Google’s John Mueller discusses various scenarios of how page experience ranking factors affect rankings. Rather than downplaying Core Web Vitality (CWV) as a ranking factor, he adds context to the various situations where a page experience ranking factor has an impact, and gives examples of why it might be relaxed.
Mueller’s answer was broad, and he touched on a number of interesting topics.
How important are the Core Web Vitals ranking factors?
The question Mueller answered in a recent Google Office Hours video was an answer to someone pointing out that their site had recently dropped due to what they believed to be the Core Web Vitals ranking signal.
The person asking this question wants to know the importance of core network vitality as a ranking factor.
Here is the problem:
“My website traffic has dropped due to poor core network vitality.
Now I’m back on track, but I know the page experience update is now also available on desktop.
How does Page Experience rank on desktop? How important is it compared to other ranking factors? “
When Ranking Factors Don’t Help Rank
John Mueller begins his answer by talking about the Page Experience ranking factor that Google may not apply.
This is an interesting answer, as one assumes that ranking factors always apply, but Mueller offers a scenario where ranking factors are “moderated” to provide correct search results.
But Mueller showed an example of putting this ranking factor aside in order to give Google users what they were searching for.
John Mueller provides this example:
“So just like on mobile, the Page Experience ranking factor essentially gives us some extra information about these different pages that might show up in search results.
In the case where we get a strong clear intent from the query, we can understand that they really want to visit the site, then from that perspective, we can relax using the page experience as a ranking factor. “
This is interesting because it’s easy to think of a search engine results page (SERP) as ten links to a website sorted by ranking factor.
But there are many factors that can affect the reasons a website ranks, here is an example of how ranking factors can be shelved for some reason.
When Page Experience Signals Help
Mueller went on to explain how the Page Experience ranking signal works.
He has previously said the ranking signal is not a draw.
Now, he provides an example of a scenario where ranking signals come into play and help a website rank better.
“On the other hand, if all the content in the search results pages is very similar, using page experience may help to understand which of them are quick pages or sensible pages about the user experience, and which are not showing up in search results Reasonable page.
This situation helps us. “
Desktop page experience updates will not cause drastic changes
Mueller next talked about the desktop version of the Page Experience Update announced on February 22, 2022, which Google announced will be completed on March 3, 2022.
He said he believes the rollout will take about a month.
However, his statement came three days after the update was announced, while the video itself was not released until two days after the update was completed.
John Mueller’s estimate of how long an update will take should be considered in its context, which is an estimate, not a definitive statement.
Mueller focused on the ranking change for the desktop page experience ranking factor, and said that publishers should not see significant ranking changes due to that ranking factor.
John explained:
“So from a desktop ranking change perspective, like mobile rankings, I don’t expect search results to go up dramatically from one day to another as we roll out this feature.
At most, if your site is really bad, you’ll see a gradual decline there. “
I think the important point is that if publishers experience “dramatic” changes in search results during the rollout of the desktop page experience update, it would be wrong to assume that those changes are related to the update.
Websites don’t go down due to poor core web vitality
Mueller next discusses the topic of core web life in the context of understanding why a website drops in search results.
His point is that the core network vital signs ranking signal may cause small changes, but it’s not the kind of signal that causes big changes.
Mueller continued his answer:
“Another thing I might remind is your first sentence there, your site is down due to bad Core Web Vitals.
I suspect that, in most cases, sites won’t see a noticeable noticeable change in Core Web Vitals.
Even if your site goes from a sane state to a terrible state in Core Web Vitals from one day to another, I don’t think that’s going to make a huge difference in search results.
Maybe change a few positions, which seems like the right change.
But I wouldn’t see it as a page going from… I don’t know… 2 to 50 just because of Core Web Vitals.
If you see drastic changes like this, I wouldn’t focus on pure Core Web Vitals.
I’ll try to step back and look at the big picture and see what else can be involved.
And try to find out what you can do to improve the overall situation instead of just focusing on the core Web Vitals.
Because Core Web Vitals does require a lot of work to get it right.
Sometimes it’s hard to line up all these things.
But as I mentioned, it’s also a more subtle ranking factor, not a super strong factor.
So if you’re seeing strong changes, I’d recommend that you don’t spend too much time on Core Web Vitals, but try to figure out what the bigger changes are, or what those changes are coming from your site. “
Key Points About Page Experience as a Ranking Factor
John Mueller provides multiple insights in his answer:
- Page Experience ranking factors “lower” when searchers expect to see a specific site
- Page Experience ranking factors are helpful when multiple sites have similar answers
- Desktop page experience updates are not responsible for large ranking changes
- Core Web Vitals is not responsible for huge ranking changes
- Core Web Vitals may affect small ranking changes
Citation
How Core Web Vitals Work as a Ranking Factor
Watch the video at 42:21 min
