{"id":1821,"date":"2021-04-24T12:58:19","date_gmt":"2021-04-24T12:58:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.webigg.com\/blog\/?p=1821"},"modified":"2021-04-24T12:58:19","modified_gmt":"2021-04-24T12:58:19","slug":"2021-google-algorithm-update","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.webigg.com\/blog\/2021-google-algorithm-update\/","title":{"rendered":"2021 Google Algorithm Update"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>There are many pieces to UX \u2014 pleasing design, engaging and varied content, seamless navigation and overall efficiency and functionality. When it\u2019s right, people know it. When it\u2019s wrong, people know it, too. In fact, they make that assessment within the first\u00a0<em>10 to 15 seconds<\/em>. In short, it doesn\u2019t (and shouldn\u2019t) take a background in web development to understand what a good user experience is because it\u2019s intuitive.<\/p>\n<p>But there\u2019s\u00a0<em>a lot<\/em>\u00a0going on beneath the surface that makes quality website UX a reality. And Google, in its mission to continuously serve its users the most\u00a0<em>useful<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0<em>usable<\/em>\u00a0results, is as invested in determining and measuring those details as we are. The new Google algorithm update supplements last year\u2019s establishment of Core Web Vitals, which measure page speed and responsiveness in those crucial first 10 to 15 seconds.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What Will Likely Be Different<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Within the next few months, non-AMP content will be eligible for inclusion in the \u201cTop Stories\u201d carousel at the top of mobile search results. AMP stands for Accelerated Mobile Pages, Google\u2019s open-source HTML framework geared toward near-instantaneous loading of rich content on mobile devices. After the May update, \u201cgreat user experience\u201d will take precedence over AMP, so long as the page meets Google News content policies.<\/p>\n<p>Google has also teased a new \u201cvisual indicator\u201d that will distinguish search results with exceptional UX, although what exactly that will entail has yet to be announced.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Search Ranking Signals<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Here are some of the search ranking signals to keep in mind.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong> Core Web Vitals.<\/strong>As discussed in a previous\u00a0post, Google Core Web Vitals are a series of metrics focusing on site speed. They are:<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ol>\n<li>Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), or how quickly your largest page element renders<\/li>\n<li>First Input Delay (FID), or the time between a discrete user input and when a browser responds to that input<\/li>\n<li>Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS), a measure of how much page elements unexpectedly shift around the page<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>To see where you stand and where you can improve in these metrics, use the Search Console report for Core Web Vitals and PageSpeed Insights and Google Lighthouse to measure your progress as you make changes.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong> Mobile-Friendliness.<\/strong>Over\u00a060%of Google searches are made on mobile devices, so mobile website UX should be your top priority. Using AMP pages can significantly improve loading times on mobile devices with cache-optimized results. Google recommends the\u00a0AMP Page Experience Guide\u00a0as a way for AMP developers to analyze and improve mobile page performance.<\/li>\n<li><strong> Safe Browsing.\u00a0<\/strong>Web pages that feel spammy, choppy or unresponsive are likely to cause users to turn the other way and never look back. Be vigilant for any malware, spyware or malicious scripts that may be running on your site. Watch for any ads or content that may deceive or mislead users toward harmful sites.<\/li>\n<li><strong> HTTPS.\u00a0<\/strong>Data encryption is critical to today\u2019s website user experience. A massive amount of sensitive identifying and payment information is exchanged between web users and web servers every second. A Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificate scrambles this data during transit so hackers cannot intercept it. Sites with an SSL certificate begin with http<em>s<\/em>:\/\/ (as opposed to http:\/\/), with the \u201cs\u201d standing for \u201csecure.\u201d Google already flags sites without an SSL, so if you have not purchased one for your site, make sure you do so immediately.<\/li>\n<li><strong> Nonintrusive Interstitials.\u00a0<\/strong>Pop-ups are rarely a welcome sight. The more that the content a user wants to consume is obstructed and\/or disrupted, the more annoyed and turned off that user becomes. If you must use interstitials, take care to make them as minimally intrusive to the user\u2019s experience as possible.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Examples of interstitials you won\u2019t be penalized for include disclaimers, cookie usage info, sensitive content warnings, login dialogs and those that are responsibly proportioned (i.e., do not block all or most of the screen).<\/p>\n<p><strong>Preparing For The Page Experience Update<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>While the new Google ranking signals we\u2019ve identified are important, there is plenty more you can do to create a superlative website UX, including:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Upgrading your hosting service<\/li>\n<li>Compressing\/resizing images<\/li>\n<li>Redirecting broken links\/pages<\/li>\n<li>Observing user behavior via a heat-mapping tool for cues on how to improve user flow and navigation<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>As Google continues to refine its ranking signals and further flesh out its Core Web Vitals, UX is only going to become more crucial to search engine optimization (SEO). Take the time to look critically at yourself and your competitors \u2014 it promises to pay off handsomely in the end.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For more details on our products and services, please feel free to visit us at: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.webigg.com\/\"><strong>Online Marketing,<\/strong><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.webigg.com\/social-media-optimization-services-company.html\"><strong>Social Media Marketing,<\/strong><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.webigg.com\/internet-marketing-services-company.html\"><strong>Internet Marketing,<\/strong><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.webigg.com\/search-engine-optimization-services-company.html\"><strong>Search engine marketing,<\/strong><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.webigg.com\/search-engine-optimization-services-company.html\"><strong>Internet Marketing Company. <\/strong><\/a><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>There are many pieces to UX \u2014 pleasing design, engaging and varied content, seamless navigation and overall efficiency and functionality. When it\u2019s right, people know it. When it\u2019s wrong, people know it, too. In fact, they make that assessment within the first\u00a010 to 15 seconds. In short, it doesn\u2019t (and shouldn\u2019t) take a background in [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[32,34,22,33,20],"class_list":["post-1821","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-internet-marketing-internet-marketing","tag-internet-marketing","tag-internet-marketing-company","tag-online-marketing","tag-search-engine-marketing","tag-social-media-marketing"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.webigg.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1821","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.webigg.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.webigg.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.webigg.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.webigg.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1821"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.webigg.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1821\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1822,"href":"https:\/\/www.webigg.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1821\/revisions\/1822"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.webigg.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1821"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.webigg.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1821"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.webigg.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1821"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}