*** CRITICAL UPDATE ***
So…they started early. We have learned that the Google Page Experience algorithm update has begun to rollout, and websites and rankings are beginning to see impact. The rollout is happening intermittently, and will be complete by May of this year. The speed of your website matters now more than ever. To have our team review your website performance, give us a call at 630.553.0000.
In the meantime, here’s the blog post we launched last year introducing and informing everyone about the update:
In May of 2020, Google announced their biggest change in algorithms ever.
While Google has never announced an update with this much lead time, it causes us to believe this update is going to be a crucial one.
The algorithm update, called Google Page Experience, is scheduled for early 2021. And according to Search Engine Journal, it’s ‘designed to judge web pages based on how users perceive the experience of interacting with a web page.’ *
What does this mean?
What this means is that your website pages will be evaluated for ranking position, not only by the quality of your content, but now based on the overall experience users have… which will change the rankings for the foreseeable future. A few examples of these new metrics will be engagement with page items, form interactions, and video views… metrics referred to as Core Web Values.
This is both a warning of the rankings that you stand to lose if you do nothing, and it is also an opportunity to cut in front of your competition that does not optimize their sites for the new Google algorithm metric of “Core Web Vitals”. These are new measurements to optimize your site for that all directly involve user experience regarding how quickly they can view and interact with your site.
As described by Search Engine Land: Core Web Vitals include real-world, user-centered metrics, that give scores on aspects of your pages including load time, interactivity, and the stability of content as it loads. These metrics fall under these metrics:
- Largest Contentful Paint (LCP): measures loading performance. To provide a good user experience, LCP should occur within 2.5 seconds of when the page first starts loading.
- First Input Delay (FID): measures interactivity. To provide a good user experience, pages should have a FID of less than 100 milliseconds.
- Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS): measures visual stability. To provide a good user experience, pages should maintain a CLS of less than 0.1.
Never before has Google given such a huge lead time for an update. Because of this, it is believed that this update will be a substantial one. Which is why we feel it’s important that our customers know about it, before it’s too late. For some major competitors, they will fall off the pedestal if they ignore the ‘heads up’ from Google. But, of course, for others… this is an opportunity to get ahead.
What should you do?
We strongly suggest that our clients and any other company or organization get their business websites evaluated and prepared for what’s to come. Load speeds and content quality may already be a concern for many, but the reins are going to get even more strict. Those who act now should see their rankings remain consistent or improve. Companies that feel Google’s 2021 update is not important or applicable increase the chances of seeing less website traffic and may experience fewer conversations.
The team at VisionFriendly.com are ready to evaluate your website and prepare you for the Google Page Experience update. Your business website needs to load fast, be functional, and be designed for visitors to become more engaging.
For help with enhancing your website design and functionality, call 630.553.0000 or visit VisionFriendly.com/Request-Analysis.asp.
* Search Engine Journal article: https://bit.ly/320soba
