Beginner’s Guide to Page Experience, Core Web Vitals and UX

Emily Moxley, the Product Management for Search in Google, stated that Google had released more than four thousand new features and search improvements throughout 2020. One of Google’s major updates is the Page Experience Update, which was launched back in May last year. Early in May, Google’s Chrome team announced a set of metrics known as Core Web Vitals that help website owners measure user experience.

 

This article guides you through what you need to know about Google’s page experience, core web vitals and user experience.

 

What is Page Experience in Google Search Results?

Page experience is a collection of signals measuring how users regard the experience of interacting with a web page past its information purpose. It includes a set of metrics known as the Core Web Vitals, which measure user experience for the page’s interactivity, loading performance and visual stability. It also involves current search signals, such as HTTPS and safe-browsing.

 

How Page Experience Affects Ranking?

Google will consider page experience as part of its existing signals when producing search results. Although page experience is crucial, Google still tries to rank pages that provide the best information overall, even though their page experience is below the average level.

 

A great page experience does not override excellent page content. Nevertheless, it can be essential for Search visibility in situations wherein numerous pages have comparable relevance.

 

Understanding Google’s Page Experience Signals

There are various signals that Google uses to determine the web page’s page experience score. Here are some of the vital signals website owners should pay attention to:

●       Core Web Vitals: Measure the general perceived user experience on a web page and focus on three key factors: largest contentful paint, first input delay, and cumulative layout shift. (LCP, FID, CLS)

●       Mobile-friendliness: This signal continues to be a crucial ranking factor. Website owners can easily test the mobile-friendliness of their web pages with Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test.

●       Safe-browsing: One of Google’s primary priorities is users’ safety. Google utilises safe-browsing to make sure websites do not contain deceptive or malicious content. Users can check their site with the Security Issues report. A site or page affected by a security problem will show a warning sign in search results or an interstitial warning page in the browser when a website visitor attempts to visit it. On the other hand, a site without any security problems will show a green checkmark.

●       HTTPS-security: Website owners should ensure their sites are secure by serving them over HTTPS rather than HTTP.

●       Intrusive interstitials: Content accessibility is a critical facet of user experience. Hence, website owners should ensure their site follow Google’s Intrusive Interstitial Guidelines.

 

What is User Experience, and Why it is Important?

The International Organization for Standardisation describes user experience or UX as an individual’s responses and perceptions resulting from the utilisation and or anticipated use of a service, product or system. A good UX benefits both website owners and website visitors.

 

A good user experience allows website visitors to enjoy seamless interaction with a website. In contrast, a poor user experience may cause them to be frustrated and leave the site without taking any desired action. From a website owner’s point of view, visitors leaving their site in throngs and never return is a disaster as this situation leads to fewer subscriptions, purchases and conversions.

 

How to Prepare for the Page Experience Update?

The first important step to preparing for a Page Experience Update is to assess the site’s Core Web Vitals. This step allows website owners to identify the areas that need optimization.

 

Although no algorithmic or manual penalty is related to this update, website owners must understand that the probability of having visitors warned off from clicking their organic listings existed. Moreover, Google is willing to reward websites that express and show its priorities.

 

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