This Tuesday, Google will implement a change to the Core Web Vital metrics, replacing First Input Delay (FID) with Interaction to Next Paint (INP) as part of the Core Web Vitals assessment. On March 12, 2024, FID will no longer be used and INP will take its place.

The Core Web Vitals update is separate from the ongoing March 2024 Google Core update; these are unrelated changes.

The shift of INP replacing FID has been anticipated for some time, and Google provided advance notice, preparing us for the change that will occur this Tuesday.

What is Interaction to Next Paint?To recap, INP utilizes data from the Event Timing API and evaluates a webpage's responsiveness. According to Google, interactions that cause a page to become unresponsive lead to a poor user experience. INP measures the latency of all user interactions on a page and reports a single value representing the worst-case scenario across most interactions.

Google shared an example showing the difference between poor and good responsiveness:

On the left side, long tasks prevent the accordion from opening smoothly, leading the user to click multiple times. Once the main thread catches up, it processes the delayed inputs, causing unexpected behavior in the accordion's state.

What is changing?Starting March 12, 2024, Google will substitute FID with INP in the Core Web Vitals framework. The Search Console will incorporate INP into its Core Web Vitals report later this year, allowing site owners to begin tracking their new INP performance scores.

Why we care.Many SEO professionals have dedicated significant effort toward optimizing FID scores as part of Core Web Vitals. With this change, attention will now shift to INP. Google has published a guide detailing how to optimize for INP. Additionally, the company introduced early access to INP reports in Search Console last year, giving ample time to prepare.

Ultimately, I still advise not getting overly focused on these metrics. Google itself acknowledges that they are only one aspect of improving overall page experience.

It’s worth noting that the release of the March 2024 core update coincides with the rollout of this Core Web Vitals change, which may confuse many SEOs and website owners. If you observe a sudden drop in rankings over the next few weeks, it is likely due to the Core or Spam update—not the shift in Core Web Vitals.

In summary, when navigating your own website, you can often tell whether it feels responsive and fast without needing external tools. Build great experiences for your users, but don’t obsess over the scores. Keep an eye on your INP metric and decide if there are quick optimizations you'd like to make—or not.

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