Google Page Experience Update – Google’s Latests Algorithm (New SEO Ranking Factor in 2021)

by Rohit Nandan Digital Marketing Consultant

Google announced on May 28 that they were in the early stages of assessing their search algorithms and changing the way web pages were ranked. The Google Page Experience update will revolve around the user experience of each page, analyzing the overall engagement with that user’s page. This new ranking signal, to be called ‘Page Experience ‘, is to be implemented into Google’s algorithm early next year.

The Google Page Experience will be a new ranking factor designed to allow users to assess web pages based on their experience of linking to a landing page. This means that if Google creates a site for users to experience a page poorly, they cannot rank those pages like they are now. In addition, a positive page experience can increase rankings in search engine result pages.

What is Google Page Experience?

According to Google, page experience is “a set of signals that measure how users perceive the experience of interacting with a web page beyond its information value.” The ranking signal will be based on Google’s Core Web Vitals – Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), First Input Delay (FID) and Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS).

LCP measures the page’s loading performance. To provide a good user experience, the LCP needs to occur within 2.5 seconds when the page first starts loading.
FID measures interactivity. To provide a good user experience, pages must have an FID of less than 100 milliseconds.
The CLS measures visual consistency. To provide a good user experience, pages must maintain a CLS of less than 0.1.

google-core-web-vitals

The page experience matrix will rely heavily on these core web vitals – the ranking prompt will address and analyze the necessary metrics of a healthy site to determine the experience quality of each page. It can be a little difficult to wrap your head around key web values, especially given that they are not set in stone and subject to change.

“Core Web Vitals is a set of real-world, user-centric metrics that determine key aspects of the user experience. They measure dimensions of web usability such as load time, interactivity, and stability of content while loading (so when you don’t accidentally tap that button when it shifts under your finger – how annoying!)” – Google

The Google Page Experience ranking signal will include existing search signals such as mobile-friendliness, safe browsing, HTTPS, and intrusion guidelines.

google-page-experience

What are all these factors. We linked to most of them above, but here is how Google documents each individual factor within page experience:

Largest Contentful Paint (LCP): Measures loading performance. To provide a good user experience, sites should strive to have LCP occur within the first 2.5 seconds of the page starting to load.
First Input Delay (FID): Measures interactivity. To provide a good user experience, sites should strive to have an FID of less than 100 milliseconds.
Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS): Measures visual stability. To provide a good user experience, sites should strive to have a CLS score of less than 0.1.
Mobile-Friendly. The page is mobile-friendly. Check if your page is mobile-friendly with the Mobile-Friendly Test.
Safe browsing. The page doesn’t contain malicious (for example, malware) or deceptive (for example, social engineering) content. Check to see if your site has any safe-browsing issues with the Security Issues report.
HTTPS. The page is served over HTTPS. Check if your site’s connection is secure. If the page isn’t served over HTTPS, learn how to secure your site with HTTPS.
No intrusive interstitials. The content on the page is easily accessible to the user. Learn how interstitials can make content less accessible.

Page experience evaluation by Google

Research has revealed that users prefer a website with a great page experience. Over the years, Google has built a foundation of user experience assessments to add to its ranking algorithms. This includes page load speed, mobile-friendliness and security. With the addition of core web fiber, Google is working towards improving the way a page evaluates the overall experience provided. By combining its core web values with user experience cues, Google aims to help more webmasters design and create pages that users are actually enjoying.

As of now, there are no real instruments to measure page experience. There are several current ranking signals that we know will contribute to Google page experience updates; Mobile-friendliness, page load speed, security and intrusive interstitial that we can measure. There are also different tools for measuring and reporting core web vitals.

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There will be no requirement for AMP top stories

As it currently stands, the pages competing for Google’s top stories are simply AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages). That is to say, they are technically hosted on Google’s website and are a part of a publishing technique that loads web pages in less than a second and ten times less data than regular web pages Uses.

Launched in 2016, Google built the AMP technology to allow web pages to load almost instantly on mobile phones. Since its introduction, over 25 million domains have published over 1.5 billion AMP pages. Designed for news publications and media outlets, Google has since given preferential treatment to AMP pages in search rankings and will only allow content in the Top Stories section that AMP was.

This new page experience update from Google means that Google will no longer require the AMP for the mobile version of the Top Stories section in Google Search. Instead, the page experience will help determine what content should sit in the Top Stories section on Google. This will not be implemented until some time ago in 2021, but it is necessary to note that the page experience will be an important factor when determining which pages show up in the Top Stories section.

Spotlight remains on content

Google has clearly made it clear that while this update will be of importance, they will still place a significant emphasis on high-quality content. “While all components of the page experience are important, we will rank pages with overall information, even if some aspects of the page experience are at stake. A good page experience does not override great, relevant content. However, in cases where they are multiple pages with more than one content, the page experience becomes much more important for visibility in search.

How can you prepare?

Don’t hang too much on these new ranking signals. These updates aim to improve the overall user experience online. If you are providing exceptional content and pages that users can easily and efficiently read and study, then you are already optimizing for the Google page experience.

The new update is only in its infancy – Google will provide at least six months notice before these changes are officially rolled out. There is no need to take drastic action as the update will not be put in until next year. Given the current climate with COVID-19, the search engine giant is doing all this to give site owners notice on imminent changes in ranking algorithms.

Originally Published - Tech Guru Seo