Google Page Experience Update: Everything You Need to Know About it

Google Page Experience is one of the most important metrics to determine the ranking of a web page. With that being said, you might think that the Google Page Experience would include factors such as the quality of the content on a web page (in terms of information and uniqueness). Although those are some crucial elements that decide the ranking of your website, the Google Page Experience comprises factors that are beyond the informational value of your web page. It considers factors such as the loading speed of the page, interactivity, user-friendliness, and the visual stability of the page. Page experience determines how well the users are interacting and perceiving information from a web page. Let’s explore what exactly this update is about. 

What is Google Page Experience update?

The latest Google Page update has a more inclusive approach to quantifying the user experience. Google algorithms will now consider three core metrics: Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) metric, the First Input Delay (FID) metric, and the Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) metric. All these metrics influence the core web vitals. 

Largest Contentful Paint

Page loading speed is one of the most crucial determinants of your web page ranking. The Largest Contentful Paint is the metric that records the time that a website takes to load the largest content on that particular page. Not just the loading time, but LCP also includes how soon the largest content on the page is ready to interact with the user. These metrics include the loading time of the following:

Note: LCP is calculated on the basis of content loaded before scrolling down.           

First Input Delay (FID)

Now that we have talked about the page loading speed, let’s get into page response speed. First Input Delay is the metric that determines the page’s responsiveness. It analyzes the speed of response from the page after receiving input from the user. For example, if a user clicks on the ‘about us’ button in the header of the ‘homepage’ how much time does it take to navigate the user to the ‘about us’ section? If the browser responds within 100 milliseconds then this is considered as a good response time and anything above 300 milliseconds will fall under poor response time. 

Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS)

Cumulative Layout Shift refers to any instance where a web page moves in a new direction unexpectedly. For example, if a user is reading a paragraph and it shifts vertically, then the user loses track of their spot. This means the user has to start re-reading the paragraph or waste their time finding out where they left off. Another example is if the user is intending to click on the particular button, but due to abnormal page shift, the user might click somewhere else and initiate the wrong action on the website. This is why Google has introduced CLS to calculate the number of layout shifts on a web page. If your website’s CLS score is below 0.1 then you have nothing to worry about, but if it is above 0.25- this will negatively impact page ranking. 

Why does page speed matter to SEO?

As Google gravitates more towards improving the user experience, the agility in page loading has become more important. This metric is considered to be an important part of the Core Web Vitals. Page speed is not just important for ranking purposes, but it will also make your website highly user-friendly. LCP, CLS, and FID are directly related to page loading speed, so they have a great impact on how Google analyzes your website ranking on the search result page. 

How Can You Prepare for the Google Page Experience Update?

While Google is known for dropping algorithms abruptly, 2021 seems to be in our favor as Google decided to give us a heads up about their latest page experience update. Google’s Page Experience update is scheduled to be effective in May 2021. Let’s get into some of the important aspects that will need more attention especially since the update has been announced. 

1. Run a website audit

To get rid of any issues with your website, you’ll first have to figure out what they are. This is when a website audit comes to the rescue. There are various tools that can help you to determine the usability ranking of your website. This way you’ll be able to tell where your website is getting stuck so that you can fix the page structure and design issues. 

2. Improve site loading speed

Users don’t like it when a website takes forever to launch. Nobody has the patience to wait for your website to load when they can easily go to some other website and get their job done. Even if your website loading speed goes up from 1 second to 3 seconds, your bounce rate will also increase by 32%. You can head over to Google’s PageSpeed Insights and determine the loading speed of your website. Once you enter your URL, it will display the page loading speed of your website. If the score is between 0-49, your website loading speed is poor, 50-89 needs improvement and 90-100 is the most ideal. 

3. Mobile-friendly site

A mobile responsive site will be displayed and adjusted per the user’s device screen. When your site is mobile-friendly, you can create an ideal user experience, regardless of the device they’re using. Since a lot of people use smartphones or tablets to browse, it is extremely crucial to make sure that your website is functional on various platforms. You can use Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test tool to check this and optimize your website further, if needed. 

Apart from these page experience signals, other tips from Google state to ensure that your website has limited pop-ups and your website content is updated. Focus on your site’s security by ensuring that it offers a secure HTTPS URL. You might think that the new algorithm update is a lot to take in, but these optimization tips will help your website to be well ahead of the curve. Remember that your website is about proving a seamless experience to your customer, so make sure all your actions align with your ultimate goal: user satisfaction. 

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