It’s high time to get your website up to speed with Google’s new ranking requirements since the expected changes in page experience are on their way.
Website developers and SEO specialists have been warning about Google’s forthcoming algorithm upgrade for the previous six months. This modification to Google’s algorithm, dubbed the “Page Experience Update,” was scheduled to become live in May 2021. Google has now announced a minor delay in the release of the update, allowing business owners and webmasters a little more time to prepare.
If you want to increase your website’s chances of ranking at the top of Google’s search results, you must optimize it for the new page experience update and be prepared to take advantage of the improvements that are slated to go live in June.
When Will The Changes Take Effect?
Google stated in November that the page experience ranking adjustment will be implemented on Google Search in 2021. This early warning demonstrates how seriously Google expects site developers, SEOs, and content authors to take this upgrade, allowing everyone more than six months to prepare.
While Google made it clear that the update will not have a complete impact on search rankings until the end of August, the tech giant officially stated in a blog post that the page experience modification will begin to roll out in mid-June.
“We’ll begin using page experience as part of our ranking systems beginning in mid-June 2021. However, page experience won’t play its full role as part of those systems until the end of August. You can think of it as if you’re adding a flavoring to a food you’re preparing. Rather than add the flavor all at once into the mix, we’ll be slowly adding it all over this time period.”
Google thinks that by postponing the upgrade and taking a gradual and steady approach, website owners would have enough time to make necessary modifications and monitor any concerns. With this strategy, they also want to prevent any abrupt ranking adjustments and will give continuing assistance to help site owners deliver a better page experience for users.
What Are The Changes?
Google’s algorithm is updated hundreds of times each year. These improvements seek to improve the search experience for users and, as a result, can frequently have an influence on site rankings. We may not always know when an update has occurred or when one is on the way, but Google did website owners a favor by informing about the Page Experience upgrade ahead of time.
The new page experience signals, according to Google, integrate Core Web Vitals with current search signals such as mobile-friendliness, safe surfing, HTTPS security, and intrusive interstitial standards.
- Largest Contentful Paint (LCP): This statistic counts the amount of time it takes for the page’s primary content – particularly, the largest content element – to load. It is desirable to have an LCP of less than 2.5 seconds.
- First Input Delay (FID): This metric measures the time between when a user interacts with your web page for the first time (clicking a link, tapping a button, etc.) and when the page responds. You should aim for a FID of less than 100 milliseconds to give a pleasant user experience.
- Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS): This measures the visual stability of your web page’s content. It is considered a bad user experience if your site’s layout changes abruptly. It is excellent practice to keep your CLS score around 0.1.
- Mobile-friendliness: This signal determines whether or not your page is responsive.
- Safe-browsing: This checks to see whether your website has any viruses or misleading material.
- HTTPS: This determines whether your site’s connection is safe through HTTPS or not.
- No intrusive interstitials: This guarantees that the user can simply access the primary content. An interstitial is a type of advertisement that shows while a web page is downloading.
How Should I Prepare My Website For The Algorithm Updates?
Now that you know a little bit more about what Google will be looking for after this upgrade, your next step will be to prepare your website for what is to come. Here are a few things you can do to get your website ready and guarantee that visitors have a positive experience.
First and foremost, you have to make sure that your website is optimized for mobile viewing. Google made the switch to mobile-first indexing in September 2020, so this should be definite by now. Mobile-friendliness will have a significant influence on the ranking of your website as part of the page experience upgrade. To check whether your website is responsive, use Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test. If you discover that your site is operating on an out-of-date theme or that you are utilizing a site builder that is not mobile-friendly, you should consider moving to a mobile-friendly web builder.
If your website is taking too long to load, you should make an extra effort to speed it up. Loading time is one of the Core Web Vitals components. The faster a website loads, the better the user experience and your chances of ranking. Google PageSpeed Insights, for example, analyzes the content of a web page rapidly and generates recommendations to assist improve page performance. Check out this video on website page speed for more optimization techniques to help you boost your page speed.
You should also ensure that your website is safe. For a long time, poor website security has had a detrimental influence on SEO rankings. Google’s most recent change attempts to prioritize sites that provide consumers with the greatest possible experiences, including online security. Examine your Google Search Console to see if your website has any security problems. That information may be found in the left-side menu under “Security and Manual Actions.” As soon as you’ve resolved the issues, click “Request Review” to notify Google that you’ve made steps to improve your site’s security.
It would also help if you can identify pages with high bounce rates and debug them to reduce site abandonment. Limit the usage of pop-ups on your site and remove any annoying interstitial ads or graphics. Check your site for broken links, page problems, and navigation difficulties, and resolve them as soon as possible. Continue to provide high-quality material that emphasizes knowledge, authority, and trustworthiness.
For now, we are unlikely to see significant changes in rankings as a result of this upgrade. However, we will see the ramifications over time. With this in mind, you will want your site to be prepared for anything that may occur. So, it is advisable to begin planning for Google’s page experience update as soon as possible. By ensuring that your website satisfies these new requirements, you can maintain or even improve your current rankings.