SEO: What Is Page Experience and Why Should It Matter?

Keeping your businesses’ website competitive in the online landscape is tough. Google and other major search engines are frequently changing their guidelines and requirements for ranking well in search results. 

For businesses that are quick to adapt, these changes represent an opportunity to gain a competitive advantage. First movers have an opportunity to get ahead in search results and acquire more market share, while those who are slow to adapt risk losing valuable traffic.

This article gives an introduction to search engine optimization and details some of the latest updates to Google’s search algorithm. This is an overview of how to improve your page experience on your equipment dealer website.

Want to talk to someone about your website? E-mail us at seo@machinio.com to schedule a session with one of our consultants.

What is SEO?

Search engines are how we untangle the massive mess of information on the internet to discover the content that is relevant to us. More than ever before, search engines are the first place we turn when we intend to make a purchase.

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization and refers to a set of practices focused on increasing the presence of a website in search results. An SEO strategy is essential for all businesses that count on web traffic to drive their online or offline sales. Ranking well in key searches can make your business the first stop on a buyer's journey when they begin preparing to make a purchase.

Google uses dozens of different factors to determine how to rank a page. A basic SEO strategy will ensure that your website is accessible to search engines, contains content relevant to your audience, and uses keywords and phrases optimized to attract searchers.

However, a Google algorithm update that is currently being rolled out -- possibly its biggest update in years -- adds a number of additional factors to consider when optimizing your website. If you’ve been neglecting to incorporate SEO into your marketing strategy, now is a great time to get serious about search engine optimization.

What is the Page Experience Update?

Google has identified five signals that it believes correspond to a good user experience. These signals will be used as a ranking factor in Google Search following the rollout of the Google Algorithm Page Experience Update that will take place between June and August of 2021. 

The following signals are not directly related to the page’s content, but instead focus on providing users with a fast, secure and uninterrupted browsing experience:

1) Mobile-friendly

Mobile-friendly websites provide a pleasant and easy-to-use experience on mobile devices. If your website is mobile-friendly, page content will automatically resize for viewing on mobile devices, the text will be appropriately sized to be legible on small screens, and clickable elements will be spaced far enough apart that it is easy to click the correct element.

If you’re unsure whether your website is mobile-friendly, you can use the tool here to test individual pages.

2) HTTPS

HTTPS is an encrypted internet communication protocol. It is a more secure way of browsing the web. Users trust your business with their personal information, and an HTTPS-enabled website helps assure those users that you care about their privacy and security.

To check whether your website is secured with HTTPS, look for the padlock icon in your browser's address field as shown in this screenshot:

3) Safe-browsing

To check this box, simply ensure that your site does not contain any hacked content or malware.

The Security Issues Report in the Google Search Console will let you know if there's any cause for concern.

4) No intrusive interstitial

Does your site contain any pop-ups that obstruct the view of a page’s content? You may think that you’re harmlessly promoting a sale or encouraging users to sign up for your newsletter. Google, however, is siding with users who find this type of pop-up to be annoying and disruptive. Pages with intrusive interstitials may be penalized.

If you’re unsure whether a pop-up on your site classifies as an intrusive interstitial, you can find more information here.

5) Core Web Vitals

We’ve saved the most significant Page Experience signal for last. This is the signal that Google has spent the most time talking about over the last year, and it's the one that website owners have found the most challenging to tackle.

Core Web Vitals refers to a set of metrics that measure how quickly and responsively your website loads. Research by some of the largest websites, like Amazon, has repeatedly shown that each additional second of page load time results in more users abandoning a website and loss of revenue for businesses as a result. Google’s inclusion of Core Web Vitals as a ranking factor means even more risk for businesses that operate slow-loading websites. They could be further penalized by the Page Experience update.

To determine whether your website passes the Core Web Vitals requirements, check your page performance on Google’s Pagespeed Insights.

How Do I Prepare For The Page Experience Update?

It’s not too late to start optimizing the Page Experience of your website. Only a small fraction of existing websites are fully prepared for this update. There’s still plenty of time for you to secure a competitive advantage by making the necessary changes to your website.

The technical details of improving your Core Web Vitals metrics, implementing HTTPS, and improving other Page Experience signals are outside the scope of this article. If you’re interested in more information, please sign up for our blog newsletter to receive updates when we publish blog posts providing a deep dive into each of these Page Experience signals or reach out to seo@machinio.com to discuss your website.