CrUX API vs Google Search Console

[Ari F]

Hi all,

I'm trying to better understand the relationship between CrUX API data and the reporting around Core Web Vitals in Google Search Console.

At the top of Google Search Console's Web Vitals pages, it says:

First question: does "Last updated" value directly relate to "collectionPeriod.lastDate" the comes back from the CrUX APIs?

I see that the most recent collection period's "lastDate" aligns with this value, which makes me think that they are the same thing.

If that's the case, I'm wondering when digging into the Search Console's:
CLS issue: more than 0.1 (mobile)

And when digging into a URL Group:

You can see a certain URL's CLS score if there's enough data:

However when querying the CrUX API against those specific "url"s we get different p75 values for collection period 3/14-4/10.

For example:

And we're getting a p75 value of 0.10 for:

{

"url": "https://hidrb.com/covid",

"formFactor": "PHONE",

"metrics": ["cumulative_layout_shift"]

}

We're getting a p75 value of 0.19 for:

{

"url": "https://hidrb.com/",

"formFactor": "PHONE",

"metrics": ["cumulative_layout_shift"]

}

I'm wondering how these path-specific values in the Search Consoles relate to the path-specific queries we're making to the CrUX API. If the values are from the same collection period I would have assumed these values would match.

The main concern is that we think we're doing pretty good with a specific page, but the Search Console is giving us far worse numbers.

Any insight here would be very much appreciated!
Thanks

[Barry Pollard]

I'm afraid that you'd need to direct any questions on Search Console to their support channels as that is managed by a different group:

https://support.google.com/webmasters/

I would say however, that a CLS score of 0.1 to 0.25 is still in the "needs improvement" category so you really want to be 0.1 or below to be in the "good" category. And ideally with a bit of head room in case of any particular "shifty" page views in a given period.

[Ari F]

Thanks, I just posted to Search Console's community.

And yes, though I'm more curious about the discrepancy in reporting and less about whether 0.1 constitutes "good" vs "needs improvement".

Thank you!