.png){kind=logo}
Google has made some significant updates to an important feature that helps SEOs understand how their sites rank.
‘Page experience’ is an important concept for SEOs and site owners. The term refers to a set of signals that, as Google describes, “measure how users perceive the experience of interacting with a web page beyond its pure information value.”
Page experience contains a few important factors site owners should consider – notably, Core Web Vitals are included. These are a set of three metrics (loading speed, responsiveness, and visual stability) that play a major role in a site’s performance on SERPs.
For SEOs, the Search Console’s Page Experience Report is a lifesaver. It summarizes key information that pertains to what users experience on a site owner’s page, as well as how that information can lead to successful page rankings.
This week, Google made a few changes to the Page Experience Report in an effort to make the tool’s information clearer. Read about these changes below.
The Safe Browsing Widget is Leaving
Previously, the Page Experience Report contained a ‘safe browsing’ widget. This tool would inform the reader if their page had any issues pertaining to user safety.
Google has removed this feature from the Page Experience Report, saying the following:
“Safe Browsing systems at Google are designed to keep users safe on the internet. Sometimes sites fall victim to third-party hijacking, which can cause Safe Browsing warnings to be surfaced.
We recognize that these issues aren’t always within the control of site owners, which is why we’re clarifying that Safe Browsing isn’t used as a ranking signal and won’t feature in the Page Experience report.”
Search Console will still inform site owners about safe browsing ‘flags’ but this will no longer exist in the Page Experience Report to avoid confusion.
The Ad Experience Widget is Leaving
Google is removing a second widget from the Page Experience Report: the ‘ad experience’ widget.
This widget would inform the user whether or not advertisements and similar materials violated the ‘Better Ads Standards,’ a set of guidelines followed to create user-friendly ads.
Since ad experience is not directly relevant to page experience, its widget has been removed from the Page Experience Report.
Beyond removing two widgets, Google has also made a few minor tweaks to the page experience report. Read more about these changes here.
