Google has announced that the "page experience update" will roll out to all users globally by the end of August 2021. This update will take into account factors like loading speed, interactivity, and visual stability when ranking pages in search results.
To help publishers and site owners prepare for this change, Google is providing more information on what will be included in the update and launching a new Page Experience report in Search Console.
The page experience update will use a set of signals known as the "Core Web Vitals" to measure page experience. These signals include measures of loading speed, interactivity, and visual stability. Publishers and site owners can find more information on how to improve their Core Web Vitals in Google's PageSpeed Insights tool and the Web Vitals extension for Chrome.
The new Page Experience report in Search Console will show publishers how their pages are doing on the Core Web Vitals signals. This report will also surface any flags that might be affecting a page's performance. The report is rolling out gradually starting in mid-June 2021 and will be available to all users by the end of August 2021.
Google will begin using page experience as a ranking factor for its search engine in mid-June 2021. However, the full effect of this change will not be felt until the end of August. This change is designed to highlight pages that offer great user experiences.
Page experience is just one of many factors that Google's search engine takes into account. Given this, sites should not expect drastic changes. In addition, because the rollout will be gradual, Google will be able to monitor for any unexpected or unintended issues.
Google has been gathering feedback and answering questions that site owners may have about how to improve page experience for their users.
Google has announced that they will be expanding the page experience update to include several page experience signals, including the three Core Web Vitals metrics: LCP, FID, and CLS (as well as Chrome's recent fix to CLS). In addition, the Top Stories carousel feature on Google Search will be updated to include all news content, as long as it meets the Google News policies. This means that using the AMP format is no longer required and that any page, irrespective of its Core Web Vitals score or page experience status, will be eligible to appear in the Top Stories carousel.
Google is also bringing similar updates to the Google News app, a key destination for users around the world to get a comprehensive view of the important news of the day. As part of the page experience update, they are expanding the usage of non-AMP content to power the core experience on news.google.com and in the Google News app.
Google is changing how it identifies content with a great page experience. In mid-June, the company will stop showing the AMP badge icon to indicate AMP content. Instead, it will focus on testing other ways to help identify content with a great page experience. The change comes as part of the page experience update.
The Page Experience report is a new tool that combines the existing Core Web Vitals report with other components of the page experience signals, such as HTTPS security, absence of intrusive interstitials, and mobile friendliness. This will give users more actionable insights into how their pages are performing.
For more details, see the Core Web Vitals and Page Experience FAQs and the AMP page experience guide.
The Page Experience report offers valuable metrics, such as the percentage of URLs with good page experience and search impressions over time, enabling you to quickly evaluate performance. You can also dig into the components of page experience signal to gain additional insights on opportunities for improvement.
In addition to launching the Page Experience report, we've also updated theSearch Performance report to allow you to filter pages with good page experience, which helps you keep track of how these pages compare to other pages on the same site.
Support for signed exchanges for all content on Google Search
Today we're also announcing the general availability of signed exchanges (SXG) on Google Search for all web pages. Google Search previously onlysupported SXG built with the AMP framework; however, today's update means that any web page can be loaded instantly on Google Search, regardless of technology used to build it.
Signed Exchange (SXG) is a technology that allows Google Search to leverage the privacy-preserving prefetching technique in compatible browsers, which can lead to improved page experience. This technique enables Google Search to load key resources of a page (HTML, JavaScript, CSS) ahead of navigation, which makes it possible for the browser to display pages faster.
Note: The use of SXG is not a requirement for page experience benefits, and you can consider the technology as one of the options for improving your page experience.
Nikkei, a large publication based in Japan, has been testing SXG on Nikkei Style and saw a 300ms reduction in Largest Contentful Paint (LCP). They also saw 12% more user engagement and an improvement of 9% in pageviews per session on Android Chrome where this test was implemented. To implement SXG on their site, Nikkei chose nginx-sxg-module, an open source extension for NGINX servers.
Google has announced several updates to its web ecosystem, including new tools and resources for website builders. These changes are designed to make it easier for builders to create great websites that users will love. The updates include new features for signed exchanges (SXGs) and Web Packager, as well as updated FAQs and help forums. builders can visit these forums for questions or feedback.