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Search Engine Journal reports that Google just explained what marketers can expect when Core Web Vitals become a ranking signal.
Google's Danny Sullivan recently discussed the coming impact of the May 2021 Page Experience Update, which is set to integrate Core Web vitals as a ranking factor. This happened during a recent Search Central Live Fireside Chat, and Sullivan later appeared on Twitter to follow up his comments. A user asked a question about the probable impact of Core Web Vitals on rankings, and Danny Sullivan explained what publishers could expect:
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"Do we expect the impact on the metrics to be significant or more subtle?"
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Danny Sullivan started things off with some reassurance, conveying that people shouldn't brace a big disruptive change:
"I think if you go back and look at how we've had these sorts of things over, it really isn't that okay, then the next day, everything completely changes. There's no intent to try to do that, even though we might say we start using this as a factor.
"First of all, it remains one of many things. Secondly, it's always the case that we're going to try to return the best content based on this basket or bucket of things. So, maybe you don't have the best page experience... But if you're still the most relevant content, that is going to you know overall on various things we're looking at. I think it's not a case of start being all super concerned. And understand that we want to make sure that this is coming in a moderated fashion...
But over time what will happen is, as more and more content is coming up in page experience and if you're in a situation where things are all relatively equal, the things that are more page experience and oriented are likely to start doing better. So it's not... I don't think freak out but do pay attention to it, do understand that it's a new thing that you need to keep in mind. That's why we're highlighting it."
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Later, on Twitter, Paul Shapiro tweeted:
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"Did @searchliaison say that something along the lines that the page experience update will have a softer impact initially, and then over time it will grow in its impact on rankings? I need to review the recording once it's live."
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Danny Sullivan then responded with his own tweets:
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"I said it shouldn't be the case that overnight, we flip some type of switch and there's a massive change. That's not typically how rollouts of this nature (such as speed, mobile-friendly) have worked. And also that things tend to be relative..."
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"Consider when mobile-friendliness began, plenty of pages still needed to become that way. So while it was a factor, using it more heavily as a factor initially doesn't make much sense. But over time, it (like any factor) might become more valuable...."
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