9 months after the Google Page Experience arrived on mobile, it was just announced that the update had been rolled out to desktop. As a reminder, the goal of this update is to integrate criteria related to user experience, such as indicators basic web vitality For example, in the PageRank method.
Refreshing the page experience is now slowly rolling out to the desktop. It will be completed by the end of March 2022. Learn more about the update: https://t.co/FQvMx3Ymaf
—Google Search Center (googlesearchc) February 22 2022
What are the criteria for a Google desktop experience?
Ranking is based on on-page web experience signals, already in use on mobile. Google recommends hitting certain performance limits for certain indicators, like load time for example. To evaluate the latter, Core Web Vitals are measured:
- CLS (Cumulative Layout Change): An indicator that measures the visual stability of the user interface. According to Google, a good CLS score between 0 and 0.1 and above 0.25 is a bad score.
- FID (First Input Delay): An indicator that measures interaction. According to Google, a good FID score is less than 100ms, and more than 300ms is a bad score.
- LCP (Largest Content Coating): Indicator that measures the download time. According to Google, a good LCP score corresponds to loading the largest visual element of a web page in less than 2.5 seconds. After 4 seconds, it’s a bad result.
Other criteria that are taken into account on the desktop are HTTPS security and the absence of intrusive interstitial ads. Unlike the mobile version, ergonomics is not one of the elements that counts in refreshing the page experience on desktop. The company indicates that “When a site has separate desktop and mobile URLs, with appropriate configuration, the reference is based on the URLs users see on desktop”.
Google also mentions that they Help website owners analyze desktop page performance in terms of on-page experience, using the Search Console report .
What is the impact of this update on SEO?
Announced since 2020, then rolled out to mobile first in June 2021, the desktop update shouldn’t surprise web pros. In fact, many sites have already anticipated its arrival by improving their user experience.
The Google desktop experience shouldn’t cause a huge disruption to your site’s rankings. In addition, the search engine determines that quality content remains essential to benefit from a good reference, and betting on everything in user experience will not be enough. Be careful, because with equivalent content, it is this point that will make the difference, so it is necessary not to neglect it. It’s imperative that SEO experts and site owners care about this now, if they haven’t already.
Already active since August 2021 on mobile, the update has just rolled out on desktop, and should be fully available by the end of March 2022.
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