Google Delays Core Web Vitals Update to Mid-June

Google announced Monday, April 19 that it is pushing back the launch of its page experience algorithm update to mid-June. The search engine, which has been gradually updating us on the details of the update, was originally slated to launch in May. We’ll tell you how this update affects your website and search ranking, how to prepare, and about some other exciting announcements from Google. 

What is the Core Web Vitals Update? 

Okay, let’s back up for a moment. Perhaps you are asking, what is the Core Web Vitals update? We’ll tell you. Google has been detailing plans to the change in its algorithm for about a year now. The update centers around page experience. Google wants to make sure it is serving searchers with web pages that provide a positive page experience. Google Core Web Vitals are a set of metrics for websites including speed, responsiveness, and visual stability. 

Google Pushes Back the Algorithm Update

Now that you know what the Google Core Web Vitals update is, we can discuss the latest update. According to Google’s announcement, the gradual rollout of the update will begin in mid-June. It was originally scheduled to launch in May. However, according to Google, page experience won’t play its full role in search rankings until the end of August. 

“You can think of it as if you’re adding a flavoring to food you’re preparing. Rather than add the flavor all at once into the mix, we’ll be slowly adding it over this time period,” according to Google’s blog post announcing the delay. 

One of the reasons Google gives for the delayed rollout is that it can monitor the impact of the update for any unexpected issues it may present. However, websites should not expect any drastic changes as a result of the update. That’s because page experience is still only one of the factors that play a role in the search ranking algorithm. 

What Does This Mean for Me? 

This delay is good news for web developers, site owners, and you! It means we all have more time to prepare for the Core Web Vitals update

“We hope that this adjusted roll-out schedule will help you continue to make refinements to your website with page experience in mind,” Google’s announcement said. “Ahead of this change, we’ve been gathering feedback to ensure that we’re providing helpful guidance and answering questions that site owners may have about how to improve page experience for their users.” 

Google AMP Updates 

Google made some other updates along with the delay of the Core Web Vitals update, too. As part of the page experience update, Google News will expand the usage of non-AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages) content across news.Google.com. Also, Google will no longer show the AMP badge icon that signifies a page is AMP content. Google will also offer Signed Exchanges (SXG) on Google Search for all web pages, not just those with AMP. 

New Page Experience Report in the Google Search Console

Another breaking Google news update! Google is going to make it easier to prep for the update with a new page experience report, which is available starting now in the Google Search Console. This report combines the existing Core Web Vitals report with other components of the page experience signals. It measures the percentage of URLs on your website that offer a good page experience based on the following factors: 

Mobile Usability

In order to qualify for “Good” status, a URL must have zero mobile usability errors. 

Security Issues

Any security issues on your website will disqualify all URLs from a “Good” status.

HTTPS Usage

A web page must be served over HTTPs rather than HTTP in order to obtain a “Good” status. 

Ad Experience

Your website must not use advertising techniques that are overly distracting or interrupting for users. If it does, your site will be flagged as having a poor page experience. 

You can use this report to help you learn how you can improve your website to prepare for Google’s algorithm update. 

page experience report

FAQs: 

  • When does Google launch the Core Web Vitals update? 
  • What are the Google Core Web Vitals? 
  • How do I prepare my website for Google’s algorithm update?
  • Are AMP pages still necessary? 
  • What is the Page Experience report in the Google Search Console? 

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