This issue’s Back to Basics explores how publishers can boost conversions by improving CWV on their article pages.

Also in this issue:

🔴 YouTube wants what TikTok’s got: a piece of the social commerce pie 

🔴 Gannett shuts down its product review website amid AI controversy and traffic troubles

YouTube wants what TikTok’s got: a piece of the social commerce pie

YouTube is expanding its partnership with Shopify, countering TikTok Shop's growing influence in the social commerce space. YouTube is allowing creators to earn money when their viewers make purchases from thousands of Shopify brands. This is opening the floodgates; where before, only a few hundred shops could be monetized this way by creators, now all eligible Shopify Plus and Advanced merchants in the US to join the fold. The strategy offers creators more ways to monetize while helping brands reach new customers.

The timing isn’t accidental. TikTok is making aggressive moves to grow its TikTok Shop business, targeting a tenfold increase in merchandise volume to $17.5 billion in 2024. While it’s new to the US e-commerce scene, TikTok’s rapid merchant onboarding and low commission rates (still undercutting Amazon's fees in most areas, despite a recent hike) signal a clear ambition to disrupt the market.

YouTube’s expansion is more than a response to TikTok—it's a way to diversify revenue streams against a potential slowdown in digital advertising and offer financial incentives for creators to peddle products. The platform has reported that more than 30 billion hours of shopping-related videos were watched in 2023; watch time for shopping videos increased 25% in the same period.

In addition to this most recent update, YouTube has also introduced new tools, like a Chrome extension that helps creators easily tag affiliate products.

Gannett shuts down its product review site amid AI controversy and traffic troubles for similar brands

Gannett has decided to shut down its product review site, Reviewed, after employees accused it of publishing product reviews generated by artificial intelligence (AI). Back in October 2023, Reviewed’s staff noticed that several reviews were written in a suspicious, mechanical style and attributed to authors who had no verifiable presence on professional networks like LinkedIn. 

The controversy surged when it became clear that AdVon Commerce was responsible for creating some of the site's content. AdVon is the same marketing company involved in the much-publicized Sports Illustrated scandal, where AI-generated content was published under fabricated authors, complete with fake headshots. 

The decision might also be tied to the Google algorithm changes that have forced digital publishers of all sizes to grapple with shriveling search engine traffic—particularly for product review content that once drove massive figures in affiliate earnings.

Back to Basics #6: How to boost Core Web Vitals and improve reader engagement on your most important pages

Website performance is important to user experience and SEO. Google “highly recommends” businesses make sure their websites pass web experience metrics known as Core Web Vitals in order to be successful in search. Still, considering the weight of programmatic advertising and other third-party scripts, many publishers have slow websites that are losing out on revenue-earning conversions like affiliate clicks, email sign-ups, and membership onboarding.

A recent test by The Financial Times found that slowing down their website by just 1 second caused a 4.9% drop in article views. A 3-second delay sunk article views by 7.2%.  

Below are three strategies for improving Core Web Vitals and page performance. Need help with the technical work? Refact has a team of engineers and designers who are experts at improving site speed. Let’s chat about how we can help. 

But First: What are Core Web Vitals?

Core Web Vitals are a set of metrics Google relies on to measure the user experience of a webpage. These metrics focus on three main areas: load speed, interactivity, and visual stability. Each one helps paint a picture of how a page performs in the real world on both desktop and mobile. If your pages are slow to load, hard to interact with or have elements that shift around, users are more likely to bounce—hurting a site’s engagement and bottom line.

There are three major Core Web Vitals

• Largest Contentful Paint (LCP): This measures how long it takes for the main content of a page to load. For a good experience, aim for 2.5 seconds or less.

• Interaction to Next Paint (INP): This checks how quickly a page responds to user actions like clicks or scrolling. You want it to be under 200 milliseconds so users don’t get frustrated.

• Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS): This looks at how stable a page is while loading. A score of 0.1 or lower means your content isn’t jumping around as elements like ads load onto the page, which keeps users reading.

Need help reaching these thresholds? Contact Refact for help.

Why Core Web Vitals Matter

These metrics are especially important for mobile users who have slower internet connections and less powerful devices. If your mobile pages load quickly, respond fast, and stay stable, visitors are more likely to stick around, read more, and take actions like subscribing or making a purchase. Plus, it seems likely Google is more likely to prioritize your pages over those of a slower competitor.

Some websites are doing a great job at this. The Colorado Sun, for example, has optimized their images and scripts to ensure fast load times, even on slower mobile networks. This approach keeps users engaged with in-depth content (like this piece on Colorado companies making recycling more effective).

Strategy 1: Optimize Images and Videos for Faster Loading Times

The first step to improving CWVs on mobile is optimizing the size and format of images and videos, which are often the main culprits behind slow load times (and failing LCP scores). Compressing images without sacrificing quality, using next-gen formats like WebP, and deferring offscreen images can significantly reduce load times. Additionally, lazy loading images and videos ensures they only load when they are about to be viewed, reducing the initial load burden.

Sites like Treehugger have tackled this by using "lazy loading," which means only loading images and videos as they come into view. This trick speeds up the initial page load, as seen in their article about getting kids off screens during the summer.

Strategy 2: Reduce JavaScript and CSS 

Excessive JavaScript can delay the time it takes for a page to become interactive (which causes INP scores to plummet). Reducing the amount of JavaScript or deferring non-essential scripts can enhance performance. Here are some ways to do that:

• Minify your JS and CSS files to reduce their size while keeping the functionality.

• Prioritize scripts needed for initial content and load the others asynchronously to improve user experience.

• Analyze your JS bundle to discover and remove unused code and unnecessary libraries that can pile up when using registries like npm.

Strategy 3: Stabilize Layouts

No one likes when a page suddenly shifts around as it loads. It makes an article impossible to read and can make people leave your site even if the content is stellar. To avoid this, make sure all your media elements have set sizes and load ads in a way that doesn't cause shifts. For example, a site can reserve space for ads using fixed-size containers. Now, even if the ad loads later, it won’t push the content around when the assets finally pop in.

For ads placed below the fold, there’s the option to use lazy loading—this way, ads only load as users scroll down, which prevents sudden shifts. It also improves initial load speed.

Also, be sure that ads refresh without refreshing the entire page. This is especially useful for content-heavy pages where users spend more time.

Bonus Tip: Regular Performance Checks

Finally, don’t forget to regularly check how your pages are performing. Free tools like Google PageSpeed Insights and the Chrome UX (CrUX) dashboard offer detailed insights on how your website is performing. CrUX may not be as famous as PageSpeed Insights, but it provides a history of your site’s CWV metrics, a considerable benefit if you have not been keeping records.

By focusing on these basics, you can make sure your site is ready to meet the needs of today’s mobile-first audience and turn those visits into loyal followers or customers.

Sites who do it well:

The Colorado Sun 

Treehugger

Prof Galloway

Take a moment to evaluate your website's Core Web Vitals and see how optimizing for mobile can enhance your reader's experience and boost conversions. Fast-loading pages, smooth interactions, and stable layouts are essential for keeping your audience engaged and growing your conversion rates. 

Ready to improve your site’s performance even more? Let’s discuss how we can help elevate your digital presence in the news and media landscape.