Help! Google is Updating Page Experience!
Google’s page experience update has gotten a lot less coverage than they’re doing away with third-party cookies for targeted behavioural advertising – but that doesn’t mean it’s not important! Here are some things to think about to keep your brand where it should be in Google rankings when this update rolls out, from our digital marketing, web design and SEO team in Melbourne.
What is the Page Experience Update All About?
This update focuses on two areas that brands should take note of. Firstly, it is introducing core web vitals, which are a set of user-friendly, real-world metrics that make key aspects of the user experience measurable by the search algorithm. This means that things like how long it takes for the largest element of the page to load (Largest Contentful Paint or LCP), the amount of time between the user interacting with the site to when the browser can respond to that interaction (First Input Delay or FID), and how many unexpected layout shifts occur as the page fully loads all elements (Cumulative Layout Shift or CLS).
The second area of focus is the emphasis on Field Data over Lab Data, and the algorithm will collect and measure data from different browsers and not just from the Google engine itself. This is a big departure from how the algorithm usually collects user experience data and gives your brand as well as the search engine a better idea of how websites perform on Safari, Firefox and other browsers as well as Chrome.
So, What Does Your Business Need to Do?
To get ready for this rollout, businesses need to work on weaker aspects that page experience reports highlight. Reports should be generated on every page of your website to give your business a clear idea of what is working and what’s not, with a focus on FID, CLS and LCP, as these are the elements Google will be targeting. Certain more technical aspects that are very challenging to fix short-term (like CLS) may require a long-term view of fully redesigning your website, especially if it is very old or not particularly mobile-friendly.
This upgrade might seem like just another way for you to get more grey hairs, but it’s a very positive move! After all, it’s all about giving your users the best experience of your online brand, and that’s what makes for happy customers and sales at the end of the day. With the right web design team and a focus on customer experience in your SEO, you’ll be able to future-proof your online presence as much as possible, as Google continues to focus on human users – the customer – and not the spiders and bots that crawl your pages.
If you would like to get your website and brand in line with the latest updates from Google, give Digital Freak a call. We’re a no-nonsense, no-fuss digital marketing company that’s all about simple solutions that work.
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