What CMOs Need to Know About Google’s Page Experience Ranking Update

Google started rolling out its page experience algorithm update June 15 and finished on September 2, 2021. This update consists of several factors — each of which we’ve written about at length in our page experience guide e-book.

In this article, though, we’ll give a high-level overview of what CMOs need to know so they can help their team and their website meet the new ranking opportunities. For a more in-depth how-to, check out our free e-book linked above.

Google clarified that you don’t need all core web vitals scores to be “good” in order to get some page experience ranking boost.

However, out of a million websites competing for your keywords, 10 competitors will have done the work to be considered “good” across the board. If you do not, you may lose Page 1 to them.

7 Page Experience Ranking Factors

Google combined some of the algorithmic signals you might have already been optimizing for with a new set of signals to create the page experience update.

This update combined these ranking criteria you may already know:

• Mobile-friendliness
• HTTPS
• No intrusive interstitials

With a new set of criteria called core web vitals:

• Page load performance – Largest Contentful Paint
• Responsiveness – First Input Delay
• Visual stability – Cumulative Layout Shift

Let’s look at each factor starting with the three new core web vitals.

1. Largest Contentful Paint (LCP)

LCP measures webpage load performance. More specifically, LCP measures how fast the largest image or text block renders on the webpage. You want to optimize for this core web vital by analyzing the things that negatively impact it, including:

• Server and/or software response times
• Webpage resources and bandwidth
• Browser software and plugins
• Site JavaScript and CSS code

2. First Input Delay (FID)

FID measures load responsiveness, which is how quickly a webpage loads and executes so that the user can interact with the page. For this, the primary cause of a bad FID score is heavy JavaScript execution. So you want to optimize how JavaScript parses, compiles and executes on your webpage. Note: Most webpages have no trouble passing the FID threshold, but check your scores to be sure.

3. Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS)

CLS measures the formatting changes to a webpage after the initial rendering in a browser. In other words, it’s about the stability of a webpage. Think: a link or button moving on the page, causing a person to click something unexpected. To improve CLS:

1. Use size attributes for images, videos and other embedded items or iframes.
2. Never insert content dynamically above existing content.
3. If using CSS to animate elements, prefer “transform” animations.

4. Mobile-Friendliness

Creating mobile-friendliness means having a website that offers a good experience for visitors using a smartphone or tablet. Just some of the things to consider:

• Ensure the webpage fits different screen sizes.
• Configure the size of the text for mobile viewing.
• Make sure that it’s easy for mobile users to click buttons and links.
• Have fast-loading webpages.
• Use mobile-compatible plugins.

5. HTTPS

HTTPS, or hypertext transfer protocol secure, secures the data that’s exchanged between a web browser and a web server. It helps to protect your website and its visitors from potential bad actors. For any site that is not secure in this way, the next step is to migrate the site from HTTP to HTTPS.

6. No Intrusive Interstitials

Intrusive interstitials are webpage pop-ups that make it hard for a mobile user to access the content they want. These create a bad user experience for mobile users. There are several steps you can take to avoid intrusive interstitials, including:

• Use pop-up banners that don’t take a lot of space.
• Make sure users can easily dismiss the pop-up.
• Apply a delay before the pop-up renders.
• Segment your pop-ups by audience to make the message more relevant to them.
• If a user closes a pop-up once, make sure that it doesn’t continue to display or follow them around the website.
• Make sure your pop-up doesn’t slow your page load time.

For a deep dive into the page experience update, get our free e-book instantly.

Bruce Clay Inc. works with clients to move sites to “good.” Contact us if you cannot afford to lose in SEO.

Bruce Clay is founder and president of Bruce Clay Inc., a global digital marketing firm providing search engine optimization, pay-per-click, social media marketing, SEO-friendly web architecture, and SEO tools and education. Connect with him on LinkedIn or through the BruceClay.com website.

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