Google Page Experience update in 2021

Every day, Google processes about 3.5 billion requests. After some calculation, it comes out to an astonishing 40,000 searches every second. Recently Google launched Google Page Experience update in 2021 also known as Google’s 2021 Core Web Vitals.

And according to Backlinko, 75% of those who make these billions of searches will never go past the page of results.

These figures demonstrate what you already know: a good Google search ranking can make or ruin an online business. For years, businesses have been spending time and money in SEO, creating web content with the objective of ranking well in SERP and therefore getting noticeable.

The SEO of a page on Google develops to encompass a new set of factors starting in May of 2021. Google is launching the Page Experience signal, a new ranking factor that evaluates a page’s entire experience and ranks it accordingly based on numerous sub signals.

The importance of delivering a good digital experience is nothing new. According to Salesforce, one out of every three customers will abandon a business after only one negative encounter.

In the past, online businesses only had to worry about the customer experience after they reached the website. With the new Page Experience signal, a bad digital experience can now have a negative impact on your site even before visitors arrive.

So, what does the new Page Experience signal mean?

Simply defined, the new Page Experience signal will assess how good or poor a site’s user experience is, and how it ranks in search results will be a factor.

Some of the sub signals include the new Page Experience signal measures by Google, while others will be completely new.

The following sub signals will now combine with the main Page Experience signal:

• Mobile friendly: A metric for how effectively a website displays on mobile devices.
• Safe-browsing: There is no harmful or false information on a page, such as malware or social control.
• HTTPS: If a page serves over HTTPS, an encrypted network protocol that helps secure alternatives to HTTP.
• +No intrusive interstitials: Interstitials may be obtrusive and make it harder to access the content on a website, resulting in a bad user experience. Examples of invasive and non-invasive interstitials are showing below.

The Core Web Vitals are the new components of the Page Experience signal that have been available in May. Google’s Core Web Vitals are measurable, user-centric indications for which Google has set a “standard” goal threshold. The following are examples of user-centric signals: 

• Largest Contentful Paint (LCP): The time it takes for a page to load is measured in milliseconds. Within 2.5 seconds of a webpage loading, LCP can occur. Anything longer than 4 seconds, according to Google’s standards, considers bad LCP.

• First Input Delay (FID): This metric determines how long it takes for a page to become interactive. A good FID is less than 100 milliseconds, and a bad FID is more than 300 milliseconds.
• Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS): This is a metric for a website’s visual constancy. Sites should aim for a CLS score of less than 0.1, with anything over.25 considered poor.

How can you prepare for the Page Experience signal?

As it is a Google update that impacts your Google search rank (SERPs), it should come as no surprise that the best tools for analysing your site’s Page Experience are also Google-basis.

With technologies you’re probably currently using, you can monitor and track your site’s Core Web Vitals. The new Core Web Vitals report in Google Search Console provides a screenshot of how your site is presently doing and identifies pages that might be improved. 

After you determine which pages are slow, PageSpeed Insights may help you pinpoint exactly what needs fix. While these tools will not provide you with an exact Page Experience score, they will provide you with useful information about how your page performs.

Bottom Line

Even though Google wants to provide users with a better possible experience, the best, most relevant content or site will come out on top.

In the end, the Page Experience signal will follow the same rule of thumb. Yes, it’s critical to keep an eye on the Google metrics and make sure your site is performing well. But, in the end, the site that offers the best overall experience will win.

That digital experience begins in many ways with a user’s initial impression of your site, which is what the Page Experience signal is all about. And, thanks to this new signal, the initial impression can (and will) have an impact on your site’s ranking. There is a way to deep dive The Ultimate Guide to Google’s 2021 Core Web Vitals .