Recently there was an announcement from Google about how they are changing what they perceive as the most important factors in ranking. In essence, they are adding some more performance metrics to the way they index and rank websites. Usually I don’t pay much heed as, at the core, if you do SEO properly and if your site is responsive with UX basics in place (the trifecta of my SEO style)  – sites will naturally perform well.

However, this is a big change that moves some factors ahead of others.

Google is now officially moving to mobile first – and their highest ranking factors will include SPEED, load time of site and UX. Things that previously could fly under the radar, will no longer suffice.

We’ve known about this for some time, so this change was inevitable. There are just so many really terrible UX websites out there – and it’s about time they sit up and listen to advice.

Google mentioned that they will give everyone about 6 months notice prior to roll-out to get their sites up to speed (sic)  – but where has Google ever warned anyone of changes they make?

These new performance metrics have already rolled out to Google’s Search Console – Core Web Vitals.

This allows us to proactively update what is not working from Google’s pov.

I’m certainly not suggesting any knee-jerk reactions, but make no mistake, although Google has indicated a lead time of 6 months, we’ll see this in play a lot sooner IMO.

I’d also like to point out that these factors adds to your SEO, and does not replace it.

At the end of the day – better UX will lead to more conversions, so I’m all for it.

Here is a link to a great article that explains Core Web Vitals in detail – for those that would like to know more.