Unveiling Google's game-changing algorithm update, Page Experience, set to enhance website SEO.
Robert Hufton
For the first time, Google has forewarned us their upcoming algorithm update - known as Page Experience due in 2021.
This means that page experience (UX) will finally count towards a website’s SEO value. This is great for users, but could pose as a challenge for some businesses. But, if you start optimising your content for your users now, you’ll help create a great experience for your users. And, you’ll maintain or grow your SEO value too. Winner.
So, why is this news?
Because Google usually announces algorithmic updates after they’ve happened. This usually leaves businesses scrambling to avoid losing search rank positions.
By telling us beforehand, Google has shown that user experience is the name of the game. They want websites to be prepared - particularly mobile ones.
To find out more, head here.
A great ‘page experience’ is made up of two parts:
We see it all the time on websites. All style - no substance. There’s no point having nice user journeys and UI if the site doesn’t load well on mobile, or has loads of unclickable panels.
All of these problems impact the user experience. And, the net result is always the same. People will leave your site and you’ll have a high bounce or exit rate. If you need help with making a great page experience, it’s worth hiring a UX agency like us!
It’s important to check your website on numerous devices - we all know that. A higher bounce rate on certain devices could mean there is a layout issue, or the user isn’t seeing what they expect to find. It could be that a block is out of place, or the fonts are sizing in an odd way.
Whatever the reason, it’ll affect the page experience for specific devices and badly harm the user experience. This needs fixing.
Over the years websites have become more and more complex. And these changes have led to big increases in the download size of your average website. An excessively long loading time will be seen as a problem by your users, and Google.
Slick photography is a critical element to many websites. However, most website owners don't realise just how long those high-res images can take to load. A CDN from hosting companies like Kinsta.com helps improve image loading speeds, as can optimising the way those files are saved.
To test your site speed use Lighthouse Google Developer tool:
https://developers.google.com/web/tools/lighthouse
The role SSL has on affecting search engine rankings has been debated. Some SEO experts say they are essential, while some say they see websites doing well without it. But with this new Core Web Vitals, it would seem that it really is a major factor for Google.
Our top tips to improve user experience
Checking for loading issues is one the best methods to test your web pages and it’s easy.
Reviewing your website's performance across various speed tests can quickly highlight where to make changes. Do you know what tests you are performing?
Google's mobile experience testing tool https://search.google.com/test/mobile-friendly
Google page speed: https://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/insights/
Pingdom: https://tools.pingdom.com/
GT Metrix: https://gtmetrix.com/
It would appear from the recent Google update that AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages), a controversial Google feature which makes optimised websites load more quickly on mobile, is to be phased out.
The feature is controversial because it requires extra development time - something smaller websites may not have budget for - and essentially takes websites away from the ‘world wide web’ and into Google’s own environment.
But what does this have to do with page experience? Well, it indicates that Google may be putting greater trust in website developers to ensure mobile websites load quickly and efficiently, rather than pointing them towards AMP.
If there’s a way to summarise Page Experience, it’s that your website’s user experience will be a major deciding factor in where your site ranks in Google.
It’s long been thought that Google considers session time and bounce rates when deciding rankings. But this is confirmation that Google is going even deeper, looking at the way your website presents itself to users and penalising bad practices.
That means if your website confuses users, Google will know, and your rankings will suffer. Quite simply, UX and SEO will be working hand-in-hand more than ever before.
You may have heard the term UX used more and more frequently in the digital design world. But what is UX (User Experience) and what does a UX designer do?
User Experience (UX) is a multidisciplinary field focused on the interaction between the user and a product, or a service.
UX is an umbrella term that encompasses UX Research, where us UX designers use research, collaboration and expertise to discover how people perceive and interact with a product, system, or service, and UX design, where we improve how useful, easy, and fulfilling using a digital product is.
Typically users need to achieve certain goals to make their UX a good one:
Mobile experience tips
https://webmasters.googleblog.com/2016/08/helping-users-easily-access-content-on.html
Site loading tips
https://developers.google.com/web/tools/lighthouse#devtools
Google update for page experience
https://developers.google.com/search/docs/guides/page-experience
About Bounce Rate
https://backlinko.com/hub/seo/bounce-rate
Photography courtesy of Hufton & Crow Architectural Photography
https://www.huftonandcrow.com/
This article was written by Rob Hufton, a User Experience consultant at Higher Ground UX Agency.
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