Google has recently announced an update regarding the addition of the INP (Interaction to Next Paint) metric in the Google Search Console reporting starting from March 2024. This update will replace the FID (First Input Delay) metric in core web vitals. From 2024 onwards, it will be essential to maintain a required INP score, as it’s necessary to regularly check and optimize the INP score to ensure good website performance.
This blog will cover all the essential aspects of INP, including its definition, measurement, significance, differentiation from FID (First Input Delay), its impact on website SEO, and strategies to improve INP scores.
Let’s dive deeper into this important performance metric to gain a comprehensive understanding.
Understanding INP:
Let’s start by providing an introduction about INP that includes what exactly INP is and why does it matter?
INP, which stands for Interaction of Next Paint, is a newly introduced metric in Core Web Vitals. It serves the purpose of measuring the overall delay in user interaction on a website page. INP provides a representation of the time it takes for a user to engage with the entire page.
This metric specifically focuses on measuring the duration of the longest single interaction that occurs when a user visits a page. For instance, if a page has a total of 50 interactions, the INP measurement would reflect the delay associated with the most time-consuming interaction.
Mechanics of INP:
Next, if we talk about the mechanics of INP, here we’ll discuss how interaction to next paint works & what the main elements considered for measuring it are.
So, JavaScript is the main element of any interaction made on a webpage. There may be other types of interactions, such as through radio buttons, check boxes, the HTML <details> element, and many more.
However, we can take the following different types of interaction to consider for INP:
- A mouse clicks or scrolls an interactive element.
- A tap of an interactive element on any device, such as a touchscreen.
- A key press on a physical or onscreen keyboard.
A Good INP Value:
Now, we’ll explain what is a good INP score & discuss the importance of a positive score.
According to Google’s web.dev documentation, a good INP score is around 200 milliseconds or less. Otherwise, it can vary from 200 milliseconds to 500 milliseconds.
Further, it states the following specifications related to INP value:
If INP <= 200 milliseconds, it means that your page has Good responsiveness.
If INP >200 milliseconds & <=500 milliseconds, it means that your page’s responsiveness Needs Improvement.
If INP >500 milliseconds, it means that your page has Poor responsiveness.
Additionally, it was added by Google that the INP score is still under experiment & the recommended guidance regarding this metric is likely to change.
Distinguishing INP from First Input Delay:
Next, let’s discuss some key differences between FID and its replacement, INP. Here we go:
There is one major difference between FID and INP. FID only takes the first interaction on the page into consideration when assigning its value. On the other hand, INP considers all interactions on the page to calculate its score.
Therefore, FID only counts the input delay metric and does not consider other event handlers or the time they take to process. It also does not account for any delays in displaying the next frame of the interaction. However, INP evaluates all these aspects.
Measuring INP:
If we’re discussing the measurement of INP, there are primarily two methods for evaluating Interaction to Next Paint.
Field Data: Field data refers to realistic data collected based on the actual experiences of users while interacting with a web page. Field data, also known as “Real User Monitoring” (RUM), provides not only the INP value of a page but also contextual data. It highlights the specific interaction that contributed to the INP value itself.
Lab Data: Lab data does not rely on the complete interaction of the page. Instead, it typically involves using manual inputs to calculate outputs for various tasks being performed. In the absence of field data, there are strategies for reproducing interactions in the lab using a predefined set of conditions.
INP’s Impact on Website SEO:
Now, let’s discuss the impact of INP on a website’s SEO and why it matters for better website performance.
Core Web Vitals is not a direct ranking signal, and it doesn’t directly affect a website’s SEO. However, it is a way to understand whether you are providing a good page experience.
Improving INP doesn’t directly boost your website’s SEO success, but it is one element among many that may need to be optimized as part of a set of quality changes. Maintaining a favorable INP score can make a significant difference in your overall SEO performance.
Therefore, it is important to have a solid plan for implementing the best SEO strategy to achieve the desired INP score.
Improving Your INP Values:
Here, we will discuss the top 7 strategies to enhance our INP value for better website performance:
1. Proper Planning:
It is crucial to work according to a well-defined plan during the website’s design and development. Ensuring the proper positioning and interlinking of all interactive elements on the website is important.
2. Remove Unused JS & CSS:
Unused JS and CSS files are downloaded and executed by browsers, even though they are not used on the website. Since JavaScript and CSS directly impact the INP score, it is necessary to remove unused JS and CSS files to improve the loading speed of the website.
3. Minimize JS & CSS:
Every interactive element utilizes JS and CSS, which are considered by the browser’s main thread. Minimizing the JavaScript and CSS code helps increase the browsing speed of the website.
4. Use Caching Plugin:
Caching plugins are essential as they allow visitors to access previously downloaded web pages, saving time and improving site performance. Without caching, visitors would need to download web pages every time they visit the website, resulting in slower performance.
5. Use CDN:
A Content Delivery Network (CDN) is a valuable tool for improving site loading speed. CDNs reduce data transfer between the CDN’s cache servers and the client, resulting in faster page load times. Additionally, CDNs add a layer of security, enhance website uptime, and improve reliability.
6. Optimize Images:
Large-sized images significantly impact page speed as they take longer to load. It is important always to use compressed images on the website or properly optimize them to reduce their size and improve overall performance.
7. Reduce Third-Party Code:
Third-party code refers to code hosted by other websites and used on your own website, such as embedded YouTube videos or Google Maps. These third-party codes can affect the speed of your website, so it is advisable to minimize their usage.
By executing all these strategies, you can enhance your INP value and improve the performance of your website.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the introduction of the INP (Interaction to Next Paint) metric in Google Search Console reporting marks a significant shift in measuring website performance. Starting from March 2024, INP will replace the FID (First Input Delay) metric in core web vitals. It is crucial for website owners and developers to familiarize themselves with INP and its implications.
Maintaining a good INP score will be essential for ensuring optimal website performance and improving SEO rankings. By regularly monitoring and optimizing the INP score, website owners can enhance user experience, minimize input delays, and ultimately drive better engagement. They can embrace various strategies to improve INP scores to stay ahead in the evolving landscape of web performance.
INP Core Web Vitals is a new way for Google to measure how well a website responds to your actions. It’s like checking how quickly a webpage reacts when you click, tap, or type on it. This helps determine if a website is user-friendly or not.
INP measures how fast a webpage responds to your actions while you’re using it. It looks at how long it takes for a webpage to show any changes after you click, tap, or type something.
Google will replace First Input Delay (FID) with INP as a way to measure website performance in March 2024. It’s an important part of how Google decides which websites are more helpful and should be ranked higher in search results.
The main difference between FID and INP is what they measure. FID only looks at the delay when you first interact with a webpage, while INP considers the delays for all your interactions throughout your time on the webpage.
From March 2024, INP will be used by Google to determine how well a website performs. If a website has a high INP score (meaning it takes a long time to respond), it can affect its ranking in search results. So, having a low INP score is important for a website to be successful in search engine optimization (SEO) and get more visibility.
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