In June 2021, Google is finally launching the Page Experience Update that is aimed at assessing web pages based on how users perceive the experience when interacting with the web page. The search engine giant has been planning an update built around webpage experience since May 2020, and have presented several other algorithm updates based around the concept of a positive page experience for users. To measure the user experience your webpages give, Google is using a new set of metrics called Core Web Vitals, in addition to several other current ranking factors.
What are Core Web Vitals?
Core web vitals are presented in a report that shows how your webpages perform, based on real world usage data provided from the Chrome User Experience (CrUX) report. The CrUX report gathers specialized status metrics from users visiting your URL. There are 3 scores that the Core Web Vitals report gives your site including:
- Largest Contentful Paint (LCP): measures how your website loads and if the load time is within a Google’s recommended 2.5 seconds.
- First Input Delay (FID): measures a webpage’s ability for a webpage to respond to a user’s input, with an FID time of less than Google’s recommended 100 milliseconds.
- Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS): measures your site’s visual stability which should maintain less than Google’s recommended 0.1 score.
Other Ranking Factors
There are a variety of other factors that Google uses to determine the quality of a site’s page experience, including several factors that have already been in place. In addition to your website’s LCP, FID and CLS, Google tracks:
- Mobile-Friendliness: because mobile devices are used more to access the internet, Google is requiring websites to be mobile-friendly in order to continue to improve organically.
- Safe Browsing: Google regularly checks to make sure your site doesn’t contain malicious links or deceptive content. You can also check this with the Security Issues report within your website’s Google Search Console.
- HTTPS: When your website is served under HTTPS (Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure), it provides secure communication and ensures users that your website is authenticated for optimal privacy and integrity protection.
- Intrusive Interstitials: webpages that show intrusive interstitials provide a poor experience to users and prevent users from easily accessing content.
- Page Speed Insights: Google’s PageSpeed tool shows in real-time how fast your webpages load, which is based on Fast, Average, and Slow speed levels.
What Does this Mean for Your Site?
Much like Google’s other updates, the Page Experience update is meant to give users the best experience when they visit your website. Over the years, website developers have used a variety of “white hat” and “black hat” techniques to attract users to their website. Google’s Page Experience update is another way that Google is helping developers to establish healthy (white hat) practices to rank better on search engines and give users a positive experience when visiting websites.
Want to Improve Your Website?
Intertwine Interactive is a dedicated digital marketing agency focused on establishing and building your site’s SEO and PPC value. The SEO and PPC teams have multiple decades of experience in marketing, and a plethora of tools and skills in a variety of industries.
To check your website’s Page Experience score, visit your site’s Google Search Console. If your website’s page experience score is struggling and you would like to set up a time to review your options, contact us today!
