Roughly a year after the company first announced the update, it is officially here. In short, Google will highlight search results that have a great page experience and this could become a major ranking factor. Google said you may see these icons and labels in the search results soon. The update will begin to take expected user experience into consideration for ranking in search results.
What is Page Experience?
To understand how a user will perceive the experience of a specific web page, Google will evaluate a set of signals. This includes existing Google Search signals such as mobile-friendliness, safe-browsing, HTTPS, and intrusive interstitial guidelines. It also includes metrics in Google’s Web Vitals that take into consideration a site’s loading speed, interactivity, and visual stability.
How to prepare for the Page Experience update
For site owners and others, understanding these signals and making the necessary changes should be a priority! Among the steps to take are optimizing for mobile and improving page speeds, CTAs, and alt text for images.
You can start preparing now for user experience to become a ranking factor. The Core Web Vitals report in Google Search Console is an excellent place to start getting a sense of how your site is performing in these areas. Alternatively, you can make use of the PageSpeed Insights tool by Google (which is a part of our standard SEO Audit) to understand how your site stacks up.
