The ‘page experience’ signal combines Core Web Vitals with the following signals:
- Mobile-friendliness
- Safe-browsing
- HTTPS-security
- Intrusive interstitial guidelines
Core Web Vitals were introduced earlier this and are designed to measure how users experience the speed, responsiveness, and visual stability of a page.
Specifically, these are defined as the Core Web Vitals:
- Largest Contentful Paint: The time it takes for a page’s main content to load. An ideal LCP measurement is 2.5 seconds or faster.
- First Input Delay: The time it takes for a page to become interactive. An ideal measurement is less than 100 ms.
- Cumulative Layout Shift: The amount of unexpected layout shift of visual page content. An ideal measurement is less than 0.1.
“These signals measure how users perceive the experience of interacting with a web page and contribute to our ongoing work to ensure people get the most helpful and enjoyable experiences from the web.”
Core Web Vitals are subject to change from year to year as user expectations of web pages change.
New Labels in Search Results
Google may add labels in search results that indicate which results provide a good page experience.
Google is currently working on visual indicators to identify pages that have met all of the page experience criteria listed in the section above.
Expect a test of the label to roll out soon. If the testing is successful it will launch in May 2021 alongside the page experience update.
As it stands, many pages would not qualify for this label. A study published in August shows less than 15% of sites are optimized well enough to pass a Core Web Vitals assessment.
