Google page experience update – May 2021

From May, Google is changing the way it ranks pages in its search results. A highly ranking website is something all business owners aim for, but keeping up to date with core web vitals and algorithms, and acting on them, is important if you wish to keep your site current. So, what’s actually changing, and how might it affect you?

The changes being made

The main change in May revolves around what Google calls “page experience signals”, which will be used in addition to existing page ranking checks. The idea is to direct users towards web pages that offer the best user experience, as well as answering their queries.

The existing web search criteria

Google already ranks websites based on the following characteristics:

• Mobile friendliness: Does your website read, load, and scale as well on mobile phones and tablets as it does on laptops and desktop computers?
• Browsing safety: Has your website got the necessary security measures in place to avoid risks of malware and data-phishing downloads?
• HTTPS implementation: Is your website secure and does it hold an SSL certificate?
• Minimal intrusion: Are there intrusive pop-ups or other widgets/web features that make it difficult for users to access your content?

The addition of “core web vitals”

Google is adding an extra three elements to its search signals as of May, which it’s calling “core web vitals”. These are:

• Loading: “Largest contentful paint” is the measure Google uses to gauge the time it takes for the main content on a page to load. Ideally, this should be under 2.5 seconds. The more elements you have on your webpage, or the larger they are, the longer your website is going to take to load.
• Interaction: The key metric here is “first input delay”, which is the measure of the time it takes for a certain page to become interactive. You should aim to achieve a time of under 100ms, to ensure your page gets the highest interactivity score possible.
• Stability: This is known to Google as “cumulative layout shift”, which is the level of unexpected shift in the layout of your page’s visual content. Have you ever gone to click on something, only for the page to rejig itself at the last minute, causing you to click on the wrong thing? This is what Google wants to avoid.

How will the changes affect you?

These changes are just one part of the many different ways Google determines the search value of your webpage.

Google is focusing on making sure they direct traffic to the websites that not only answer search queries but also are going to provide the best possible user experience. So a high-ranking website has to be two things…

The first is authoritative, namely to have well-written copy that is not stuffed with too many keywords. The second is rewarding to navigate – not full of aggressive pop-ups, slow loading pages, and potential malware. It’s not good enough to be one or the other, if you want to get to the top end of the Google ranking, your website has to be both.

These measures haven’t come out of nowhere, though. Google has always cared about ensuring secure and accessible websites factor highly in its search results, so this isn’t a total revamp of the way Google search works. Instead, it’s more about solidifying what Google considers the best possible websites, and giving website owners such as yourself a clearer understanding of what is required to factor highly in search results.

There will also be “visual indicators”, showing users whether or not a webpage is likely to give them a great browsing experience. The upside of this for you is that if you can offer that, you’ll naturally boost your organic click-through rates.

These new changes won’t affect your website negatively if it’s secure and accessible. But it’s always best to make sure.

Checking your website’s score

There are many ways that you can check your website’s score, but two of the better tools are offered by Google itself.

The first is the Google Search Console. This is a tool suite designed to help you measure your website’s organic search traffic. This will be a good place to start, giving you some basic information about the way your website performs, and it will help to inform you of any changes that need to be made.

The second is Google PageSpeed Insights. This tells you how fast your web pages are loading, and will give you feedback about what you can do to make them faster. All you have to do is enter the URL of the page you want to test, and it will generate both mobile and desktop performance data for you.

Getting some professional guidance

Google gives you plenty of helpful tools, but if you need any help analysing your results, you can always get in touch with our team! SEO can be a little tricky to wrap your head around, and difficult to manage when you’re already busy with the day-to-day running of your business.

Take a look at our FREE Beginner’s Guide to SEO – a downloadable guide full of useful tips to get you started with optimising your site. And if you still find yourself struggling, our digital marketing experts are only a phone call away!

The team at Root Fifty-Two can help you by fully examining your website and breaking down the areas of improvement needed in order to be ready for Google’s new search criteria. After conducting a fill site audit, we can then put a comprehensive plan into place for updating and improving your website, as well as providing ongoing support.

Google’s search criteria changes this May – get the ball rolling and contact R52 today!