Google Search will rank desktop sites by ‘page experience’ from February

From February 2022, sites will be ranked by ‘page experience’ in terms of desktop view on Google Search. To determine how good or bad the page experience of sites is, Google takes into account the presence of intrusive pop-ups and loading speed, among other things.

The gradual implementation will start in February and will last until the end of March, Google said. Before that, Google says it will make a Search Console report available that allows website administrators to see how their site is doing on desktops in terms of page experience. This gives them the opportunity to make any adjustments, the search giant reports.

Google uses so-called Core Web Vitals to automatically determine the page experience of indexed websites. Currently, it mainly focuses on three aspects: loading, interactivity and visual stability. For example, pages must load within 2.5 seconds. Also, the first input delay should not exceed one hundred milliseconds. Finally, the degree of layout shift, i.e. page content that suddenly shifts from place to place, must be limited. Other aspects, such as https security or intrusive pop-ups, are also taken into account.

On mobile devices, Google already ranks pages by ‘page experience’. That assessment, however, is somewhat different. User-friendliness on mobile is heavily weighted in the indexing of websites.