Are you curious about the cumulative layout shift (CLS) in SEO?
Digital marketing has come far over the years, with digital ad spending at $211 billion alone. For this reason, the technologies and methods to promote your business online continue to evolve. You must be aware of these trends to ensure your business continues to be on the top.
Read on as we discuss CLS, its causes, and how to improve your score:
What Is Cumulative Layout Shift?
CLS measures the webpage’s unexpected shifts as it progresses its lifespan. For example, a visitor loads a page. While reading, the page jumps down as a banner loads, resulting in a high CLS score.
Cumulative Layout Shift alongside Largest Contentful Paint and First Input Delay is part of Google’s Core Web Vitals. The search engine’s web crawlers will measure CLS on every indexed page.
What Causes CLS?
These shifts happen when the content loads at varying speeds. It results in layout changes, altering the viewer’s content. Some examples include:
- Slow-loading advertisements
- Unexpected videos
- Dynamically added DOM elements
It’s hard to determine when users experience CLS. After all, not all devices behave in the same manner. If you load the website using a development environment, every element may load locally.
Also, personalized web content due to cookies will differ, depending on the visitor’s location. Mobile users are especially susceptible to shifts since they have small screens.
What’s The Importance of CLS?
CLS is vital to understand since it affects your visitor experience and search engine rankings. Often, visitors have higher expectations of your website performance. If your website has a jumpy loading or unexpected behaviors, expect visitors to leave.
Align your website with the best CLS practices to rank higher. After all, Google will promote your website if it performs well. Consider these SEO trends to make a foolproof SEO digital marketing plan.
How To Improve Your CLS Score
Most SEO tips focus on marketing businesses online, but never the customer experience. Best practices for improving your CLS score prioritize the visitors. Here are some:
Use A Content Management System (CMS)
Consider using a CMS with a Google Lighthouse integration. If it lacks this feature, look for one with diagnostic tools instead. It allows you to discover issues before launching your website.
Specify Size Attributes For Visual Elements
Your media should have set heights and widths. Never let them load without these attributes. Otherwise, your browser won’t know how much space to allocate before the image loads.
Understand Ad Influence Over Your Layout
The good news is Google Publisher Tag offers a comprehensive guide on reserving ad space. Load the new content below the viewport to maximize your SEO marketing efforts. It prevents the pages from shifting as the users view your pages.
Learn More Marketing Tips Now
These are some facts to know about the cumulative layout shift. Use these to ensure your website layout isn’t jarring to visitors. Otherwise, it causes them to leave, thinking your website broke.
However, optimizing your CLS score is only the beginning. Consider learning other SEO tips to make the most out of your investment.
Did you find this guide helpful? If so, read our other posts for more.
