I asked ChatGPT to improve our website's Core Web Vitals. Here's what happened next.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock like Patrick Star, you’ve probably heard about ChatGPT.

Everyone’s been buzzing about it and for good reason. It’s a cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI) tool that can be a virtual assistant, answer specific questions, create content, and so much more.  

I could even prompt ChatGPT to Write a blog post about improving my website’s Core Web Vitals and the revenue and business outcomes of having better CWV scores.

Which is exactly what I did to try out ChatGPT.

And no, it’s not the blog post you’re reading right now.

As a human content creator who gets paid for it, I have mixed feelings about AI to generate content. Plus, search engines can penalize your website for blatantly using AI-written content.

But there’s one snippet directly from the blog post authored by ChatGPT that I wanted to share:

“Website optimization tools like Blue Triangle can help you identify performance issues and optimize your website’s Core Web Vitals. These tools use real-time monitoring and analytics to provide insights into your website’s performance and suggest optimizations to improve your scores.”

Agreed, ChatGPT! 

Anyway, I wanted to see if this exciting new technology could help improve our Core Web Vitals. So, here’s how that conversation went.

“Can you help me improve our site’s Core Web Vitals?”

“Of course!” replied ChatGPT.

It went on to say that Core Web Vitals (CWV) are an essential factor that affects the user experience and improving them can lead to better engagement and business outcomes.

ChatGPT also provided several tips to improve our site’s Core Web Vitals, such as compressing images, using a content delivery network (CDN), and optimizing JavaScript.

Although ChatGPT can be used to write code, when asked if it can optimize our site’s JavaScript to improve our CWV scores, it replied:

“As an AI Language model, I can provide you with general advice and best practices for optimizing JavaScript code, but I cannot directly optimize your website’s code for you.”

Those are all good, practical tips.

But if I don’t know what’s hurting our scores the most, then I don’t know where to begin or which suggestion to try out first.

So, I kept chatting with ChatGPT.

“How can we tell what’s causing poor Core Web Vital scores?”

ChatGPT suggested that we can use “various tools and techniques” to identify the factors that are causing poor CWV scores.

For example, it suggested using the Chrome User Experience Report (CrUX), which identifies what real users are experiencing, and then you can prioritize optimization efforts accordingly. However, CrUX data only looks at a subset of Chrome users and doesn’t capture the entire picture of all real-user website visitors.  

It also recommended using a website monitoring tool to test site performance and identify any issues that might be causing a CWV score to drop -emphasis on might.

There are two methods to monitor your site’s performance and several differences between synthetic and real user monitoring (RUM). However, there are still unanswered questions that monitoring or cloud observability tools alone can’t answer, like which friction points to prioritize or how to find the root cause of hidden friction.

ChatGPT also suggested getting feedback directly from site visitors via surveys or other feedback tools to gather insights into the issues users are experiencing to identify areas for improvement.

However, many people are not a fan of surveys because, well, taking surveys suck. They can be time consuming, boring, and after a while, all those “Your opinion is really important to us!” emails start to feel like spam.

And suppose you’re only relying on user-reported data. In that case, you’re being reactive to customer friction and not proactively pinpointing and resolving issues before it impacts the customer experience and, ultimately, your bottom line.

So, more or less (mostly less), ChatGPT offered a few ways we can check our Core Web Vitals. But I’m still left wondering with a few unanswered questions.

“When one of our CWV scores drops, how can we quickly determine what’s actually causing the problem and precisely how to fix it?”

Stating the obvious, ChatGPT replied:

“When one of your CWV scores drops, it’s important to quickly identify the cause of the problem and take steps to fix it.”

No sh-t, Sherlock!

It reiterated the previous steps it gave me to improve Core Web Vitals, such as using Google Lighthouse to evaluate and measure them.

However, when asked about limitations, ChatGPT noted that Google Lighthouse doesn’t cover all aspects of website performance. It uses synthetic testing on a single device and browser configuration, so it may not accurately reflect how all users experience a site in the real world.

Also, while Lighthouse can provide helpful recommendations, its advice is limited and may not always be applicable or feasible, plus it can require significant development work.

Interestingly, ChatGPT hinted at the importance of what we at Blue Triangle call Continuous Experience Optimization:

“It’s important to regularly review and update your website’s performance optimization strategies to keep up with changing user needs and technology.”

Next, I wanted to know if a certain CWV should be prioritize over others.

“Okay, so what CWV metric has the most significant impact on the user experience and business outcomes?”

At first, ChatGPT was diplomatic in saying that all three CWV metrics are essential for a good user experience, and prioritizing one over the other doesn’t mean neglecting the others.

However, focusing on the metric that has the most significant impact on the user experience or business outcomes can provide the most immediate benefit.

So, when pressed about what metric that is, ChatGPT said:

“In particular, a study by Google found that improving the LCP metric had the strongest correlation with improved business metrics. A fast LCP can help reduce bounce rates, increase engagement, and improve conversion rates, leading to increased revenue. Additionally, a fast LCP can help improve your website’s search engine ranking, which can also impact your revenue.”

A separate case study examining the impact of LCP found that product pages can see 40-50% lower conversion rates when comparing users that experience a 2-second LVP versus a 4 to 5-second LCP.

Kudos to ChatGPT on this insight!

“Can using Blue Triangle help me improve my site’s Core Web Vitals?”

“Yes!” replied ChatGPT.

Blue triangle allows you to “quickly identify performance issues and take corrective action to improve your Core Web Vitals.”

ChatGPT continues:

“Blue Triangle provides actionable insights into your website’s performance, including recommendations for improving your Core Web Vitals. These insights are based on real user data, allowing you to prioritize performance improvements with the greatest impact on your users.”

And since Blue Triangle integrates with other tools and platforms, it allows you to “get a more comprehensive view of your website’s performance and user behavior.”

Next, I asked a shameless question.

“So, would you recommend using Blue Triangle to help optimize my site’s Core Web Vitals?”

“As an AI language model, I cannot make recommendations,” says ChatGPT.

But it does admit, “Blue Triangle can be a valuable tool for optimizing your site’s Core Web Vitals.” However, the decision is yours based on several factors, including your site’s size, complexity, and performance optimization goals.

The Final Verdict

ChatGPT is quick, conversational, and feels like there could be another person on the other end responding to you.

But was it helpful for someone trying to improve their site’s Core Web Vitals?

Well, yes – and no.

It provided several valid reasons why a site’s CWV scores could drop and offered general guidelines and CWV optimization strategies.

The advice was helpful, but since ChatGPT cannot access specific website data or code, it can’t directly optimize your CWV scores.

And limiting its access to certain things is okay in my book, like the nation’s nuclear codes or tapping into human consciousness.

Even still, it's an incredible technology. But, if you want to have a profound impact on your user experience and Google search rankings, you must do the hard work to optimize your Core Web Vitals and not rely on ChatGPT for an easy fix.