It’s been months since we announced the launch by Google of the Page Experience Update. An update related to the usability and loading speed of websites and that Google announced officially and, for the first time, in advance, in the month of May 2020. Initially, the start of its implementation was scheduled for May 2021 But finally, in April of this year Google announced that the Page Experience Update was postponed until mid-June.
Indeed, the update on the page experience began to be implemented in mid-June. And, with a forecast of two and a half months, it ended up being published on September 2. In today’s article we are going to discuss this important update to the Google search algorithm.
Main keys of the Page Experience Update
Unlike most of the Google search algorithm updates, the Page Experience Update has been an update that has proceeded very slowly. Typically the slowest are the core algorithm updates. But these strangely take more than two weeks. The Page Experience Update has been carried out progressively over two and a half months.
The initial forecast was that, as of June, the following changes would be implemented:
- The classification change would gradually begin to be implemented.
- The AMP badge would start to disappear.
- The featured news carousel feature on Google Search would be updated to include all news content, provided it complies with Google News content policies and guidelines. AMP would no longer be needed here to classify into certain main stories. Google also clarified that this is “independent of your Core Web Vitals score or the status of the page experience.” This change would also start in mid-June and end in late August.
- AMP would also no longer be required for the Google News application or for news.google.com.
- The safe navigation update for mobile devices and without intrusive interstitials was planned.
Likewise, for the end of August it was planned:
- Complete the launch of the Page Experience Update classification change. This will include all Core Web Vitals such as LCP, FID, and CLS (as well as the recent Chrome to CLS solution).
- The removal of the AMP requirement for the Top News Carousel is fully completed.
What values the Page Experience Update
Google’s intention was for a website’s performance (its usability, its loading speed) to become a ranking factor. For years there have always been rumors of whether PageSpeed positioned or not. Now we know.
Under the heading of Page Experience, Google combines various factors that measure the usability of a website: the use of HTTPS, optimization for mobile devices, avoiding the use of interstitials, but above all, Core Web Vitals.
Core Web Vitals are the new metrics that Google has developed to measure the performance of a website. They are the loading time (Largest Contentful Paint, LCP), the reaction speed (First Input Delay, FID) and the visual stability of the page (Cumulative Layout Shift, CLS).
Impact of the update
It is really very difficult to measure the real impact that the Page Experience Update has had. The reason is none other than the important updates that Google has carried out during the summer. Some of them simultaneously. During these past months we have had two updates to the core algorithm, one in June and one in July, an anti-spam update and the Link Spam Update. Not counting the small updates that are carried out weekly. In a huge update that has lasted two and a half months, it makes it impossible to measure its impact with certainty.
In any case, if it has been possible to carry out some analyzes. At Sistrix they did a very interesting analysis. It follows that page experience is a determining influence that can be measured in positioning. And, it is therefore an important positioning factor.