On May 28 2020, Google announces an upcoming change to its algorithm, in which a new metric would strongly affect website ranking: page perception. The Google Page Experience algorithm update is going to be launched in early 2021.
Yes, Google recently announced that from May 2021, your page’s core web Vital would be a ranking factor for Google. We already knew that this must happen at some point; we didn’t know.
The rise in popularity of their Lighthouse and Page Speed Insight tools and Google Search Console’s Core Web Vital Report (abbreviated as GSC) indicated that the search community is ready for this change.
What are page experience signals?
Page experience is a group of signals that measure how users perceive engagement with a web page beyond pure informational value. It includes Core Web Vitals, a set of metrics that measure real-world user experience for page load performance, interactivity, and visual consistency. It also includes existing search signals: mobile-friendly, safe browsing, HTTPS, and intrusion interstitial recommendations.
The page experience signals span both core web vitals and existing user ranking factors such as mobile usability, safe browsing, HTTPS, and not having annoying interstitial ads.
Google is now incorporating the existing User Experience ranking factors into a new category of ranking factors with new core web vitals, called search signals for page experience.
As you can imagine, this may lead to a significant change in the CTR that provides a good user experience, leading to higher rankings. This is a clear indication to Google that its Users have a preference for one page over another.
According to Google
The change for non-AMP content to become eligible to appear in the mobile Top Stories feature in Search is expected to be rolled out in May 2021. Any page that meets Google News content policies will be eligible. We will prioritize pages with great page experience, whether implemented using AMP or any other web technology, as we rank the results.
From May 2021, non-AMP content will be able to appear in the mobile top news carousel. It’s big news for publishers who rely heavily on organic traffic.
How Can You prepare for this update?
Like previous Google updates, it is in your interest to prepare your website for algorithm changes. It is time to get ready as Google announced that the page interface update would not launch until 2021, and they have promised to announce a six-month launch date. It is still difficult to say what the impact of this update of the Google algorithm will be, but based on the reports of the update already done by Google, you can build your website by following these steps:
Check Your Loading Speed: One of the core web vitals reveals the loading speed of your website. Your landing page should load in less than 2.5 seconds. There are tools to help you check the loading speed of your website.
Test interactivity: Users should be able to use the interactive features of your website immediately after loading.
Check visual consistency: Ensure that your website pages are visually stable, neither jump nor change while browsing.
Mobile optimization: Your website pages must be well optimized for mobile devices to load, display, and function correctly. Remember, more people search the web on mobile devices than desktops.
Ensure safe browsing: Your website should be free from malware, misleading content, and security issues.
Use HTTPS for security: Make sure your website URLs are HTTPS URLs to ensure a secure connection. This is particularly important for websites that collect payment or personal information from users.
Check the use of interstitial advertisements: Interstitial advertisements such as pop-ups should not block your website’s content or navigation.
Keep creating quality content: In the SEO world, as usual, content is king. Google has made it clear that it will prioritize quality, high-value content because quality content will prevail over good page experiences. High-quality and relevant content can also give your site a top-ranking boost.
AMP and Google’s top stories
Google currently only allows Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) to compete for Google’s top news space. AMP pages load very quickly on mobile devices, and Google prioritizes these pages in the SERP and headers. With the new algorithm update, non-AMP pages can compete with AMP pages for top stories. While AMP pages will continue to perform well in the rankings and have a good chance of appearing in top stories, the page experience will matter more in determining which pages will be included in top stories.