2. Biz Network June 2021 39-80.qxp_Chamberlink 01/06/2021 09:09 Page 64
DIGITAL & TECHNOLOGY
Google’s page experience update explained Ahead of the rollout of Google’s latest algorithm update, Digital Growth Programme consultant Ian Lockwood explains how businesses can ensure their website is up to speed and offers advice on ways they can improve quality scoring.
n mid-June, Google begins its rollout of its page experience update, with the full effects due to be in place by the end of August. This change to its organic ranking algorithm rolls up a number of existing ranking factors and introduces some changes to the way page load speed is measured. Google first announced this last November so the change is likely to be noticeable, although it’s clear that the quality of information on a page is the priority, even if the page experience is sub-par. You can already find a new page experience report in Google Search Console to show if your site has any issues. Specifically, Google’s page experience signals are: • Core Web Vitals (the three measurements of page load speed are largest contentful paint, first input delay and cumulative layout shift) • Mobile-friendly • Safe browsing (website is not hacked) • HTTPS (site serves over a secure connection) • No intrusive interstitials (large overlays covering the page on mobile) These are all used in Google’s algorithm already, although Core Web Vitals changes the metrics measuring page load speed.
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CORE WEB VITALS UNPACKED Core Web Vitals probably presents the biggest challenge for websites, as the vast majority should already be compliant with the other criteria (but do make sure your website serves over HTTPS, passes Google’s mobile-friendly test and doesn’t have intrusive interstitials). Let’s look at Core Web Vitals. Firstly, largest contentful paint (LCP), which measures how long the main content area of the page 64
business network June 2021
‘Core Web Vitals probably presents the biggest challenge for websites’ (without scrolling down) takes to appear. The target is under 2.5 seconds. While the quality of hosting can affect speed, most issues stem from how long it takes the visitor’s browser to download, process and render (visually display) the files that make up the page. Common issues include renderblocking (JavaScript and CSS files that have to be processed but aren’t used in the initially-visible page), unused resources (CSS and JavaScript included but not actually used) and images with unnecessarily large files. Images are relatively easy to fix, such as replacing existing images with correctly-sized and bettercompressed ones, but other issues can be tricky. Plugins and modules to help
might be available (WP Super Cache and Autoptimize for WordPress), but often only handediting the code can fully fix LCP issues. First input delay (FID) measures the time before a user can interact with the page, such as to click a link. The target is under 100 milliseconds. FID is caused by the browser being tied up by JavaScript and CSS, preventing it reacting to the user’s input. This requires optimisation of code to lower the impact on processing time. Cumulative layout shift (CLS) measures how much the parts of a page move around as it loads, scored 0 to 1 with a target of below 0.1. Solutions include setting the size for anything loaded separately, such as images, videos and other
elements (eg cookie notices). Loading fonts can also cause CLS – the text is initially displayed in the default browser font, then the “proper” font loads and text shifts. If you want to know how your website and page load speed are performing, test your site at one of the links below: Google Search Console page experience report: https://bit.ly/emc-gsc Google PageSpeed Insights: https://bit.ly/emc-psi For full details on Google’s page experience update, visit http://bit.ly/emc-pe To hear more from Ian join him at our next workshop. To see the full schedule, visit www.leicsdigital.co.uk/events
