Google search results will take page experience into account next year

Google will change how its algorithms rank websites in search results, the company announced today. Starting sometime early next year, if your website has a poor “page experience,” it may show up lower on search results.

“Page experience” is a fuzzy term, of course; Google is using it as shorthand for a set of metrics the company is developing that go beyond how quickly the page loads. Lots of aggravating things on the web aren’t necessarily captured by a simple speed test, like pop-ups, delays in certain content appearing, content jumping around the page, and other annoyances. Google won’t be able to accurately measure all of those things, but it is attempting to quantify some of them.

Changes are also coming to the “Top Stories”...

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