Skip to Content

Core Web Vitals with Trellis

Everything you need to know about passing Core Web Vitals while using the Trellis Theme.

Is Trellis Improving my Core Web Vitals?

Curious if Trellis is working as expected on your site?

You’ll want to ensure that the following Optimizations are running to get the best results with Trellis for your Page Speed and Core Web Vitals.

  1. Is Critical CSS running on my posts that are failing Core Web Vitals? Navigate to a post that is failing Core Web Vitals while logged into your WordPress Dashboard then check out this article to find out if Critical CSS is working and troubleshooting tips.
  2. Do I have Trellis Images installed and is it converting my images to WebP? Check out this article to learn about the Trellis Images plugin.
  3. Am I using a Web Safe font, or if I’m not then do I have the Optimize font for CLS setting enabled? Check out this help article on Web Safe fonts, or Check out this one for Custom Fonts.
  4. Have I enabled Featured Images on posts? If you have enabled Featured Images on posts, check out this article to see how you can improve your LCP score on mobile while utilizing this setting.
  5. Do I have an efficient caching solution? Check with your host to find out if your caching plugin is right for your server and ask them about optimizing your server for page speed. We do not recommend using more than one caching plugin or solution.
  6. For Mediavine Publishers: If you are a Trellis user, your Ads are optimized for Page Speed and CLS automatically 🎉. No settings need to be adjusted for you to enjoy this feature.

Understanding Core Web Vitals

You’ve installed Trellis, so you’re well on your way to passing all elements of Google’s Core Web Vitals (CVW). However, there can be a number of factors that can cause you to not pass CWV outside of the Trellis Theme.

Core Web Vitals are a set of page experience criteria that are a part of Google’s ranking algorithm starting in June 2021.

The main components are:

  • Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) When does the main content element of the page become visible to users.
  • First Input Delay (FID) How long does it take for your page to become usable to a page visitor?
  • Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) Does your content shift as the page loads or as the user scrolls?

Learn more about Core Web Vitals

Measuring Tools

We suggest running a few of your top posts through Google’s own Page Speed Insights tool. It’s important to know where to look and what you’re looking for. There are two measuring tools on Page Speed Insights for Core Web Vitals, the Field Data and the Lab Data.

  • Lab Data is real-time data based on pre-defined network conditions in a controlled environment. In other words, Lab Data is good for debugging, but might not always accurately reflect real-time user experience.
  • The Field Data is aggregate data collected over a 28 day period in various network conditions.
    • Since the Field Data is an average of 28 days of data, you can expect the field data metric to improve week by week if you resolve an issue with your Core Web Vitals.
    • Using the Core Web Vitals extension is the best bet to confirm or deny issues that may end up in the Field Data Metric.

How to Troubleshoot Core Web Vitals

If you have determined that your Trellis optimizations are running correctly, you may want to troubleshoot speed issues with Plugins or Third Party scripts. We recommend doing a plugin audit, which can improve page speed and Core Web Vitals.

Lab Data Metric:

****If your Core Web Vitals aren’t passing the Lab Data metric, you can scroll down under the Lab Metric scores and choose the tab of the audit relevant to the failing metric, such as LCP, or CLS.

Under the Diagnostics heading, you will see what elements are contributing directly to a specific Core Web Vital failing.

Note: Where Google measures the CLS & LCP Metrics using both the Lab Data and Field data, FID is measured only in the Field but the corresponding Lab Metric is TBT (Total Blocking Time).

What about the errors in my Google Search Console?

Google Search Console (GSC) will use the Field Data measurement tool to alert you of issues with your CWV. If you are sure you have resolved the issue with your CWV, then you can initiate the Validate Fix button in GSC. It can take up to 28 days after validating the fix to see if the issue has been completely resolved.

I’ve done everything suggested and my Lab Data is not passing CWV.

If your Core Web Vitals aren’t passing in the Lab Data metric, you can scroll down in the PSI report above the “Opportunities” heading and filter the data to see what items are affecting various metrics:

Field Data Metric:

To troubleshoot issues in this metric you’ll want to use the Core Web Vitals extension. This extension will point out issues above and below the fold where the Page Speed Insight Report may not.

💡 **What about the errors in my Google Search Console?

Google Search Console (GSC) will use the Field Data** measurement tool to alert you of issues with your Core Web Vitals. If you are sure you have resolved the issue with your Core Web Vitals, then you can initiate the Validate Fix button in GSC. It can take 14 to 28 days after validating the fix to see if the issue has been completely resolved.