In today’s digital world, ensuring your website loads quickly is critical for providing a smooth user experience and improving search engine rankings. Google has made website performance, particularly page load speed, a significant factor in its ranking algorithm. One of the important aspects of user experience (UX) that Google closely monitors is layout shifts. These shifts can lead to frustrating user interactions, such as when a page suddenly changes its content position while it’s being loaded. In this article, we will explore what large layout shifts are, why they matter, and how to avoid them to improve both your page speed and user satisfaction.
What is Google Page Speed?
Google Page Speed refers to the time it takes for a web page to fully load and become interactive. Page speed is an essential element of a good user experience and affects a website’s search engine ranking. Websites that load slowly tend to have higher bounce rates, meaning visitors leave before they even interact with the page. Google uses several factors to assess page speed, including First Contentful Paint (FCP), Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), and Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS).
What are Large Layout Shifts?
A layout shift occurs when visible elements on a webpage move around unexpectedly while the page is loading. For example, you might click a link or button, only for the content to jump around when the page finishes loading. This happens when images, fonts, or other content load in a way that causes the layout to adjust after the initial page rendering.
Large layout shifts can lead to poor user experience because users may click on the wrong link or button, or they may feel disoriented by the sudden movement of elements. To quantify layout shifts, Google uses the metric Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS), which measures the total sum of all individual shifts that occur during the page load process. The lower the CLS score, the better the page is at avoiding layout shifts, and the better the user experience.
Why is Avoiding Layout Shifts Important?
- User Experience: Large layout shifts make a website feel unpolished and frustrating. Users who experience layout shifts are more likely to abandon a page or have a negative impression of your site. A page that loads without unexpected shifts creates a more pleasant, predictable experience.
- Search Engine Ranking: Google uses CLS as part of its Core Web Vitals, a set of metrics that measure the quality of a user’s experience on a page. A low CLS score signals a better UX, which can improve your search engine rankings.
- Conversion Rates: If users are confused or frustrated by layout shifts, they are less likely to complete actions on your site, such as making a purchase or filling out a contact form. Reducing layout shifts can improve conversion rates.
How to Avoid Large Layout Shifts
Now that we understand why avoiding large layout shifts is essential, let’s look at some strategies to ensure a smooth loading experience for your website visitors.
1. Reserve Space for Images and Media
One of the most common causes of layout shifts is images or other media elements (like ads or videos) that load without reserved space. When an image or video file is being loaded, the browser doesn’t know its dimensions until the file is fully downloaded. As a result, the layout shifts when the image or video is finally rendered.
Solution: Always define width and height for images, videos, and other media in your HTML or CSS. This allows the browser to allocate the appropriate space for these elements before they load.
For example:
htmlCopyEdit<img src="image.jpg" width="500" height="300" alt="Example Image">
2. Use Font Loading Strategies
Web fonts can also cause layout shifts, especially if they are slow to load. If a page initially renders text with a fallback font and then switches to the intended font once it has loaded, the text may shift as the fonts change.
Solution: Use font-display: swap in your CSS to ensure that text is displayed with a fallback font until the custom font loads. This prevents text from jumping around when the font is applied.
Example:
cssCopyEdit@font-face {
font-family: 'CustomFont';
src: url('customfont.woff2') format('woff2');
font-display: swap;
}
3. Avoid Inline Dynamic Content Insertion
Sometimes, dynamic content such as advertisements, comment sections, or social media feeds are injected into a webpage after the initial page load. This can cause content to move around as these elements are added.
Solution: Place dynamically injected content in a container with a set size or use placeholders that approximate the size of the final content. By doing this, you can prevent the page layout from shifting unexpectedly.
4. Prevent Layout Shifts from Ads
Ads are another frequent culprit behind layout shifts. When ads are loaded or resized, they can push the main content down or cause other elements to move.
Solution: Use reserved spaces for ads by defining a fixed size for ad slots, or use responsive ads that adjust dynamically to different screen sizes but have set minimum sizes to avoid causing layout shifts.
5. Optimize CSS and JavaScript
Poorly optimized CSS and JavaScript can delay the rendering of a page, leading to layout shifts. For example, if the page layout relies on JavaScript to position elements and that script hasn’t run yet, the layout may shift as the script is executed.
Solution: Minimize and defer non-essential CSS and JavaScript. By prioritizing critical resources and deferring others, you ensure the page loads in a predictable and stable manner.
6. Use transform Instead of top or left for Animations
When animating elements, avoid using properties like top, left, width, or height because these can trigger layout recalculations, causing shifts. Instead, use transform for animations, which doesn’t affect the layout of the page.
Solution: Use the transform property for smoother, non-destructive animations.
Example:
cssCopyEdit.element {
transition: transform 0.3s ease-in-out;
}
.element:hover {
transform: translateY(-10px);
}
Conclusion
Incorporating strategies to reduce layout shifts will not only improve your website’s Google Page Speed performance but will also enhance user experience, increase user retention, and boost conversion rates. By taking proactive steps like defining image sizes, optimising fonts, and carefully managing dynamic content, you can ensure that your page remains stable and user-friendly throughout the loading process. With Google’s emphasis on Core Web Vitals, focusing on these aspects is more important than ever to maintain high rankings in search results and deliver a superior experience to your users.