For an SEO strategy to be effective and robust these days, it is imperative that all new search engine developments and fundamental ranking factors are well incorporated. We have compiled the newest updates and basics from Google for you here.
A lot of work, time, and knowledge is put into creating a new website. It should ideally make a statement, but with the information overload on the internet today, it is hard to draw attention to your site users. Search algorithms can help! For this, the specifications of search engines like Google must be kept in mind. If these are not considered, you risk gambling away the desired success of your website.
Along with these, the new Google Page Experience and Core Web Vitals updates need to be incorporated by SEO experts, as these are of utmost importance for the user experience.
Main Ranking Factors
To explain: Google ranking factors determine the ranking of a website. Once these factors are known, page optimization isn’t difficult at all. At least in theory – what stands in the way is Google itself, which does not publically list the ranking factors that contribute to the Google algorithm. This makes SEO a bit trickier since the more factors are known, the better rankings can be optimized. But the good news is that studies, statements by Google employees, and the few documents actually published by Google allow several factors to be deduced:
– the choice of domain name
– an SEO-friendly URL
– a mobile-friendly URL
– the existence of page menus and sitemaps
– integrated internal links
– backlinks
– meta tags
– the meta title
– a meta description
– the meta keywords
– and a snippet.
Google Update “Core Web Vitals”
Image: Thoka.network
Google has recently made it possible to use qualitative signals to reflect the user experience of a website. More exactly, this pertains to the classification and rating of a webpage’s loading time and interactivity. This is an important factor to consider for SEO experts and site owners since user-friendliness represents one of the most central ranking factors. This is why much more attention has been paid to the Core Web Vitals for website ratings. In the course of these updates, three new figures (among others) will be introduced:
1. “Largest Contentful Paint” (LCP)
The Largest Contentful Paint deals with a user-centric metric focusing on measuring page loading times. The loading speed of the biggest (aka most visible) elements on the page will be considered for this. The basis for this is the assumption that the visitors make their impression and perceive the website as loaded once the largest visual elements are visible. Google’s target value for this is 2.5 seconds. The LCP evaluates the image and video elements on the site (these all have certain tags). Factors influencing this are slow server times, JS, and CSS, which block server-side and client-side rendering. It is crucial to optimize these elements to improve a site’s LCP score.
2. “First Input Delay” (FID)
The FID measures the length of time from when the user first interacts with a website (clicking on a link, for example) to the point at which the browser is able to process this command. Even just scrolling can be taken into consideration. Through the availability of the FID in the Chrome UX Report, software developers can create a baseline for an interactive experience and, based on this, can observe changes in future versions and evaluate individual origins for these.
3. “Cumulative Layout Shift” (CLS)
The Cumulative Layout Shift is the metric to measure the largest possible number of layout shifts that can occur unexpectedly on a website during a user’s session. This means that the CLS expresses the visual stability of a website; you could also say it measures how much the site changes during the loading process. A layout shift occurs when the position of a visible element changes from one rendered frame to another. A burst of layout shifts is recognizable when a maximum of one-second lies between each shift and the total window duration is less than five seconds. To produce a positive user experience, a CLS score of 0.1 or less is desired.
Measuring Core Web Vitals
There are two options for measuring the Core Web Vitals: the laboratory or the field data will be consulted. It is recommended, however, to combine both methods. Tools like Google Search Console, PageSpeed Insights, Lighthouse, Chrome DevTools, or the Google Search Console can help. Here is a complete guide to the Google Search Console.
Two-Part Broad Core Algorithm Update
Google completed a new update in July directly after releasing its June update, which encompassed a variety of improvements. However, this update caused positive, as well as negative, fluctuations in rankings.
– Signed Exchanges
Google can now load websites before they are clicked on in search results. This results in better load speeds. Signed Exchanges must be set up on the website to use this tool.
– Disavow Tool
The Disavow Tool was developed by Google in order to allow users to manually reduce the impact of incoming links to a page, protecting it from negative influences.
– Link Spam Update
This update works toward improving the quality of search results. Link Spam in various languages will be more easily recognized and removed.
Conclusion
These updates focus on the primary goal of a Google search – to give users the most relevant and high-quality search results possible. Thus, it makes a lot of sense that these updates attempt to highlight the most user-friendly websites in order to offer the users the most helpful information available on the internet. It stands to be noted how much speed and user experience have gained in importance these days. Brands and web experts need to check their user experience, create a plan of action, and utilize continual optimizations. By subjecting the output from these to constant tests, they can stay one step ahead of the competition.
