Google has announced the page ranking update previously confirmed for rollout in May 2021 will now start to be slowly released from mid-June 2021.
The full update, which will assess a website’s page experience in three key areas, is said to not be rolled out in full until August 2021.
However, Localsearch’s Head of SEO Mike Andrew is still seeing early signs of the update being tested and rolled out already.
See more: How the Google Page Experience Update will impact your website.
Why has the Google Page Experience Update been delayed?
In the statement by Google, they said the page experience ranking factors are just some of many, and the changes should not impact websites too drastically.
“As we have said before, while this update is designed to highlight pages that offer great user experiences, page experience remains one of many factors our systems take into account,” Google said.
“Given this, sites generally should not expect drastic changes. In addition, because we’re doing this as a gradual rollout, we will be able to monitor for any unexpected or unintended issues.”
This being said, the update rollout being delayed and slow helps website owners who will be impacted make changes.
The specific factors of this update include using the measurement of the websites speed, stability and user experience, and content to effectively tell Google the quality of web pages and where they should rank. We have many other website and SEO blogs on this topic to help, if you so need.
Mike Andrew, Localsearch’s Head of SEO, has said based on the pre-optimisation website audits he and his team perform for website owners, the majority of small businesses will have their rankings and page traffic impacted by the update.
This is mainly due to:
- Page speed issues.
- User experience on websites being poor.
- Nonoptimal pop-up placement and timing.
- Not being mobile and device friendly.
- Content not being thorough enough.
- Content not being updated regularly enough.
For anyone concerned about their website, Localsearch can run a free website audit and advise you of what you need to do for your website to be up to scratch before June 2021.
Google Releases Page Experience Report in Search Console
To help website owners gauge the impacts of the June 2021 Page Experience Update, Google also announced they will be releasing a Page Experience Report within Google Search Console.
Google said the Page Experience Report would only assess mobile URLs to start, but will test websites and show results for:
- Core Web Vitals, including testing for speed and stability, rating them Good, Needs Improvement or Poor. A website will need a Good rating to meet the update.
- Mobility usability, showing if there are any issues a website could face when being used on mobile.
- Security issues.
- HTTPS usage.
- Ad experience, which evaluates the entire website, not a single page.
Website owners can create a Google Search Console account for free, however, if you need help interpreting the information or knowing what to do next, book an appointment with your local Digital Marketing Specialist at Localsearch on 1300 360 867 or creative@localsearch.com.au.
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