Google confirmed that the page experience upgrade has been rolled out to desktop search results. The desktop upgrade began rolling out on February 22nd and ended on March 3rd, giving it a 9-day deployment.
In comparison, the mobile page experience change took around two and a half months.
With Google’s confirmation that the page experience change for desktop is now complete, you can begin evaluating its influence on your search rankings.
Examining the Effects of the New Desktop Page Experience
Google’s page experience update can be blamed for any positive or negative changes in rankings that occurred on or after March 3rd. Use Google tools to look at your site’s page experience score to see whether this is true.
Page Experience on the desktop version of web pages is evaluated by GSC in a separate report. You can use this report to see how the Page Experience affects your website.
If the bulk of your pages are highlighted in red or yellow on the report, it’s possible that any ranking reduction on March 3rd was caused by the page experience update. If your website’s page experience scores are low, investigate why by looking at each factor separately.
Criteria for Updating the Desktop Page Experience
Google’s page experience update for desktop search contains various ranking elements that are similar to the algorithm that was unveiled last year for mobile search. Ranking factors for desktop page experience include:
- Core Web Vitals (LCP + CLS + FID)
- HTTPS Security
- Absence of intrusive interstitials
You will not benefit from the page experience ranking boost on desktop if your website fails to match any of the aforementioned requirements. A reduction in ranking, on the other hand, does not imply that your site has been penalised for failing to meet Google’s page experience requirements.
Simply said, it means that sites that fit Google’s criteria may rank higher than you, causing your pages to rank lower. As a result, enhancing your page experience score can assist you in regaining those rankings.
The following is the page experience update you should concentrate on:
- Is your website securing (HTTPS)? If you answered yes, you can rule this out.
- Do you have any obtrusive advertisements on your website? If not, this can be ruled out.
- Does your site meet the Core Web Vitals benchmarks? If you’re not sure, put it to the test.
It’s important to remember that page experience isn’t everything. Finally, while content relevancy is critical, providing a positive page experience is also beneficial.
