In recent years, Google has occasionally announced that a change to the algorithm is on the way. It’s often something a bit larger that they genuinely consider important – but how big of a deal is it for you?
How many remember mobilegeddon? In April 2015, Google rolled out an update they had warned about for an entire year. The update was nicknamed mobilegeddon by SEO professionals. Google had spent a whole year drumming up the idea that a major update was coming, and when it finally arrived, it was more of a mild breeze than armageddon.
Sure, over time, the requirements for a fully functional mobile version (which was the core of the update) grew stricter and stricter, eventually becoming a must within Google’s “Mobile first” strategy. But there was plenty of time to adapt. My impression is that Google didn’t yet have a solid model for how to measure and act on mobile-friendliness. That developed later on.
The same applies to what they call the “Page Speed Update.” They had actually been talking about speed as a ranking factor since 2010, but it wasn’t until 2017 that it became a significant factor. They had been hammering on about speed, but probably didn’t have a reliable way to measure it. Instead, they pushed the idea of load times out into the SEO community. Trusting as we are, we implemented speed improvements on every site we worked on – and suddenly, the sites ranking highest in search results were also faster. For anyone analyzing the search results afterwards, the causality would appear reversed: all top-ranking sites are fast, because everyone who already ranked well was doing SEO, and everyone doing SEO assumed speed was crucial.
Later, it truly did become a factor – an important one too. The point is, it took quite a while, and when they first started talking about speed, it was more of a direction for their work than an actual ranking factor.
That’s how I view Core Web Vitals today. More of a direction, a goal, than a direct influencing factor. It’s true that if you work according to the “method,” it will improve your rankings – but mostly for indirect reasons. What’s your take on it – do you share my skepticism?
Magnus Bråth
Consultant & Adviser
Magnus is one of the world's most prominent search marketing specialists and primarily works with management and strategy at his agency Brath AB.