2021 GOOGLE ALGORITHM UPDATE: How you can rank better in 2021

Google is planning to release the Google Page Experience update as a set of new SEO ranking factors in June 2021. Keeping your website updated with the new Page Experience will automatically improve your chances of ranking at the top of Google search results.

Every time Google introduces a new algorithm, some websites move up in the rankings but many also lose their spot and move down in the search results. This happens because the websites that do not follow the latest SEO ranking factors are demoted by Google which gives other websites following them a chance to improve their ranking.

In this article, we will introducing you to Google's new algorithm and what changes you can make on your website to make it align with the updates to take full advantage of the new Google Page Experience.

What's The Google Page Experience Update in 2021?

Google has introduced the latest SEO algorithm update which is the new Google Page Experience update rolling out in June 2021. This new algorithm will be measuring the website via five key signals with an aim to provide a good user experience to the visitors..

Google has always been focused on improving its ranking factors with an emphasis on offering a great user experience. Though content also plays a very important part in improving your rank, at the end of the day user experience is the key factor for Google.

The search engine has been constantly making updates to help users gain additional information about their queries while making the process easier than ever. Google has explained the following reason why they prioritize the user experience in the search results:

“The page experience signal measures aspects of how users perceive the experience of interacting with a web page. Optimizing for these factors makes the web more delightful for users across all web browsers and surfaces, and helps sites evolve towards user expectations on mobile. We believe this will contribute to business success on the web as users grow more engaged and can transact with less friction.”

What Are the Five Signals Introduced by Google in the New Page Experience Ranking Factor?

The latest algorithm by Google will primarily focus on five signals. These five signals include some brand new ranking factors as well as some that have already been around in some form or other.

The five signals are mentioned below:

-> Core Web Vitals

Core Web Vitals include a set of three performance metrics focusing on enhancing the performance of a website by improving the user experience. The new set of three metrics include:

Cumulative Layout Shift or CLS

Largest Contentful Paint or LCP

and, First Input Delay or FID

-> Mobile Friendliness

Mobile Friendliness has been a ranking factor for Google for a long. Whether or not your website is able to run perfectly on a mobile version is highly important for Google. Considering the fact that a lot of users today use their mobile phones to operate websites.

Google has also introduced some tools that allow you to check the mobile-friendliness of your websites such as Google Mobile-Friendly Test Tool and Google Search Console.

-> HTTPS Usage

It is another aspect that has been previously introduced by Google as a part of its ranking factors. It's a great way of determining whether the website you are operating is authentic or not. Now Google has made it mandatory for websites to have an SSL certificate, i.e. to use HTTPS if they want to rank better on Google search engine.

-> No Intrusive Interstitials on Mobile

The Mobile Popup Penalty has been around since 2017 that refrains people from having intrusive popups or intersstials to mobile users who are using Google search.

-> Safe Browsing

As per this ranking factor, if your websites contain deceptive content, harmful downloads, malware issues, or phishing then it is flagged by Google Search Console.

How Will Google Measure the Page Experience Score?

Google has released various tools that are super helpful for websites to assess their compatibility with current ranking factors.

The Page Experience Report

The Page Experience Report was released by Google in April 2021 to help website owners analyze the performance of their website against these five ranking factors. It gives an overall status of your website and measures it in accordance with each aspect of the new Google algorithm individually. You will also get specific insights to improve your performance.

The search console also allows you to compare your page with others having good page experience to let you understand where you are lacking. Here how you can monitor, assess and improve your site for each ranking factor:

-> Core Web Vitals

Google's PageSpeed Insights Testing Tool helps you measure your site against the three Core Web Vital metrics. In Lab Data you can always see times for Cumulative Layout Shift and Largest Contentful Paint. However, the First Input Delay Information is only available in the Field Data.

While Lab Data uses uses "Lighthouse" for synthetic testing, Field Data on the other hand uses real human Chrome Users.

How to Improve Core Web Vitals

In order to improve Core Web Vitals, you need to optimize the page speed of your WordPress site. By enhancing the user experience and creating an optimized lightweight site, you can significantly improve Google's metrics.

-> Mobile Friendliness

Google Search Console allows users to check the mobile-friendliness of their website with a Mobile Usability report. You can get an analysis of some issues that may be contributing to making your website less mobile-friendly.

Google also provides users with a standalone tool for testing mobile friendliness, This tool can give you insights into each URL for optimizing your website.

How to Improve Mobile Friendliness

By focusing on issues that reduce the Mobile Usability of your website, you can optimize the website for user-friendliness. The reports by Google Search Console and Mobile Testing Tool you can target each issue that concerned with the metric.

-> Safe Browsing

Security issues reports can be found under Security and Manual Actions in Google Search Console. By reading the reports and targetting the issues that could be creating the problem, you can resolve them for optimizing the website for safe browsing.

Google's standalone tool, Safe Browsing site status check tool can also be used for the same.

How to Improve Safe Browsing

Ensuring safe browsing is important for ranking better in Google Search Results. You need to secure your website for providing a safe browsing experience by checking it for harmful downloads, deceptive content, malware, etc.

Best practices for Wordpress security must be implied to get rid of all the malicious factors such as harmful downloads and other malware. By avoiding these issues you can optimize your website for safe browsing.

-> HTTPS Usage

For ensuring HTTPS usage, you need to buy an SSL or TSL certificate and get it installed on your website. You can also check it by visiting your website and looking for a closed padlock in the address bar of your browser.

-> Intrusive Interstitials

There is no particular way of testing your website for intrusive interstiatials. But you can take care of this aspect on your own by making sure that you have not added popups on your website. They interfer with the user-froendliness of your website by working as a distraction that tends to make your content less accessible.

The Bottom Line

By following these ranking factors you can significantly improve your website’s performance and make it rank better in Google search results. These ways will also yield lucrative results in the long run by enhancing user experience in all aspects. Edkent Media, which is the leading digital marketing agency in Canada makes sure to provide their customers with innovative and intuitive solutions using the latest google algorithm updates.