The head of a Swindon-based specialist firm says businesses must be ready for changes at Google.
Martin Jarvis of DMJ Computer services says businesses must be sure not to be caught out by the changes
The update will see the search engine giant giving precedence to websites offering a great user experience, making it even harder for those giving a poor user experience to rank well.
Mr Jarvis said: “Google is going to start including page experience as a ranking factor. As usual with Google, and quite reasonably, it won’t say how much of an influence page experience will have on ranking.
"What Google is saying is that various ‘experience’ signals are going to feed into the ranking algorithm.”
These signals will include mobile-friendliness, whether sites are secure and safe to browse - carrying the SSL certificate, displayed as HTTPS in the browser - and whether they have intrusive interstitials. Interstitials are the pop-ups and slide-ins that can range from being helpful to being a nuisance.
“Some of these factors won’t be new to website owners," Mr Jarvis said. "For some years, they’ve needed their sites to be mobile-friendly to have a chance of being ranked well.
“However, Google will be clamping down on interstitials. It effectively began imposing mobile interstitial penalties in 2017, but it may get more serious with the 2021 Google Page Experience update.
"Although mostly aimed at intrusive popups and other distracting elements on mobile devices, it’s fair to say some website owners overdo it for their desktop visitors too.”
DMJ Computer Services specialises in creating, hosting and supporting Wordpress websites
Mr Jarvis' advice is for website owners to prepare for the Page Experience update by ensuring their sites have a properly installed SSL certificate, that they are mobile-friendly, that they load quickly, have a clear and easy to follow call to action, and don’t carry intrusive interstitials.
He added: “The Page Experience update makes sense, because it will encourage website owners to make changes to ensure their site gives visitors a straightforward and enjoyable experience, allowing them to do what they came to do with the minimum of fuss.
“But content is still king and Google has reiterated this. The fastest, cleanest, most interactive, most secure web page in the world still won’t get traffic if it has nothing to offer visitors.”
Martin and his team at DMJ Computer Services are now in their 36th year as software developers, and focus on building websites offering a great user experience. The team will continue to help ensure clients’ sites don’t fall foul of the Page Experience update.
For more information and advice on the Page Experience update, people can contact Martin at [email protected] or via 01793 740964, or visit https://dmjcomputerservices.com/
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