User Experience is the most significant factor in the field of SEO and Web design. The Layout shifts caused by Web Fonts is the one such aspect that greatly affects the user experience.
Layout Shifts disrupt the visual stability of a web page. It has the potential to negatively impact the search engine rankings and gives a frustrating experience to the users.
So, In this article, let us explore How to avoid Layout Shifts caused by Web Fonts in detail.
What are Layout Shifts?
Layout Shifts occur due to the unexpected movements of a webpage’s content during loading.
This movement is caused due to various factors such as images, advertisements and web fonts. The phenomenon used to measure this metric is Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS).
A high CLS score indicates that users are experiencing significant layout shifts. This in turn negatively impacts their experience.
Impact of Layout Shifts on SEO:
The Layout Shifts negatively impact SEO in the following ways,
- User Experience – User experience is a ranking factor search engines consider when ranking pages. Frequent Layout Shifts leads to poor user experience. This in turn increases bounce rate and decreases user engagement.
- Core Web Vitals – Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) is one of Google’s Core Web Vitals metrics. Layout Shifts contribute to a poor CLS score. A high CLS score indicates an unstable page which hurts the SEO ranking.
- Conversion Rates – If users struggle with shifting content, they leave the website before completing desired actions like purchases or sign ups. It negatively affects conversion rates.
- Page Load Performance – Frequent Layout Shifts indicate the page is not well optimized. It potentially leads to slower load times.
How Web Fonts cause Layout Shifts?
The process of web fonts loading and how layout shifts happens is as follows:
- The primary reason why web fonts cause layout shifts is due to the delay in font loading.
- When a webpage first loads, a fallback font is displayed initially until the custom web font is fully downloaded and rendered.Â
- This delay in font loading leads to shifts in text layout. This is because the custom font replaces the fallback font which causes a visual jump.
For Example, Consider the following Scenario,
- The webpage initially displays text in the default system font which is wider or narrower.
- Now the custom font is being loaded.
- Once the custom font is applied, there occurs a change in the text size and spacing. This results in a noticeable shift in the layout.
- This also affects the alignment of the other page elements such as images, buttons and advertisements.
How to avoid Layout Shifts caused by Web Fonts?
The methods to avoid layout shifts caused by web fonts is as follows,
1.Preload Web Fonts
Preloading web fonts means the web fonts are loaded earlier in the page loading process. This minimizes the time between when the page starts loading and the custom font gets loaded.
Thus it reduces the chances of layout shifts caused due to the delay in font loading.
How to implement Preload Web Fonts:
Add a <link rel=”preload”> in the head section of the HTML. This instructs the browser to fetch the font as quickly as feasible.
Example:
<link rel="preload" href="https://example.com/fonts/yourfont.woff2" as="font" type="font/woff2" crossorigin="anonymous">
2.Use the font-display property
The font-display CSS property controls how a font is rendered while it is loading. It defines how text should appear before the custom font is fully loaded.Â
The values of font-display property and their effects includes,
- Auto – It is the default value. The rendering of the font is decided by the browser.
- Block – Until the font loads, the text will be invisible. Then it will appear in a flash.
- Swap – The browser will use a fallback font until the custom font is loaded. Then swap to the custom font.
- Fallback – The browser will use a fallback font and keep using it if the custom font takes too long to load.
- Optional – Similar to fallback. But the custom font loads only if it is already available in the cache
Example for font-display: swap:
@font-face {
 font-family: 'YourCustomFont';
 src: url('https://example.com/fonts/yourfont.woff2') format('woff2');
 font-display: swap;
} 3.Optimize Font Loading
Large font files and multiple font weights or styles delay the loading of the font. Optimizing it helps to reduce the file sizes and load times.
Optimization Techniques:
Font Subsetting – To minimize font file size, include only the characters that are used on the website. Subsetting options are provided by tools such as Font Squirrel and Google Fonts.
Example – For a website that uses only Latin characters, create a subset that does not include non-Latin characters.
Limit Font Weights and Styles – Use only the weights and styles that are required for your design. The font file size and load time are increased by additional weights and styles.
Use Variable Fonts – Variable fonts allow multiple styles and weights to be included in a single font file. Thus reduces the number of font files and improves load times.
Example to optimize font loading:
@font-face {
 font-family: 'YourCustomFont';
 src: url('https://example.com/fonts/yourfont-variable.woff2') format('woff2');
 font-weight: 400 700; /* Specify the range of weights used */
 font-style: normal;
 font-display: swap;
} 4.Use Fall-Back Fonts
In the event that the custom font loads later, fallback fonts guarantee that the text is readable and the layout is stable.
They provide a similar font that maintains the visual integrity of the webpage to prevent layout shifts.
How to specify fallback fonts:
Include a collection of fallback fonts in the CSS font-family property. To reduce layout shifts, use fallback fonts that closely resemble your primary font.
Example:
body {
 font-family: 'YourCustomFont', Arial, sans-serif;
}
Here, YourCustomFont – The primary custom font
     Arial – A commonly available fall back font
     Sans-serif – A generic fall back font family
5.Implement Font Loading Strategies
The strategies to improve font loading areÂ
Font Loading API – Make use of font loading APIs such as the Web Font Loader by Typekit and Google Fonts. It controls the behavior of the font loading more precisely.
Example:
WebFont.load({
 google: {
   families: ['YourCustomFont:400,700']
 }
});
CSS Containment – To restrict the effects of font loading to particular sections of the page, use the CSS containment properties.
Example:
.font-container {
 contain: layout style;
}
Conclusion
This article reveals how to avoid layout shifts caused by web fonts. It also emphasizes avoiding layout shifts is important to maintain a stable and pleasant user experience.
By implementing the best practices mentioned in the blog, the layout shifts can be significantly reduced and site performance is enhanced.
Start applying these strategies today and monitor the performance of the website. It guarantees a seamless and visually stable user experience.
For expert guidance on implementing these techniques and enhancing your website’s performance, explore our Technical SEO Services.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Make use of tools like Google Lighthouse or Web vitals to analyze the website’s CLS score. It helps to identify issues related to font loading.
Tools like Font Squirrel, Google Fonts’ subset feature and online font optimization services are used to optimize web fonts. It helps to reduce the size of the font file and improves loading times.
Yes, using multiple web fonts increases the risk of layout shifts. This is because each font has different metrics or loading times.
To reduce this risk, limit the number of different web fonts used. Also ensure all used web fonts have consistent metrics.
