Enabling CWV Tracking
Monitor how ads affect your Core Web Vitals and make data-driven optimization decisions.
Why track CWV?
Core Web Vitals affect:
- Google rankings — CWV is a ranking factor
- User experience — Slow pages lose visitors
- Ad revenue — Poor experience = less traffic = less revenue
Tracking CWV alongside ad metrics helps you balance performance and monetization.
What gets tracked
The wrapper's CWV plugin captures the web-vitals library's standard metrics. You don't pick which metrics to record — they're captured as a set. Typical guidance:
| Metric | What it measures | Target |
|---|---|---|
| LCP | Largest Contentful Paint | < 2.5s |
| INP | Interaction to Next Paint | < 200ms |
| CLS | Cumulative Layout Shift | < 0.1 |
How to enable
-
In the portal, switch to Account mode.
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In the account selector, pick a customer (settings apply to all domains under it) or a specific domain.
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Go to Setup → Core Web Vitals.
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If no settings exist yet, click Configure settings. Otherwise click the edit (pencil) icon.
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Set the fields:
Field What it does Default Enabled Turns CWV data collection on or off off until configured Sample rate Percentage of page loads to record CWV for (1–100) 100 Include attribution When on, the wrapper captures detailed attribution data (element selectors, timing breakdowns) alongside each metric off -
Click Save (or Create on first configuration).
A customer-scoped setting applies to every domain under the customer unless that domain has its own setting. Domain-scoped settings override the inherited customer setting.
Sample rate recommendations
Sampling reduces data volume for high-traffic sites:
| Monthly traffic | Recommended sample rate |
|---|---|
| Under 100K | 100% |
| 100K - 500K | 50% |
| 500K - 1M | 25% |
| 1M - 10M | 10% |
| Over 10M | 5% |
You can always reduce later. More data = better insights.
When data appears
After enabling:
| Timeframe | What you'll see |
|---|---|
| 1-2 hours | First data points appear |
| 24 hours | Meaningful trends visible |
| 7 days | Reliable baseline established |
Viewing CWV data
- Go to Dashboard → Core Web Vitals
- View metrics by:
- Time period
- Device type (mobile/desktop)
- Page/Layout
- Browser
Key reports
| Report | Use case |
|---|---|
| Overview | Overall CWV health |
| By device | Compare mobile vs. desktop |
| By page | Find problematic pages |
| Trends | Track improvement over time |
Understanding your data
Score interpretation
| Score | Color | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Good | 🟢 Green | Meets target |
| Needs improvement | 🟡 Yellow | Close but not passing |
| Poor | 🔴 Red | Needs attention |
What to look for
High LCP:
- Page loads slowly
- Large images blocking render
- Ads delaying content
High CLS:
- Ads causing layout shift
- Images without dimensions
- Late-loading elements
High INP:
- Heavy JavaScript
- Too many ad scripts
- Main thread blocked
CWV and ad optimization
Use CWV data to guide ad decisions:
| CWV issue | Ad optimization |
|---|---|
| High LCP | Enable lazy loading for below-fold ads |
| High CLS | Reserve space for ad containers |
| High INP | Reduce number of demand partners |
Privacy and compliance
CWV tracking:
- Collects performance data only (no PII)
- Uses aggregated metrics
- Respects user privacy settings
- No cookies required for CWV tracking
Troubleshooting
No data appearing
| Cause | Solution |
|---|---|
| Just enabled | Wait 1-2 hours |
| Sample rate too low | Increase sample rate |
| Low traffic | Need minimum traffic volume |
| Wrapper not loading | Verify wrapper installation |
Data seems inaccurate
| Issue | Solution |
|---|---|
| Spiky data | Normal with low sample rates |
| All metrics bad | May indicate wrapper issue |
| Doesn't match GSC | Different measurement methodology |
Comparing with other tools
| Tool | Methodology | Use case |
|---|---|---|
| Anima CWV | Real User Monitoring (RUM) | Actual user experience |
| Google Search Console | Field data (28-day) | SEO impact |
| PageSpeed Insights | Lab + Field | Debugging |
| Lighthouse | Lab only | Development testing |
Different tools may show different numbers — this is normal. Anima's RUM data reflects your actual users.
Next steps
After enabling CWV tracking:
- Establish baseline — Wait 7 days for reliable data
- Identify issues — Find pages with poor scores
- Optimize — Use data to guide ad configuration
- Monitor — Track improvement over time