First announced in May 2020, Google’s algorithm update was delayed a few times prior to rollout. Last year it was delayed twice. It finally started rollout in August 2021 and supposedly ended that month. However, that was only part of the update. 

The August updates mostly were based on mobile user experience. So if your site saw major drops in organic traffic, it’s likely due to your site’s mobile friendliness. Most of google’s data samples are from Chrome browser users. Known as “CrUX” data, this simply means Chrome User Experience. 

What does this mean for Site Admins and SEOs?

Google has begun rollout of their Desktop updates in February, and they should conclude by the end of March 2022. These changes will begin to affect sites based on passing several factors google has chosen. Today, we will list and describe these factors, because they may not be clearly obvious and understandable at first.

What are the Factors & Metrics Google is Using?

Core Web Vitals LCP

Known by some as “Largest Contentful Paint”, this has to do with loading performance. This marks the point in page load when main content has likely loaded. This event should start within 2.5 seconds of when a page first begins to load.

CLS Cumulative Layout Shift 

This metric measures visual stability of a page. For example, when you’re reading an article and suddenly the text jumps up or down because something is loaded on the page, rearranging everything around it. This unexpected movement can have extremely frustrating results and dramatically affect user experience negatively.

First Input Delay FID

This factor is quite simple. It measures interactivity by how long from when a user clicks or taps a link or button to when the browser is able to process that interaction. This should be kept under 100 milliseconds.  

HTTPS Security 

“HyperText Transfer Protocol Secure” is a way for computers to communicate while protecting integrity and confidentiality of the data between them. It is recommended for all websites to use HTTPS, regardless of your site’s content. (Note for network admins: This is TCP port 443)

Absence of Intrusive Interstitials 

Page elements and dialogs that block the user's view of page content. e.g. promotional pop ups, or overlays covering the page. These are often very annoying to end users, and will make them not want to return to your site in the future.

Mobile Friendliness 

Part of what googlebot looks at while crawling a site is the mobile page layout. It measures to see you have properly sized buttons and elements. This makes it easy for users to read or use the site while browsing on a small screen such as a mobile device. 

Hopefully this helps clear up any confusion about the core update or helps keep your site from losing domain authority. Check back soon for more SEO information on this important update.