Definition of INP and SEO: Understanding the role of Input Delay in SEO

What is the INP and how does it relate to SEO?

L'INP, or Input Delay, refers to the time taken for a page to react after user interaction..

Based on the principle that visitors need an optimal experience to increase their satisfaction, Google has developed metrics based on theuser experience to assess the quality of a website.

One of these metrics is Input Delay, which measures the delay before the action taken by a web user is effective on the web page in question.

The relationship between the INP and SEO is closely linked to the growing interest shown by search engines in the technical aspects of websites.

That's right, optimising a page's response speed can have a direct impact on a site's ranking in search engine resultsThis is particularly important because it improves users' perception of the overall quality of the platform.

How can NPI be measured and acted upon?

To optimise the natural referencing of your website, it is essential to know the Input Delay values in order to identify the pages that could penalise your ranking in the SERPs (search engine results pages).

You can use the following tools to measure this data:

• Lighthouse This performance audit developed by Google allows you to measure Input Delay, as well as all the other metrics associated with Core Web Vitals.
  
  
• PageSpeed Insights Another tool offered by Google, which provides detailed information on the time it takes to interact with a site and suggests ways of improving it.

Once you have obtained the data relating to your NPI, it is essential to work on improving the performance of your web pages.

The aim is to achieve an Input Delay value of less than 100 ms, which corresponds to a user experience considered to be excellent in terms of responsiveness.

Optimising JavaScript code

The main culprit for delays in interaction is generally the code. JavaScript present on your site.

To reduce the NPI, we need to work on this specific point. Here are some approaches to consider:

1. 1. Minifying and compressing JavaScript code This step reduces the size of the files, making them easier for the browser to process and improving overall loading speed.
      
      
   2. Delete unnecessary or obsolete code Some JavaScript scripts can be completely useless for your visitors. It is therefore advisable to spot them and eliminate them as quickly as possible.
      
      
   3. Moving towards asynchronous loading This allows several scripts to be run in parallel without blocking the rendering of the page.

Using a cache

Another way of improving the INP is tooptimise your website cache management.

Caches are used to temporarily store useful items such as CSSJavaScript and images.

This means that when a user returns to a page that has already been visited, these elements can be used directly, greatly reducing loading times.

Best practice for maintaining an optimised INP

In addition to the technical solutions described above, it is also important to put in place and follow certain best practices to ensure a quality user experience and maintain good SEO:

• Promote high-performance Web technologies (HTML5, AMP).
• Prioritise the use of regularly updated measurement tools tailored to your website (such as Google Analytics to monitor the results of SEO actions).
• Set up regular monitoring of your website's performance (speed and user experience) so that any shortcomings can be quickly rectified.

Provisional conclusion: the growing importance of INP in SEO

If you want to position yourself favourably in the search engine results pages, it's no longer enough to focus solely on the quality of your content and a coherent keyword strategy.

It is now crucial to pay particular attention to technical aspects such as input delay.

Optimising this metric will ensure a satisfactory user experience and increase the chances of your website gaining visibility in the long term.