In the world of SEO, having a good page experience is one of the many key factors to achieving better rankings on the search engine results page (SERP). This point was further emphasized by Google recently, as the search engine added a section about page experience to its helpful content guide. In this blog, we’ll go over some of the key takeaways from that resource so that you can ensure your site is providing the best page experience possible.
Defining “Good” Page Experience
In the Helpful Content guide, Google states that its “core ranking systems look to reward content that provides a good page experience”. Therefore, to rank well, Google states that site owners shouldn’t “focus on only one or two aspects of page experience. Instead, check if you’re providing an overall great page experience across many aspects.”
If you’re unsure of which aspects of page experience Google is referring to, they have provided an additional page experience resource that summarizes what aspects you should care about.
Self-Assessing Your Content’s Page Experience
To assess whether you are providing a good page experience to your website’s visitors, Google states that answering yes to the following questions means you are on the right track:
- Do pages have good Core Web Vitals?
- Are pages served in a secure fashion?
- Does content display well for mobile devices when viewed on them?
- Does the content lack an excessive amount of ads that distract from or interfere with the main content?
- Do pages lack intrusive interstitials?
- How easily can visitors navigate to or locate the main content of your pages?
- Is the page designed so visitors can easily distinguish the main content from other content on your page?
While Google emphasizes that these questions don’t cover all aspects of page experience, they are still important factors to consider for sites that are looking to rank better in Google’s search results.
How Google Evaluates Page Experience
In the FAQs section of its page experience guide, Google provides some insights into how it evaluates page experience. These insights include:
- There is no single page experience signal that Google Search uses for rankings – instead, Google looks at a variety of signals that align with overall page experience.
- There are many aspects to page experience that Google has not mentioned in its resources – while not all aspects will be directly used for rankings, they do generally align with your success in the SERP.
- Core Web Vitals are important – Google states that to achieve success with Search, site owners need good Core Web Vitals.
- Page experience is evaluated on a page-specific basis – Google’s systems generally evaluate content on a page-by-page basis, though they do admit to having some site-wide assessments.
Final Thoughts
It’s crucial to stay on top of what Google shares about its core ranking systems and to align your content and page experience accordingly. By gaining a deeper understanding of what it takes to create helpful content, you increase your chances of ranking well in the SERP.
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