. Optimize
Your Code
LCP
CLS
FID

16. Let’s Get Real

17. Promote a common language
EVERYONE HAS A DIFFERENT UNDERSTANDING OF “FAST”
Create clear definitions
 What metrics do you track?
 How do you measure them?
Reinforce it continuously
 Your team has to use it
 Your leadership has to understand it

18. Performance is
whack-a-mole
ONCE YOU FIX ONE PROBLEM,
ANOTHER ONE POPS UP

19. Be Open To Change
WHAT WORKED BEFORE MAY NOT WORK
NOW
 Inline SVGs? WebPs?
 YouTube? HTML5 videos?
 Delay JS? Load when ready?
 External CSS? Inline?

20. In summary…
In order to provide a good user experience, you must understand your customers!
New Relic gives you the data you need to understand your users’ experience with your site and ask the right questions to
prioritize your plan for optimization.
Performance is a lifestyle, not a project
Performance metrics (and your audience!) change all the time. You may be doing good today, but next month your scores
(frankly) will drop. Bake performance considerations into your daily workflows.
Set clear, reasonable goals
Performance efforts can be overwhelming. Identify clear short-term and long-term goals, and make sure those goals reflect
the realities of your site and your customers.

21. Stay In The
“Good” And Keep
That Anomalous
Behavior Away!
GET RESULTS

22. Thank You
Ryan Hoover
WEB DEVELOPMENT
MANAGER, WP ENGINE
RYAN.HOOVER@WPENGINE.COM
Lindsy Farina
SENIOR PRODUCT MANAGER,
NEW RELIC
LFARINA@NEWRELIC.COM