Google’s Page Experience Update Rolls Out As June Core Update Is Completed

On June 15, Google announced the latest broad core algorithm update roll out was complete. That same day, Google released its long awaited Page Experience Update.

The page experience update is now slowly rolling out (Top Stories will begin using this new signal by Thursday). It will be complete by the end of August 2021. More here: https://t.co/kDwhhOYklK

— Google Search Central (@googlesearchc) June 15, 2021

All this while the second half of the broad core algorithm update is expected to begin its roll out in July.

About the Page Experience Update

The Page Experience Update was originally planned for May, but was delayed for undisclosed reasons. Google anticipates the update to take until the end of August to complete its roll out.

The company stated:

“We’ll begin using page experience as part of our ranking systems beginning in mid-June 2021. However, page experience won’t play its full role as part of those systems until the end of August. You can think of it as if you’re adding a flavoring to a food you’re preparing. Rather than add the flavor all at once into the mix, we’ll be slowly adding it all over this time period.”

Google

Along with Core Web Vitals, the Page Experience Update will take page speed, mobile-friendliness, safe browsing, HTTPS, ad experiences, intrusive interstitials and layout shifts into consideration when ranking pages. These elements are not new to Google’s search ranking algorithm but are taking more precedent with this update.

Google will assess a website’s user experience using these signals and provide an “Experience Score” that site owners can view in the new Page Experience Report in Search Console.

AMP No Longer Required for Top Stories

As of June 17, AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages) is no longer a requirement for pages to be included in the Top Stories carousel. Google will be relying on the Page Experience Update to determine readability rather than the AMP framework. That means non-AMP content now has access to be included on Google News and the AMP badge icon will be removed from search results.

How These Updates Impact Your Site

We are not expecting huge ranking shifts due to the Page Experience Update and so far we see little to no impact. Google intentionally rolls these major updates out gradually as to not cause chaos in search rankings.

We’ll learn more about the page experience update as it continues its launch.

If you are seeing volatility in search rankings, it’s more likely due to the June broad core algorithm update which is awaiting its second half to be released in July. Google has stated that any major shifts in rankings will likely be reversed in the July roll out.

As always, and especially during these major shifts in Google’s search algorithm, be sure you’re actively monitoring page rankings, traffic, and other key statistics. Talk with one of our SEO specialists for specifics on your business.

What (Not) To Do With Your Website

Google’s advice is pretty broad, and intentionally vague, but in a nutshell they say, “don’t update too much, and focus on content.” We are inclined to agree. 

Changing a lot of things on your website all at once during an algorithm update may result in poor indexing of your site and a bad user experience (UX) which will do more harm than good in the long run. If you are concerned about your website during an algorithm update, reach out to Wit or your marketing expert with questions. Don’t start changing things without a plan!

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