Google recently added Core Web Vitals to its list of ranking factors. The search engine giant will introduce a new ranking signal to evaluate the overall user experience of pages more effectively. Expected to launch next year, the ranking signal will be a combination of Core Web Vitals and user experience signals.
Here are some important details about the ranking signal according to a digital marketing company in Sonoma County.
Introduction
The new ranking signal will be called the page experience signal. The signal consists of the Core Web Vitals and important existing page experience metrics such as HTTPS-security, safe-browsing, intrusive interstitial guidelines, and mobile-friendliness.
The page experience signal will measure aspects of a web page’s user experience. Website owners can optimize for these factors to improve their websites’ user experience.
Core Web Vitals
Last month, Google introduced Core Web Vitals, a set of metrics related to different aspects of website performance such as speed, responsiveness, and visual stability. The three Core Web Vitals are:
1. First Input Delay: First Input Delay is the time taken by a page to become interactive. Website owners must ensure their websites have a First Input Delay of less than 100 milliseconds.
2. Cumulative Layout Shift: A critical user-centric metric, Cumulative Layout Shift measures visual stability on a web page. A website’s Cumulative Layout Shift should not exceed 0.1.
3. Largest Contentful Paint: It is the time taken by the main content on a website to load. A website’s LCP should be 2.5 seconds or less.
For now, these are the Core Web Vitals; however, they may change every few years depending on how users’ expectations change or as Google’s understanding of web user’s experiences on websites develops.
Why is Google Adding Page Experience Signal to its List of Ranking Factors?
By declaring Core Web Vitals as a ranking factor and combining them with other important user experience signals, Google aims to achieve its central objective – help developers develop pages that users enjoy visiting.
The higher the user experience of a page, the better its chances of climbing to the top of Google search results; however, content relevance is still an important factor in Google rankings.
Digital marketing companies in Sonoma County believe that pages with poor page experience signal, but relevant and impactful content will still have a chance of ranking well. However, the best practice is to develop web pages that have both excellent page experience and relevant, useful content.
That said, if two or more pages have excellent content, the page with the best page experience signal will rank higher.
Evaluating Page Experience
Google is yet to come up with a specific tool to evaluate page experience. You can now use these tools to measure individual components that go into creating the page experience signal.
- Chrome DevTools
- Lighthouse
- Chrome UX Report
- PageSpeed Insights
Want to streamline your website’s User Experience, but do not know where to start? Let WSI Smart Marketing help. We are a team of seasoned digital marketers. In digital marketing, there is no one-size-fits-all solution. We leverage our knowledge and experience to create custom strategies for our clients. To discuss your project with our team, call us at (707) 843-3714.
