Page Experience as a Ranking Factor: Understanding Google's New Algorithm Update

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Google implemented a new ranking algorithm called "Google page experience", designed to judge web pages based on the user experience they offer. The new update emphasizes the type of experience users have when visiting a website.

If your website offers a poor user experience, which will be measured by a set of metrics, Google may not rank the pages higher in the SERP. 

From an SEO perspective, it has become a necessity for websites to be technically optimized to offer the best possible user experience in order to rank higher on Google.

But what exactly is the page experience and what is the set of metrics that Google is giving the most importance to? Without further ado, let's dive into the nitty-gritty of the new Google Page Experience update.

What is the Page Experience Update?

Before we discuss the upgrade, let's understand the concept of page experience. When a user visits your website, there are a number of factors that determine how a user perceives the experience of interacting with her website.

Page load time, mobile device compatibility, and safe browsing experience are some of the factors that determine the page experience. 

With the new update, the experience of the page will also be one of the factors that Google will consider when generating search results.

The experience of the page will be determined by a series of signals that will help create a great user experience. 

Google will evaluate all signals before giving a website the overall "page experience" score. Page owners can see their scores by visiting the new page experience report in Search Console.

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Understanding the Different Signals

Page owners must have a clear understanding of the different signals on the page and their importance to provide a good experience on the page. 

Read on to understand each of the signals that are evaluated to determine the page's experience score.

Fundamental Elements of the Web

The vital web building blocks are user-centric, real-world metrics that score a web page based on interactivity, load time, and content stability while the page loads.

All of these metrics are included in Largest Content Paint (LCP), First Entry Delay (FID), and Cumulative Design Change (CLS). 

These new metrics will also help you monitor page load speed and take steps to improve website speed, responsiveness, and stability to deliver a better user experience.

Paint with larger content: measures the visual load time of a page. To be more specific, LCP takes into account the time it takes for most visual content to load on a page. 

Ideally, LCP should occur in less than 2.5 seconds from when the page starts to load.

First Entry Delay (FID): This metric measures interactivity and how quickly a page responds. 

A page must have an FID of less than 100 milliseconds for a good user experience. Any page that takes more than a second to respond indicates a slow FID.

Cumulative Design Change (CIS): Measures visual stability. For example, sometimes when you visit a website and before you finish reading a certain section of content, the page scrolls automatically.

This is known as a page turn. CIS indicates the overall page layout change when loaded. For an optimal user experience, the page should have a CLS of less than 0.1.