Google’s Page Experience Algorithm update, came to mobile search in early 2021. A confirmation has been given that it will be out on the desktop as well. The update will officially launch in February 2022 and complete the rolling out by the end of March 2022.
Google announced this at Google I/O 2021 and explained what effect it would have on a website.
What is Page Experience? According to Google, the Page Experience is the user experience by a website to its visitor. The new page experience signal will measure how satisfied a user is after interacting with a page.
Google’s Page Experience Algorithm Update for Desktop
This update is based on the page experience update on mobile, rolled out between June & August 2021.
According to Jeffrey Jose from Google, the algorithm will use identical ranking signals as the mobile version. The algorithm will be utilizing the page experience in the Desktop ranking systems starting from February 2022.
He further explained what it would mean to site owners regarding their desktop page’s performance based on the new page experience. For this, a Search Console report will be added before the update rolls out.
He said that the same three Core Web Vital Metrics, i.e., Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), First Input Delay (FID), and Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS), along with their associated thresholds, will be implemented for desktop ranking. Other components of Page Experience signals, like HTTPS security and the absence of intrusive interstitials, will be the same as mobile. The only aspect missing is the Mobile Friendliness signal (present in mobile ranking) as it is not applicable for desktop.
A site with separate mobile and desktop URLs with proper configuration will have a desktop signal based on what URLs the desktop users see. So, pages not having an optimized mobile search page have the chance to benefit from the ranking boost of the page experience on Desktop search.
The Page Experience update will also eliminate the Safe-Browsing as a factor for Google Search ranking signals.
A revised Search Console report will be implemented in the Google Search Console to provide desktop support. The launch will be before the page experience update rolls out on February 2022.
Final Words
Malte Ubl from Google tweeted that the page experience update will also be coming to Laptops and Tablets along with Desktops. The Core Web Vital metrics will be the same for all devices, and mobile-friendliness will only be for mobiles. The page experience will become a ranking signal in Google Search for all the devices.
As of now, the Page Experience Algorithm Update won’t hit the page rankings hard, according to what Google claims. The update focuses on underlining the pages offering a great user experience.
Moreover, the page experience remains one of the primary factors the system takes into account. There should not be any massive changes to the websites after this update rolls out. In case of any unexpected issues, Google will be able to monitor it because it will be rolling the update gradually for two months.