Have you been paying attention to Google’s looming Page Experience algorithm update?

Whether you’re interested in SEO or not, you may want to pay attention to Google’s upcoming Page Experience algorithm update due to roll out over June/July this year (2021).

As with most algorithm updates, without a crystal ball, it is challenging to forecast how much of an impact this may have on your bottom line. One set of performance factors that is commonly accepted however, are page speed metrics, which look to play a significant role with how Page Experience is scored.

There are multiple sources of useful information and helpful guides available online if you’re keen on a deep-dive into Page Experience factors, so let’s take a brief tour of the basics.

Core Web Vitals

Google has introduced Core Web Vitals as part of Google Search Console, which is an initiative to provide webmasters guidance for quality signals that are essential to delivering a great user experience, particularly on mobile devices.

Core Web Vitals is essentially broken down into three areas:

1. Loading (Largest Contentful Paint or LCP)
2. Interactivity (First Input Delay or FID)
3. Visual Stability (Cumulative Layout Shift or CLS)

LCP & FID, in general, are associated with how long it takes for a web page to fully render (paint) within the users viewport (LCP), and the time it takes for a web page to respond to a users interaction (FID). This ultimately means investigating all the potential opportunities you can find to address contributing factors as much as possible.

Some are quick wins, such as preloading/pre-connecting large resources and/or third party scripts, prioritising render blocking resources, managing image formats, while other more challenging server side factors may require webmaster support, such as managing network payloads and minifying the use of JavaScript.

CLS on the other hand, refers to web page elements shifting within a users viewport, which, in some cases, can lead to a poor user experience. There are, however, more minor instances of CLS that may go by completely unnoticed. It is hard to say whether these minor instances would result in a ‘poor user experience‘ opposed to more obvious layout shifts, such as intrusive ads and pop-ups, as the example below shows (provided by Google).

Video source: https://web.dev/cls/

You can see how your web pages stack up against these areas by running a Google Lighthouse (Chrome extension) or PageSpeed Insights report.

These reports provide a top level snapshot of where attention is needed, with hints and tips on how to improve the various factors associated with Core Web Vitals. If you want to learn more about implementation and go deep on learning about more technical areas of loading, interactivity and visual stability, (using Chrome DevTools) check out https://web.dev/cls/.

Page Experience Report

If you use Google Search Console, you may have recently noticed Page Experience show up above Core Web Vitals and Mobile Usability. This new addition, IMO, looks to be a soft launch of a more detailed report to come in the near future.

It’s easy to be concerned when looking at URLs that ‘Fail’, especially if there is a number of them, however the report bundles URLs that ‘Need Improvement’ as URLs that ‘Fail’ so don’t be alarmed on first impression.

Key Takeaways

Will this core algorithm update be a major game-changer for a lot of businesses? Probably not, but its always better (and safer) to look at ways to improve your website for Core Web Vitals. Be weary of excessive use of ads, frequent pop-up modals and obvious layout shifts that could be deemed intrusive to the user experience.

If you’re building a new website, or upgrading an existing one, prioritise site speed with your web developer and ensure thorough testing is carried out throughout the build process.

When managing site content or updating areas of your website, make it a habit to ask yourself what the implications on page loading times will be.

Now, about those Morphic Genetic Fields…