A recent Google update has been a topic of much debate throughout the SEO community and with tech news publishers. Known as “broad core algorithm,” this update is one that has had many worried about whether or not their website would be negatively impacted.

What is the Google Broad Core Algorithm? And how will it affect your search engine rankings? In this blog post, we’ll discuss what you need to know about the latest Google Update!

What is Google’s Broad Core Algorithm Update?

The major update came in the form of a rolling release, meaning that it would be slowly rolled out and affect more sites as time passes. The algorithm changes include removing spam from search results and updating how they rank websites based on user experience data rather than solely relying on links to and other metrics such as page views or likes. These changes are expected to have an impact on rankings globally across all types of queries, but especially for local searches (e.g., restaurants, retail stores, service providers, etc…).

The algorithm update will also have an impact on what Google results visually look like. There will be more of a focus on featured snippets and related questions to answer queries for information without the need to click through into web pages from them.

Will My Website Be Impacted by the Algorithm Update?

The degree to which your website will be impacted by the update can vary significantly on a number of factors, including how well you address mobile-friendliness and speed.

You should also consider whether or not you have quality content that is unique for users in your industry verticals. If so, this may give it an edge over competitors who don’t share these qualities.

But what is Google specifically looking at when it comes to user experience and speed? It’s looking at your website’s core web vitals, which includes the loading time (Largest Contentful Paint (LCP)), Interactivity (First Input Delay (FID)), and Visual Stability (Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS)).

Let’s look at each of these 3 Core Web Vitals a little closer:

• Largest Contentful Paint (LCP): this is the first meaningful paint of your page, meaning the time it takes for your page’s main content to load. This measurement should ideally be 2.5 seconds or faster.
• First Input Delay (FID): This is the time it takes for you to interact with something on your webpage after clicking and releasing on an item that’s interactive – such as scrolling down through content. The ideal measurement for this should be less than 100 milliseconds.
• Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS): This metric measures how much the site has been scrolled when layout changes occur from top to bottom (think pagination). An ideal measurement here is less than 0.1.

If all three of these metrics are below 300 milliseconds then Google considers your website mobile-friendly. If they’re above 500 milliseconds, then your website isn’t considered mobile-friendly as Google wants users to perceive pages loading instantaneously.

What Should I Be Doing in Preparation for Google’s Broad Core Algorithm Update?

Maintaining good SEO practices as well as focusing on improving user experience and being mindful of your website’s mobile experience are all critical ways to ensure that you’re best positioned for success with this search algorithm update.

Need help with your brand’s search engine optimization or with the technical optimization of your site? Reach out to Excite for a free website report. We’ll take a look at your website and let you know how it currently ranks, and what could be done to improve your presence on Google.