May 2020: Core Web Vitals are announced by Google
Covers May 2020. Part of our search timeline: a month-by-month look at the changes that shaped SEO, AI search, paid ads and social media, written in November 2026 for local businesses with the benefit of hindsight.
Quick answer: Google revealed Core Web Vitals in May 2020: a group of measurements, taken from real visitors, covering how fast a page loads, how quickly it responds and how steady it stays while loading. Google said they would feed into its page experience ranking signals. They are still the usual yardstick for how pleasant a website is to use.
If you run a trades or local service business, your website often has one job: get someone to call or fill in a form, usually from a phone. Core Web Vitals gave everyone a shared way to measure whether a site makes that easy or frustrating.
What did Google announce in May 2020?
Google set out three metrics. Largest Contentful Paint measured loading, First Input Delay measured responsiveness, and Cumulative Layout Shift measured visual stability. Google also signalled that, at some later point, page experience signals would start counting towards rankings. That same month, the May 2020 core update rolled out too.
Why was this important for UK businesses?
Speed stopped being a nice extra and became something you could measure, with knock-on effects for both rankings and enquiries. UK businesses with bloated themes, cheap slow hosting or pages covered in pop-ups suddenly had a clear list of things to fix. The same metrics still appear in Search Console today.
What to check on your website now
- In Search Console, look at the Core Web Vitals report to find the pages that need work.
- Bear in mind that Interaction to Next Paint took over from First Input Delay in March 2024.
- Tackle the biggest problems first: huge image files, slow servers, and layouts that jump about as elements load late.
Frequently asked questions
Do Core Web Vitals have a big effect on rankings?
They are one signal out of many. Relevance and quality carry more weight, but good scores can help, particularly when the competing pages are much alike.
Where do I find my Core Web Vitals scores?
Search Console has a Core Web Vitals report, and PageSpeed Insights shows them too. Both use data from real Chrome users.
Sources and further reading
Want help with this? Speed and technical checks are part of our local SEO service. Get in touch.
More articles
February 2020: Chrome tightens SameSite cookie rules and tracking takes a hit
Chrome 80 changed cross-site cookie rules in February 2020 and some tracking broke. What happened and what it still teaches local firms about measurement.
November 2020: a launch date for page experience and a new Crawl Stats report
In November 2020 Google set a date for its page experience update and relaunched Crawl Stats in Search Console. How local firms can use both now.
June 2021: Google begins rolling out the page experience update
In June 2021 Google started rolling out page experience and Core Web Vitals as ranking signals, plus a core update. What it meant for trades.