As of June 2021, Google adds the page experience to its ranking algorithm. This Google page experience update, also known as the core web vitals update, is all part of their effort to better assess a website’s responsiveness and provide better search results.
Now, the page experience is a factor in how Google ranks websites. As all addiction treatment center owners know, their website is more important than ever. Therefore, a high Google ranking is always the objective. The Google page experience update is yet another indication that the search engine is trying to improve the user experience to an even greater degree. Any detox or drug rehab not taking notice and making appropriate adjustments could easily fall behind in Google rankings.
What the Google Page Experience Update Means for Rehab Websites
To bring your addiction treatment center website in line with Google’s algorithm update depends on how Google-friendly your site is as of this moment. For some websites, extensive change will be needed. For others, it may simply be a few expert tweaks here and there.
As you may or may not know, Google performs updates to its algorithm hundreds of times a year. Some updates they tell the public about, others they don’t. Even when they make an update public, they are often vague about what it does or how to comply with it. To a degree, this is simply to encourage websites to provide better content and viewer experience rather than attempt quick fixes just to be in compliance. Unlike their usual pattern, the Google page experience update was announced in advance.
We’ve seen the emphasis on optimizing pages for SEO and improving content. Clearly, both will always be important. However, core web vitals for addiction treatment websites must now be taken into account.
This update is about visitors’ general impressions of a website and how they interact with it. In no way are some of these new concerns to Google. However, now there’s a fancy new term to describe the new parameters: core web vitals. To accompany this new phrase are three obtuse and difficult-to-remember terms that we are now forced to reference:
Largest Contentful Paint (LCP)
This weirdly complicated (and ungrammatical) term refers to an extremely simple idea. Namely, how long it takes for the largest content to completely load on a website. Most of the time, this is going to be a graphic element. So we’re basically talking about the loading speed of a page, which would be a lot easier to remember than “largest contentful paint.” In general, page LCPs should be 2.5 seconds at the very longest. If it took the Google Page Experience Update to finally address your page-loading time, then it’s worth it.
First Input Delay (FID)
Now we’re talking about interaction with a website. FID means the time required for all page functions to be usable (think buttons that need to be clicked). It’s understood that FID for a page needs to be quicker than 100 milliseconds.
Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS)
CLS refers to whether a loading page has a changing layout shift that is confusing or annoying to users. Think of a link you’re about to click only to see it change position on the page just before you click it. Professional web developers with deep experience work very hard to avoid situations like this.
Things You Can Do to Get Your Addiction Treatment Center Website Ready
The Google Page Experience Update isn’t something to be afraid of. If nothing else, it’s a good reminder to buckle down and correct things on your website that you just haven’t gotten around to addressing. Here are some key ways to bring your website in line with the latest Google requirements for a quality website that deserves a high ranking:
- Make sure your addiction treatment center website is genuinely mobile-friendly
- Take steps to ensure that your site loads faster
- Target pages with high bounce rates for revision
- Correct broken or dead links
- Remove any coding errors, no matter how minor
- Concentrate on uploading quality content covering relevant topics for your audience
Do all of these things and the viewer experience will be stellar. The better the viewer experience, the more likely it will be that your site ranks high in Google search results.
Be Ready for the Google Page Experience Update
Maybe your drug rehab website won’t be affected by the update. However, if your website isn’t fully up to date, it could definitely affect you adversely. Dreamscape Marketing can help you get your website in fully compliance with the latest core web vitals for addiction treatment websites. Call us today at 888.307.7304 and let’s talk about what it will take to get your website up to speed.