Content Marketing & Page Experience
- By Cheryl Kenny
- •
- 13 May, 2021
Using Google's Page Experience Ranking Signal to Your Advantage
Google’s new page experience ranking factor can be the tiebreaker between sites with similar reputable content. It’s also a ranking factor that can allow “small” sites to compete against larger brands.
Google’s new page experience update is rumoured to be debuting in May. "Page experience" means that the elements on your site have to work well technically plus provide a good user experience.
"The page experience signal measures aspects of how users perceive the experience of interacting with a web page," said Google regarding the update. "Optimizing for these factors makes the web more delightful for users across all web browsers and surfaces, and helps sites evolve towards user expectations on mobile. We believe this will contribute to business success on the web as users grow more engaged and can transact with less friction."
Page experience will not take over as the most important factor in obtaining high page to rank, but it is expected to count for up to 10% of your total rank, which is significant. Google refers to this as “core web vitals” - see the Google Search Central page for more details.
Your Content Strategy - 3 areas to focus on with the page experience rank are content, mobile friendliness, and site security:
1. Because content is still ‘king’, websites should ensure their posts answer their customers' most important questions. Begin with ensuring the pages that bring you the most organic traffic are user friendly and technically sound.
2. More transactions and bookings are being made on mobile devices than ever before. Ensure that CTA placement and formatting are properly optimized on all mobile pages.
3. If your website isn't secure, or has malware and phishing activity, it does not have a good page experience for users. Google will penalize the site accordingly.
Bottom Line: The ‘Google experience update’ really matters. Content teams should view the upcoming update as an opportunity to advance conversion rates and positions in SERP pages. Page Experience introduces a ranking factor that has little to do with brand. It provides an opportunity for smaller sites to have one ranking factor where they can be more competitive.
