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Why Google Lighthouse is Not an INP: A Core Web Vital
One of the must-use tools among developers and SEO gurus to measure the performance of a website is Google Lighthouse, but here’s one interesting exception that was started by quite a lot of chatter within the web development communities: INP — that stands for Interaction to Next Paint does not stand in that list as one of its Core Web Vitals. Since INP is a measure for rating quality user interaction on a website, it still has not entered Google Lighthouse’s Core Web Vitals.
Being a multi-faced digital marketing agency, to rank higher on search engines and giving the best experience to your users, understanding these technical aspects is very much important. The article will talk about why this exclusion exists and how it impacts your website’s performance as well as SEO, through our experience in GCC Marketing.
Knowing What is INP and Core Web Vitals
INP stands for Interaction to Next Paint, and it is a relatively new metric, which puts an enormous focus on the responsiveness of a web page once a user has interacted with it. Of course, the traditional Core Web Vitals metrics really zero in on the delay between page load and visual response-Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), First Input Delay (FID), Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS)-but INP zeroes in on the delay between user interaction and visual response. This is a critical aspect of user experience, more so for websites that require users to interact with them numerous times, such as those e-commerce or SaaS sites.
Core Web Vitals, on the other hand, refers to a group of standardized performance signals that Google uses while trying to determine the user experience of a web page.
It consists of:
- LCP (Largest Contentful Paint)- Which calculates loading performance
- FID (First Input Delay)- It measures interactivity
- CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift)- It measures visual stability.
What Google aimed through building Core Web Vitals is that it towards a subset of elements which it believed it would have a direct impact upon the user experience over the web. INP fits the description but is not a Google Lighthouse Core Web Vital.
Why Google doesn’t include INP in Core Web Vitals
The major reason of exclusion from Core Web Vitals is the status of INP being in an experimental situation. Because INP is still in very initial testing phases, Google is not including it in Core Web Vitals and is collecting data for the long-term impact that it will eventually have on web performance. Despite the fact that INP captures a very important aspect of interactivity, the metric is not fully developed to be applied broadly at this point.
But Core Web Vitals is designed to give foundation-based web performance measurements that can be applied widely. Metrics like LCP, FID, and CLS are already in the web development environment and provide reliable values for SEO professionals and developers to optimize on.
The second reason is that Google likes this approach to be easier for ranking websites. The more metrics presented, the more complicated it gets for the judging of websites and leads to inconsistent scoring. Therefore, the emphasis of Google Lighthouse metrics stands on key metrics, which are easy to judge and measure for improvements by webmasters.
How INP Affects User Experience
Even though INP is not included in Google Lighthouse’s Core Web Vitals, it remains an important metric that can provide insights into how users interact with a website. Websites possessing complex interfaces, like digital services and e-commerce, necessitate an interaction experience; in this regard, INP assumes a significant role.
INP measures the lag between a user’s action, such as clicking on the “Buy Now” button, and the website’s visible response. For example, if a user clicks on a “Buy Now” button but it takes a long time for the site to visibly respond, that user will just get frustrated and leave. The smaller the INP is, the smoother the user interaction, which ultimately leads to higher engagement rates and lower bounce rates.
Therefore, if they have a tracking system for INP, businesses can introduce a non-jarring user experience into their frameworks for users and thus ensure retention, conversion, and long-term customer satisfaction.
Alternatives for Interactivity Measurement
Although INP does not come in Google Lighthouse, there are other measures that can help to calculate and improve interactivity for visitors on your website:
- First Input Delay (FID): FID is currently the standard for measuring interactivity. This measures the time it takes for a browser to respond to the first interaction by a user.
- Total Blocking Time (TBT): Another meaningful metric is used to capture how long a page is blocked from responding to user inputs.
- Time to Interactive (TTI): This time measure captures the time taken to before a page is fully interactive.
All these metrics are very important to keep a site responsive, which impacts user satisfaction and, in turn, SEO performance.
Role of Google Lighthouse in SEO
It’s really important because it gives developers and marketers a benchmark about what needs to be improved in the technical performance of the website. Google Lighthouse runs performance audits concerning accessibility, SEO, best practices, and more, then it gives an extended report on all that.
Keeping performance strong on these metrics is very important for most digital marketing agencies, such as GCC Marketing, to ensure top-of-page search rankings. Websites that load slowly and unresponsively rank lower in the SERPs of Google, which obviously leads to lower visibility and engagement.
Although INP is not in Lighthouse’s Core Web Vitals, paying attention to all the performance aspects – whether they officially are a “vital” or not – is super important. Regular audits and optimizations based on Lighthouse reports mean keeping a competitive edge.
Internal Linking and On-Page SEO
We, at GCC Marketing, enhance the search engine performance of your website by focusing on technical factors like Core Web Vitals as part of our core services. Optimizing your website based on these metrics optimizes user experience while strengthening the website’s visibility on search engines.
Our on-page SEO services work to improve page load speed, visual stability, and interaction metrics in conjunction with the best Google has to offer. The addition of core web vitals is just one of the ways you can take your online business to a more thriving presence. Keep reading on our SEO services page here to see just why we are the key to incorporating more advanced SEO moves that drive organic traffic.
What’s Next for INP?
As the notion of INP grows mature, it will come to hold more scope in the community for both SEO and web development. When the data is sufficient, Google might add it to Lighthouse or form a whole new set of guidelines under interactivity.
For now at least, focusing on the Core Web Vitals metrics available today probably represents the best way to ensure your website provides an optimal user experience. Alternatively, keeping an eye on newly emerging metrics like INP can provide a forward-looking approach to web optimization.
To End With
Though INP is not a measurement by Google Lighthouse for its Core Web Vitals, it is still very important for ensuring smooth interactivity and great user experience. Therefore, for businesses seeking to get their site optimized for search engines and ideal user satisfaction, each and every other metric of performance – including the experimental ones like INP-is most crucial. Here at GCC Marketing, technical intricacies of web optimization keep the business ahead in the competitive digital landscape.
FAQs
What is INP? (Interaction to Next Paint)
INP is the measurement of the time gap, that is between the point of user interaction, and when the next visual update o
n the webpage is rendered. The metric is used because it is recommended for measuring interactivity for users, and it is relatively experimental in Google Lighthouse.
Why is INP not a Core Web Vitals?
INP is still currently in test and yet it has not been merged fully by Google to Lighthouse. The main reason is that it remains an experimental component.
Which are currently the existing Core Web Vitals?
There are three currently existing Core Web Vitals, namely Largest Contentful Paint, First Input Delay, and Cumulative Layout Shift.
How does INP impact user experience?
INP is aligned to the speed at which the website acts back to the interaction with the user, so it finds its importance regarding the betterment of user satisfaction and bounce rate.
Does INP help improve the SEO?
Improving the number of INP may have a positive impact on user experience indirectly benefiting the SEO performance.
If you want to learn more about how to optimize your website for best user experience and search rankings, click here and visit our SEO Services page.
