Google has announced that it will be launching a page experience update in May 2021. This search algorithm will give greater weight in the rankings to websites which provide a higher quality user experience. Therefore it is important to understand what the algorithm is and how Google will score websites.

Currently Google checks the following search signals for page experience:

• Mobile friendly
• Safe browsing
• HTTPS
• No intrusive interstitials 

The update will add three new factors which need to be taken into account when optimising a website for search. These are:

1. Loading: This is the time it takes for the main content on a page to load.
2. Interactivity: This involves the use of any clickable elements on a page. Google will measure how long it takes between clicking on a page element to being able to use the page as intended.
3. Visual stability: This is to do with preventing a noticeable annoying shift of on page content. For example, if you have a considerable page “shift” when a pop-up loads after the rest of your page, you’ll fail this test.

It is clear from this latest announcement that there should now be an even greater emphasis on user experience than there was before. It will not be enough just to have the keywords and meta data in place, but rather you should provide the whole package so that Google will reward the website and tell users it will provide them with everything they need. 

Here at BBI Brandboost we make sure that we are on top of each new update from Google so that we can prepare our sites and those of our clients for any upcoming changes. If you would like to talk to someone about getting your website prepared for the May 2021 page experience update, please get in touch.