GOOGLE CORE WEB VITALS – DELAYED TO JUNE 2021

GOOGLE CORE WEB VITALS – DELAYED TO JUNE 2021

I have a Hot Off the Press Update concerning Google Core Web Vitals. This update is for all web admins and company executives in charge of their business websites. Please read this important announcement!

Gradual Google Core Web Vitals rollout starting in mid-June 2021

On Monday, April 19, 2021, Google announced they were slightly delaying the rollout of their next big SEO algorithm update, Google Core Web Vitals, from May to mid-June 2021.

Google has told us since early 2020 that the SEO page ranking changes will consider “User Experience (UX) Signals.” The UX signals center around three Core Web Vitals metrics. Earlier indications had stated that the change would begin in May 2021.

In their release, Google stated:

“We’ll begin using page experience as part of our ranking systems beginning in mid-June 2021. However, page experience won’t play its full role as part of those systems until the end of August. You can think of it as adding flavor to your food. Rather than add the flavor all at once to the mix, we’ll slowly add it all over this period.”

So I’m interpreting this to mean that Google will not nuke us overnight as many of us expected—including me! I will take this as “a win” for webmasters everywhere!

New “Page Experience” page added to Google Search Console

The Google release further stated:

“To provide you with more actionable insights, we’re introducing the Page Experience report. This report combines the existing Core Web Vitals report with other components of the page experience signals, such as HTTPS security, absence of intrusive interstitials, safe browsing status, and mobile friendliness.”

“The Page Experience report offers valuable metrics, such as the percentage of URLs with good page experience and search impressions over time, enabling you to evaluate performance quickly. You can also dig into the components of the page experience signal to gain additional insights on opportunities for improvement.”

These statements from Google continue their long-stated policy of putting UX first and foremost.

AMP Being Deemphasized – Google Core Web Vitals

I interpret the next set of statements to mean that Google may deemphasize its AMP initiative.

“Additionally, we will no longer show the AMP badge icon to indicate AMP content. You can expect this change to come to our products as the page experience update begins to roll out in mid-June. We’ll continue to test other ways to help identify content with a great page experience, and we’ll keep you updated when there is more to share.”

From my experience, AMP is a pain for content writers and website developers to implement well. Plugins have been developed, but after a trial, many developers “give up. Many developers believe, and I agree, that spending your time and dollar budget on content quality and web page performance is better than AMP.”

Support for signed exchanges for all content on Google Search

One surprise is that Google adds “Signed Exchange” support to all web pages, not just AMP.

“Today, we’re also announcing the general availability of signed exchanges (SXG) on Google Search for all web pages. Google Search previously only supported SXG built with the AMP framework.”

“SXG allows Google Search to leverage the privacy-preserving prefetching technique for compatible browsers, which can lead to an improved page experience. This technique enables Google Search to load key resources of a page (HTML, JavaScript, and CSS) ahead of navigation, which makes it possible for the browser to display pages faster.”

“Note: The use of SXG is not a requirement for page experience benefits, and you can consider the technology as one of the options for improving your page experience.”

“Nikkei, a large publication based in Japan, has been testing SXG on Nikkei Style and saw a 300ms reduction in Largest Contentful Paint (LCP). Nikki also saw 12% more user engagement and an improvement of 9% in pageviews per session on Android Chrome, where this test was implemented. To implement SXG on their site, Nikkei chose Nginx-SXG-module, an open-source extension for NGINX servers.”

If the performance improvement proves true, web administrators will take this help with a big smile!

Conclusion – Google Core Web Vitals Update

As a webmaster, I am glad to see Google recognize they have enough “bad press” right now.

Major Google SEO algorithm updates have usually come with a lot of backlash from virtually everyone. When significant SEO algorithm changes rolled out, web admins, content writers, SEO experts, SMBs, and large corporations bashed Google. Hopefully, this “staged rollout” and listening to customer feedback will mark the start of a more mature Google.

Updating my website to be ready for Google Core Web Vitals sounds complicated for my skill level. Can you help?
We agree that getting your website ready for the Google Core Web Vitals SEO Ranking change can seem daunting. We presume you don’t have a Google Core Web Vitals SEO expert on your team, so no worries!

We “eat SEO” every day for our clients. We aim to get you onto and keep you on Page 1 for your keywords. We need you to understand that getting onto Page 1 for any search is hard. It can also take weeks (typical) and sometimes months (high competition keywords), but we can help you determine how to win.

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