Google's John Mueller was asked if redirecting a URL to a new URL will also pass the Core Web Vitals metrics. The short answer is yes, if you redirect page A to new page B, page A's Core Web Vitals metrics and signals will passed over from page A to new page B.
This question came up at the 19:45 mark into the video. The question was:
My website is a 100% Core Web Vital pass and all the urls are Core Web Vital valid. Now I want to restructure my site, restructuring I mean to say that I want to change the URL to the better SEO friendly URL. So my first query is now I have already changed the URL so will the Core Web Vital metrics, whatever exist for my pages will be passed to the redirected URL?
The answer was:
That should be the case, yeah.My understanding is that they [Core Web Vital metrics] would be [redirected]. Like any other signal from search if we see a redirect then we would forward the signals that we have and apply them to the new URL and it doesn't matter so much if the URL looks different, it's more that you're moving from one URL to another URL.
I did cut out some of the repetitive parts of the conversation to keep it short. But John then did go on to explain that changing URLs is not always recommended for SEO reasons (you can keep watching the video to listen to that part, but that is not anew topic).
Why might this not be the obvious answer? Well, Core Web Vitals metrics work of CRuX data, real user Chrome data on a specific URL. So you would think a new URL, even if it is being redirected from another URL, would need Google to gather Chrome user data. But John is saying no, those signals, the CWV signals, will also pass to the new URL until I guess Google gathers new data for that new URL.
Here is the video embed:
Here is also a cute tweet from Glenn Gabe summing up what he said here:
What happens with core web vitals scores with url migrations? Via @johnmu: Like with any other signals, Google will forward the CWV signals from the old urls to the new urls. But, url migrations can cause volatility anyway, so expect that to happen: https://t.co/mg52NTO2tp pic.twitter.com/23ctHECQZj
— Glenn Gabe (@glenngabe) May 24, 2021
Forum discussion at YouTube Community.
Update: Just more clarification on this:
Yeah, that's usually how we handle signals in search when it comes to redirects. There's no fixed time.
— 🍌 John 🍌 (@JohnMu) June 1, 2021
It's the same with content though. The assumption is you're moving from URL A to URL B. If it ends up being something other than a URL change, that'll resolve itself over time.
— 🍌 John 🍌 (@JohnMu) June 1, 2021
