Google updated its page experience help documentation to clarify how Core Web Vitals metrics are used as a ranking signal. Google also clarified that other page experience signals are not directly used for ranking purposes in Google Search.
What Google wrote. The updated documentation is in the ranking section of the document and it now reads:
It previously said:
So you can see that Google is clearly saying again that Core Web Vitals is used in the Google search ranking system. But Google added, “trying to get a perfect score just for SEO reasons may not be the best use of your time.” That implies that this score for ranking purposes is super lightweight compared to other ranking signals.
Google also added:
Previously that said:
So Google is clearly saying that other page experience signals are not used in Google’s ranking system, at least not directly.
Core Web Vitals updated. As we noted on Sunday, the new INP metric replaced FID as a core web vitals metric today. That being said, as noted above, these are very lightweight signals and it might be best for you to focus your SEO efforts in other areas before you focus on Core Web Vitals.
Why we care. Months ago, Google told us the Google page experience was never a ranking “system” but is still considered a ranking “signal,” Danny Sullivan, Google’s Search Liaison, said this morning. These statements caused a lot of confusion, so Google clarified these in the updated documentation.
In addition, John Mueller of Google posted this morning on LinkedIn about Core Web Vitals saying, “it’s not going to make your site’s rankings jump up.”
Hat tip to Glenn Gabe for spotting this and notifying me of the change.
