User Friction & Site Performance Blog | Blue Triangle

Blue Triangle Now Offering INP support in Real User Monitoring

Written by Amir Rozenberg | Nov 1, 2023 7:10:24 PM

Since most users spend the majority of their time on a webpage after it loads, Google Core Web Vitals (CWV) will soon officially support Interaction to Next Paint (INP). Blue Triangle already does!

INP measures user interface (UI) responsiveness, such as how quickly the page responds to user interactions like a click. It reflects the longest interaction delay observed throughout a user's visit on a page.

While INP is a pending CWV (it will replace First Input Delay, also known as FID, in March 2024), Blue Triangle is already ahead of the game.

We are modernizing our tag technology to support INP, along with additional meaningful improvements. Customers can elect to leverage this technology now through the Blue Triangle customer enablement team.

Interaction to Next Paint (INP) vs. First Input Delay (FID).

It's essential to provide services and content to site visitors in a way that promotes a positive user experience and healthy CWV scores.

Google uses CWV to measure the experience users receive from your site. Scoring well will put a premium on your user experience, and Google also applies those metrics in its Search Engine Optimization (SEO) methodology.

Chrome usage data shows that 90% of a user's time on a page is spent after it loads. So, careful measurement of page responsiveness after it loads is critically important. That's what INP achieves by measuring the longest delay. Whereas FID only tracks the first interaction.

Blue Triangle support for INP and other tag improvements.

The Blue Triangle tag that is being released today includes support for INP.

Customers can switch their websites to use INP in browser Real User Monitoring (RUM) through their customer enablement team. Once INP formally replaces FID in Google’s CWV, Blue Triangle’s support for FID in the tag will sunset.

In addition, the new tag includes several timing improvements and customization options.

Here's what else you need to know.

  • Extending the operation duration of the BT tag: To capture the longest user interaction delay, the BT tag operation will extend until the user has transitioned from the page.
  • BT tag INP methodology vs. Google’s: BT INP values represent 100% of your real-user traffic, whereas Google’s CrUX report captures a subset of user experience data. Due to this, users should expect directional alignment with Google’s CrUX values but not a direct match.
  • INP operation in Single Page Applications (SPAs): Unlike other web pages, SPA navigations (called “soft navigations” or “virtual turns”) are not detected or differentiated in CrUX. Blue Triangle’s technology offers INP values for those ‘virtual turns,’ which follows the collection methodology Google recommends for RUM providers.

Why we're excited about today's product announcement. 

The new browser RUM tag offered by Blue Triangle is an optimized version of the tag that many have come to rely on for user experience and business data. By adopting the new tag, customers can access INP data and additional improvements to help deliver frictionless user experiences.

It's recommended to switch to this new tag at the earliest opportunity to enhance the user experience and future SEO outcomes now before Google officially includes INP in their user experience and search engine results methodology.