Google has announced that March 12, 2024 will be the official date for when Interaction to Next Paint (INP) will replace First Input Delay (FID) as a Core Web Vital metric. We knew it was coming in March but we didn't have the specific date until now.
Google wrote:
We're announcing that INP will officially become a Core Web Vital and replace FID on March 12 of this year, and that FID will be deprecated in this transition. It's worth repeating that INP will officially become a Core Web Vital and replace FID on March 12 of this year. Another outcome of this is that FID will no longer be a Core Web Vital, and will be officially deprecated and removed from the program.
Here is the revised timeline from Google:
Google has been talking about this happening since early 2022, so it is a long time coming. More on INP can be found here and how to optimize for it can be found here.
There are reports in Search Console for INP - so check those out if you have not done so already. Last July Google did send out notices about INP issues through Search Console.
Just a reminder, fixing INP issues won't make for visibility changes in Google Search. Just keep in mind, page experience is not a system, but rather a good page experience is part of the overall core ranking system. "Good stats within the Core Web Vitals report in Search Console or third-party Core Web Vitals reports don't guarantee good rankings," Splitt wrote.
Forum discussion at X.
