Google is constantly updating its algorithm. Whether you’re a web developer or an SEO expert, it can be hard to keep up. For instance, per the latest update, you must consider page quality and user experience, among other things.
The frequency of core updates can be difficult to predict, but they’re typically announced in the first quarter of each year. Google usually announces core updates in March, June, September, and December.
Although, as of writing this article, Google has released only one core update in 2022, i.e., May 2022 Core Update.
Fortunately, some helpful guidelines will put you ahead of the game in Google’s 2022 Core Update. Here’s what you need to know:
May 2022 Core Update
Google started releasing the broad core algorithm update on May 25, 2022. It took 15 days to completely roll out the update, ending on June 9, 2022.
This update is about helping people find more helpful, useful, authoritative, and trustworthy resources. These changes will help you answer your questions and get things done faster than ever before!
The most recent previous Core Update was the November 2021 core update.
That said, let’s understand how you can check the quality of your webpage and ensure further Core Updates don’t affect your rankings negatively.
How to Check Your Webpage’s Quality?
As discussed above, the core update doesn’t aim to fix anything wrong. Instead, it aims to provide better results to searchers.
Here are some questions that’ll help you determine your page quality.
- Does the content provide original information that could be valuable to readers?
- Does the page offer comprehensive information on the topic?
- Does the page title provide a brief summary of the content?
- Does the content look trustworthy (such as clear sourcing, author’s background, expertise, etc.)?
- Does the content provide more substantial value than other pages in search results?
Quality Rater Guidelines and E-A-T
E-A-T is the acronym for “Expertise, Authority, and Trustworthiness.” It’s what determines whether your content is deemed credible by Google’s algorithms. The Quality Rater Guidelines are a list of factors that are used by human raters to determine E-A-T in a given piece of content. For example:
- Expertise: Do you have the expertise and authority on the topic?
- Authority: Do you have any credentials or affiliations that establish your credibility as an expert?
- Trustworthiness: How trustworthy does this information feel? Does it look like a person or company with integrity wrote it? That’s just a small sampling; many more factors are at play when determining how much E-A-T a piece of content has.
Page Quality (PQ) Rating and Needs Met (NM) Rating
Page quality rating aims to understand the true purpose of a webpage. The higher the page quality rating, the better the chances of ranking at the top.
Here are the factors that affect page quality rating:
- The purpose of the page.
- Expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness.
- Content quality and amount.
- Website information and the author of the content.
- Website reputation and the reputation of the author.
Low-Quality Pages
The pages that lack good quality content or the creator of the content lacks expertise for the page’s purpose are considered low-quality pages or lacking quality pages. According to Google, the following aspects are an indication of low-quality pages.
- Inadequate level of E-A-T
- Low-quality content
- Unsatisfying amount of content for the page’s purpose
- Too many ads or pop-ups that distract users from the main content
- Unsatisfying amount of website information or information about the creator of the main content
- The website or creator of the content has a mildly negative reputation
Page Quality FAQs
1. What is page quality?
Page quality is a measure of the relevance of a page to a given query. It’s one component of Google’s ranking algorithm, which determines where your site appears in search results.
A high-quality page provides visitors with good information and satisfies their needs.
2. What’s the difference between mobile-friendly and page quality ratings?
Page Quality is a user-centric rating of a page’s E-A-T, quality, and relevance. This means it measures how well the content on a page answers questions that matter to users.
Mobile-Friendly is not part of Google’s search algorithm. Rather, if your website is mobile-friendly, it simply means that our algorithms have determined that your site meets a baseline standard for usability on mobile devices (e.g., tap targets are large enough so people can easily click them).
3. How do you measure page quality?
Page quality is measured using a combination of automated systems and manual reviews.
We use a variety of signals and data to determine this score, including:
- Links from other sites to your page or site (inbound links)
- Content on your page that is unique, useful, and relevant to users’ interests (relevance)
4. What are the different Page Quality rating levels?
The Page Quality rating system categorizes a site’s overall quality, determined by analyzing its content. Sites are rated on a scale of high, medium, or low quality, or bad and fake. The criteria that determine the rating are not publicly available but may include grammar, spelling, and formatting issues.
5. What important aspects should be considered for a High rating on each of these pages?
The following are some of the important aspects to consider for a high rating on each of these pages:
Content quality, which includes:
- Is the content of high quality? (The content should be relevant and useful to users.)
- Does the content meet user expectations? (Are there any errors in grammar or spelling?)
- Is there enough text on each page? (Is it clear what information is presented on each page?)
Design quality, which includes:
- How well does the design complement the site’s purpose? (Do you see any typos/errors?)
- Links/redirects that don’t match what users expect when they click them
Page Experience Update for Desktop 2022
The Page Experience Update is a change to how Google ranks pages. The update will affect the desktop version of Google search results. Earlier; Google rollout for a mobile version.
The purpose of this update is to ensure that users find what they’re looking for on the web more easily and quickly than before. The goal is to surface high-quality content that gives people what they want and keep them on your site longer so you can serve them with ads.
How does Google measure Page Experience?
The key factors that affect desktop page experience are:
- Core web vitals (LCP, CLS, FID)
- HTTPS Security
- Absence of intrusive interstitials
Additionally, these factors might impact the page experience.
- Engagement signals: For example, whether or not users can find the information they’re looking for on your site and if they are seeing ads that are relevant to them (and not too disruptive).
- Time spent on page: This indicates how much attention visitors pay to content on your site. It’s also important because Google uses this information in ranking search results; the longer people stay on your site, the higher you’ll rank for related queries.
- Load time: How long it takes for your pages to fully load in a browser tab or window (not just loading time from cache). The speed at which pages load can greatly impact whether users will stick around or bounce off your website quickly – so you must make sure yours loads quickly!
What should I do to prepare for the page experience update?
If you want to male your site is ready for the Page Experience Update, it’s important to make sure your site meets some basic requirements:
- Mobile-friendly: In addition to being responsive and compatible with mobile devices, your site must load quickly at various connection speeds. This includes a high-speed connection like 4G LTE and slower connections like 3G and 2G.
- Fast load time (at least 2 seconds): Whether you’re using AMP or not, we recommend aiming for a fast load time across all browsers and devices (not just AMP). If this is too difficult for now, we recommend considering using AMP Lite instead until you can achieve faster speeds.
- Secure delivery of content over HTTPS is required for all sites—including those not using AMP—to pass the Page Experience Update assessment test when running in Safari Private Browsing Mode on iOS 13 or later.
To help your users have a great experience on your website, focus on pages that provide the best user experience.
- Make your website easy to navigate.
- Make your webpage easy to use (with minimal pop-ups).
- Ensure the content is easy to understand.
Wrapping Up
To sum it up, Google suggests the following advice regarding core updates.
Core updates don’t affect any site or niche in particular. With every core update, you can expect noticeable effects on your rankings. Websites that see a drop in rankings aren’t penalized. Instead, they are being assessed against other content that has been published since the last update. The best way to stay foolproof from core updates is by publishing authoritative content.