First Input Delay: What It Is and Its Importance for SEO

As a website owner, you need to know what First Input Delay (FID) is to measure how effective SEO performance is and how to improve it.

These metrics can tell website managers about the page response speed in the eyes of users.

To understand what First Input Delay is comprehensively, let's take a look at this guide.

What is the First Input Delay?

 First Input Delay (FID) is a metric to measure website performance based on user interaction response time on a page.

FID is also known as input latency, which is the time between when a user interacts with a website page and when it finally responds.

The time it takes between the first interaction and the response of a web page can be seen in various activities, such as clicking a button or typing in a text field.

The faster the website page responds to user interaction, the better the website's user experience score.

FID can be said to be a benchmark for user experience because it can influence user decisions when conducting browsing activities on a website.

The scrolling or zooming of website pages does not count as user interaction with the page because it does not require a further response from the website itself.

Please note that this input latency score can affect a website's ranking on the SERP. Therefore, FID is one of the metrics that web developers need to pay attention to when optimizing the performance of a website.

What Causes the First Input Delay

In general, First Input Delay occurs when several elements on a page are loaded simultaneously without waiting for a website visitor's request.

Coding some of these erratic elements causes the page to download massively, then stop, and then resume again.

This can make visitors try to interact with the page endlessly and repeatedly.

According to Google, one of the reasons why website page responsiveness is slow is that the browser's main thread is busy doing something other than loading the elements on the page.

These other activities make the browser unable to respond back to user requests.

Generally, this issue is caused by the large size of the JavaScript file that needs to be loaded by the browser so that user interaction is not responded to.

How to Check the First Input Delay Score

Now that you understand what First Input Delay is, it's important to know how to view the score.

A website's FID score can tell you the speed of response to user interactions and increase it if needed.

This input latency can only be measured based on the website's real interaction with the user. Therefore, the score is an important consideration in SEO planning.

There are several ways to see the score by using the following tools:

Google Search Console

Web administrators may be familiar with this tool. Google Search Console (GSC) can provide reports based on field data, including URL status and metric types.

To be more precise, the FID score can be seen in the Core Web Vitals section. However, keep in mind that the data reports from this tool are only for indexed URLs.

You can view this Core Web Vitals report in the "Enhancements" section of the Google Search Console navigation pane.

These reports can help you monitor website performance and fix issues affecting the user experience.

Page Speed Insights

Another way to view FID scores is to use Page Speed Insights. With this tool, web managers or web developers can comprehensively check website performance.

The data in this tool is divided based on the type of device: desktop and mobile. From the report provided by Page Speed Insights, you can identify latency issues on web pages.

The report obtained from Page Speed Insights includes ways to reduce server response time and JavaScript execution to help improve the FID score.

Lighthouse

Seeing the First Input Delay score can also be done in a tool provided by Google called Lighthouse. Here's how to use it:

1. Open the website you want to analyze in Google Chrome.
2. Open Developer Tools by pressing the F12 key on your keyboard or by right-clicking on the page and selecting "Inspect".
3. In the Developer Tools window, select the "Lighthouse" tab at the top.
4. Click the "Analyze page load" button to start the audit.
5. After that, check the Lighthouse report to see the First Input Delay score and the factors that affect it.

The FID score will appear in the "Performance" section of the Lighthouse report. If the score is low, it will show suggestions for improving your website's performance and ways to reduce input latency.

The Importance of First Input Delay for SEO

The score measurement is based on the website's response to user interaction affecting SEO performance. The following is a brief explanation of the importance of the FID score for website optimization activities:

Impact on User Experience

First Input Delay is an important factor that needs to be considered by web developers because this metric affects the user experience.

When the latency is high, it means that the response time to user interaction is slow.

This can make users leave the website in a relatively short time and can worsen the bounce rate.

Ranking Factors on Google

According to Google, websites that have an FID of less than 100 milliseconds are considered good. Conversely, websites with an FID of more than 300 milliseconds are rated as bad.

So it can be concluded that the lower the FID of a website, the better the value of its user experience.

This FID is one of the scoring factors in the Core Web Vitals algorithm. This input latency score is a key factor in determining a website's ranking on Google.

By improving your FID score, you can help increase your website's ranking in the SERPs and automatically increase your website's organic traffic.

How to Improve First Input Delay?

Here are some ways to improve the First Input Delay that you can apply:

1. Server Optimization

Make sure the website hosting server has optimal performance. You can check whether the hosting service is of good quality and can meet the website's needs.

Therefore, choose a fast server to be able to help speed up the server's response time to user requests.

2. File Compression and Optimization

Using files such as images, videos, and large JavaScript scripts on a page can slow down website response times and affect FID.

For that, you can optimize these files by compressing and reducing their size. On the other hand, avoid using heavy JavaScript scripts.

3. Prioritize Content Above the Fold

Content that appears above the fold of the website needs to be loaded first so that the website's response to user interaction does not take long.

Therefore, make sure the content above the fold has a small file size so as not to cause a delay in the input of the elements on the page as a whole.

The priority of this above-the-fold content is based on the importance of the user's first impression of the content, which can be calculated using the First Contentful Paint (FCP) metric.

Here, FCP can tell you how well the user's impression is based on the interactivity and responsiveness of the website.

4. Use the Preloading Technique

Preloading is a technique that allows a website to load and save some resources before the page is fully loaded.

Thus, when a user requests the desired content, the required resources are already available, so they don't have to wait long for it to be loaded in its entirety.

5. Avoid Using Blocking JavaScript

The use of blocking JavaScript can cause website pages to become unresponsive.

These issues can affect the FID score, which causes a worsening of the user experience. Therefore, make sure the JavaScript used on the website does not hinder browser performance and does not block user interaction.

Thus, the guide about First Input Delay and how important this metric is for SEO. In order to maintain website performance, make sure to make pages easily accessible to users in a short time.

To improve website performance on the SERP, you can use SEO services from the experts in their fields. With the help of an SEO specialist, your website can be evaluated and assisted to achieve optimal performance.