Google Have Begun Rolling Out their Page Experience Update for Desktop

By the end of March 2022, Google should have fully rolled out their desktop version of the page experience update, as confirmed by a Google spokesperson. The rollout process has already begun and will include all of the existing signals of the mobile version of the update, aside from the mobile-friendliness signal. The slow rollout should highlight any unexpected issues.

What Does the Update Mean for My Website?

“Page Experience” is built up of various search ranking factors, such as whether or not the website runs on HTTPs, if the content jumps around as the page loads, if it loads quickly enough, and if there are an intrusive ads present. If your website scores well for these factors on mobile, it is highly probable that it will perform similarly on desktop.

Our clients receive a monthly performance report, which includes information about Core Web Vitals, a contributing factor to Page Experience. Here is an example of how this is displayed.

You should not expect extreme changes from this update, particularly as there are various other ranking factors that Google considers. Page Experience is just one of many.

There is a new report in Google Search Console which analyses Page Experience standards. There is actually a tab in Search Console, conveniently named “Page Experience”.  However, it would be wise not to jump to conclusions with regards to this update until the rollout is complete at the end of March. If you do happen to notice any changes with your desktop search rankings before then, it might not be related to the update.