So you may have seen our recent article on the new update from Google – The Google Page Experience – Are you Ready?

Well it’s here… I hear you asking – Has my site been affected? How do I check?

How Do I Check How My Site Stacks Up?

Typically, when Google rolls out a new update, it’s not always easy to tell if your site has been affected and how it stacks up. Fortunately, Google has made it very easy to see if your site has been affected by the new algorithm update –

Login to Google Search Console
If you have not installed Google Search Console, click here for step-by-step instructions.
Check the Statistics
From the left hand menu within Search Console, you should see a new section called ‘Experience’. Click to open this section and then click on the drop-down option for ‘Page Experience’. Here you will see one of two things -1) You may see a statement “Not enough data collected for this property”. In this instance, you will need to wait for Google to collect some more data before you can view the reports. However, if you click back to the ‘Overview’ tab you may see a simple break-down of how your website stacks up.2) Alternatively, you will see a table with a break-down of your website’s performance –

How Does it Work?

The Search Console report focuses on 4 key areas –

Core Web Vitals

Core Web Vitals focus on 4 main aspects of your website –

Loading – The Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) should load within 2.5 seconds from when the page starts loading
Interactivity – Pages should have a First Input Delay (FID) of less than 100 milliseconds.
Visual Stability – Pages should maintain a Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) of less than 0.1

You’ll most likely need to engage an experienced web developer to fix these issues, however it can usually be achieved within 5 to 10 hours of work, depending on your current score.

Please note: It may take up to 30 days to see any changes to your Core Vitals within the Search Console, after the work has been completed.

Mobile Usability

Mobile Usability focuses on 3 main aspects of how your website functions and looks on a mobile device –

Text too small to read
Clickable elements too close together
Content wider than screen

Again, you will typically need an experienced web developer to fix these issues, although fortunately they are not going to cost you thousands of dollars.

Security Issues

Security issues are defined as those that can prevent some or all of your site from being considered as having a good page experience.

HTTPs

By now, you should have an SSL certificate installed onto your website. If not, a standard SSL can be purchased for approximately $100/year and can be installed within a few hours.

Summary

We’re already starting to see some clients with a good GPE score climb up the rankings in Google. How does your site stack up? Don’t be left behind as your rankings will most likely start to fall. Contact Brad today to discuss your Google Page Experience score and how else we can help to boost your Google rankings.

Google Page Experience – How Does it Work?