Google Core Web Vitals To Get Interaction to Next Paint On March 12

Google has announced that March 12, 2024 will be the official date for when Interaction to Next Paint (INP) will replace First Input Delay (FID) as a Core Web Vital metric. We knew it was coming in March but we didn’t have the specific date until now.

Google wrote:

We’re announcing that INP will officially become a Core Web Vital and replace FID on March 12 of this year, and that FID will be deprecated in this transition. It’s worth repeating that INP will officially become a Core Web Vital and replace FID on March 12 of this year. Another outcome of this is that FID will no longer be a Core Web Vital, and will be officially deprecated and removed from the program.

Here is the revised timeline from Google:

Google has been talking about this happening since early 2022, so it is a long time coming. More on INP can be found here and how to optimize for it can be found here.

There are reports in Search Console for INP – so check those out if you have not done so already. Last July Google did send out notices about INP issues through Search Console.

Just a reminder, fixing INP issues won’t make for visibility changes in Google Search. Just keep in mind, page experience is not a system, but rather a good page experience is part of the overall core ranking system. “Good stats within the Core Web Vitals report in Search Console or third-party Core Web Vitals reports don’t guarantee good rankings,” Splitt wrote.

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