Google has confirmed that the desktop version of its page experience update will go live next month and take around two months to fully roll out to all sites and searches.
Malte Ubl, Principal Software Engineer at Google, published a tweet on Monday sharing details of the page experience update for tablets, laptops and desktop PCs, noting that the signals and metrics would be near-identical to those for mobile.
That means the Core Web Vitals, which comprise Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) and First Input Delay (FID) metrics, will factor into page experience, alongside HTTPS security and the “absence of intrusive interstitials”.
Not surprisingly, the only signal that won’t carry over to desktop is mobile friendliness.
The good news for site owners is that Google is planning to update the tools and reports for Google Search Console in the coming days to help them assess their performance.
Google says everyone should know where they stand in terms of page experience before desktop becomes a ranking signal.
That will get under way in February, and according to Google’s timescale, finish by the end of March.
However, the search giant has tried to calm expectations about the rollout by stating that there are unlikely to be “drastic changes” to rankings.
The update is designed primarily to “highlight” pages that can deliver excellent user experiences, and this will be just one of the many factors its algorithm will take into account.
While page experience ranking has already come into effect for mobile, it has taken slightly longer for Google to give the green light for the desktop update.
If you still need help with optimising your web pages and content for the page experience update, contact us today to talk about our SEO services.
